| Popis: |
In this thesis, I examine how geopolitical ideas about the future development of the Russian Federation changed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and how the Vladimir Putin regime has subsequently built on this debate. Using Russian political and geopolitical thought, I demonstrate that the key questions to which the Russian elite (whether intellectuals or members of the ruling class) have attempted to find answers over the past two hundred years remain relevant and continue to shape social discurs: For example, the question of how open Russia should be to foreign influences, whether it represents a European, Asian, or unique civilization, and whether the Russian nation has an exceptional, messianic mission to which it must subordinate its existence. Different schools of geopolitics have successively offered different - mutually contradictory - answers to these questions. Thus, I first present the history of the search for the Russian idea, and then, using speeches and articles delivered and written by Vladimir Putin in particular, I argue that none of these geopolitical conceptions alone fully explains the direction in which today's Russia is heading, but that in their summary they can in some way explaining the gradual changes in Putin's rhetoric and policies. Whereas earlier geopolitical... |
