
Geopolitical Imagination
Ideology and Utopia in Post-Soviet Russia
Mikhail Suslov(Author)
ibidem (Publisher)
Published on 2. November 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
302 pages
978-3-8382-1361-3 (ISBN)
Description
In his timely book, Mikhail Suslov discusses contemporary Russian geopolitical culture and argues that a better knowledge of geopolitical concepts and fantasies is instrumental for understanding Russia's policies. Specifically, he analyzes such concepts as "Eurasianism," "Holy Russia," "Russian civilization," "Russia as a continent," "Novorossia," and others. He demonstrates that these concepts reached unprecedented ascendance in the Russian public debates, tending to overshadow other political and domestic discussions. Suslov argues that the geopolitical imagination, structured by these concepts, defines the identity of post-Soviet Russia, while this complex of geopolitical representations engages, at the same time, with the broader, international criticism of the Western liberal world order and aligns itself with the conservative defense of cultural authenticity across the globe. Geopolitical ideologies and utopias discussed in the book give the post-Soviet political mainstream the intellectual instruments to think about Russia's exclusion-imaginary or otherwise-from the processes of a global world which is re-shaping itself after the end of the Cold War; they provide tools to construct the self-perception of Russia as a sovereign great-power, a self-sufficient civilization, and as one of the poles in a multipolar world; and they help to establish the Messianic vision of Russia as the beacon of order, tradition, and morality in a sea of chaos and corruption.
Reviews / Votes
"Mikhail Suslov's book is a must-read for all those curious to capture the complexity of the notion of 'conservatism' in today's Russia. Delving into past conservative doctrines and the diversity of actors branding conservatism today, the book allows us to move away from a simplistic, Kremlin-centric vision and to get a comprehensive interpretation of the broader phenomenon."-Marlene Laruelle, Research Professor of International Affairs, George Washington UniversityMore details
Series
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Hannover
Germany
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
New edition
Dimensions
Height: 210 mm
Width: 148 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
391 gr
ISBN-13
978-3-8382-1361-3 (9783838213613)
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
05/2020
ibidem
€22.99
Available for download

E-Book
05/2020
ibidem
€22.99
Available for download
Persons
Author
Mikhail Suslov, Cand. Sc., Ph. D., is Assistant Professor of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen. His papers have appeared in Acta Slavica Iaponica, Eurasian Geography and Economics, The Russian Review, Europe-Asia Studies, Geopolitics, Global Affairs, Kritika, Ab Imperio, Revolutionary Russia, Russian History, Demokratizatsiya, Voprosy filosofii, Voprosy kul'turologii, and Forum noveishei vostochnoevropeiskoi istorii i kul'tury. His recent publications include The Post-Soviet Politics of Utopia: Language, Fiction and Fantasy in Modern Russia (I.B. Tauris 2019), co-edited with Per-Arne Bodin, and Contemporary Russian Conservatism: Problems, Paradoxes, and Perspectives (Brill 2019), co-edited with Dmitry Uzlaner.
Series Editor
Andreas Umland, M.Phil. (Oxford), Dr.Phil. (FU Berlin), Ph.D. (Cambridge), Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs in Stockholm, Senior Expert at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future in Kyiv, and Associate Professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
ISNI: 0000 0001 1662 6604
ISNI: 0000 0001 1662 6604
Foreword
Dr Mark Bassin is Baltic Sea Professor in the History of Ideas at Södertörn University, Sweden.