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Reconstruction and Interaction of Slavic Eurasia and Its Neighboring Worlds |
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reviewed by Caglar Dolek |
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Author: Ieda OSAMU & Uyama TOMOHIKO (Ed.) |
ISBN:
4-938637-39-1 |
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Publisher:
Slavic Research Center Hokkaido University |
Page:
373 |
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Type:
Paperback |
Price:
56$ |
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Review: |
Especially with the end of the Cold War, there has emerged an impressive academic curiosity on the scientific study of the geographical area called Eurasia. Many have approached to the developments of post-communist era occurred in the region in order to provide meaningful frameworks to understand the significant transformation process of post-1989. Among those scholarly studies, the book edited by Ieda Osamu and Uyama Tomohiko and entitled as Reconstruction and Interaction of Slavic Eurasia and Its Neighboring Worlds provides a very novel and significant framework for the study of this transformation and contemporary developments in the region.
In fact, the book is among the products of the Slavic Research Center at Hokkaido University which has been conducting researches, both at theoretical and empirical levels, in Slavic Eurasian areas. This particular study introduces the notion of Meso-Mega Areas in the study of the Slavic Eurasian areas as a new analytical tool to approach the changing aspects of the regions under the influences of the neighboring worlds. Based on such theoretical framework, the book is divided into three major parts each of which examines different aspects of Meso-Mega area interactions in the Slavic Eurasia, and consists of various articles dealing with the specific aspects of the issue covered on that part.
In the first part of the book entitled as ‘Range and Possibility of Meso-mega Area Approaches’, the notion of meso-mega area approaches is constructed and proposed as an approach to the study of regional studies in general. With the first chapter, Alexei D. Voskressenski approaches to the study of Slavic Eurasian areas with respect to the general problem of level of analysis in the international relations. Arguing that the study of subregional and regional subsystems of the IR has become quite problematic due to the ongoing developments like globalization, regionalization and fragmentation, the writer proposes the ‘Meso-Mega Area Approach’ for the study of the affairs of former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries. Defined with reference to regional integration, institutional identity, self-identity and external identity, the meso-area is a changing part of a mega-area in its regional perceptions and institutions. Then, such a new terminology, for the writer, provides a valuable tool in the impasse of level of analysis by approaching the general characteristics of the region while not forgetting the particularities within itself.
The second article of the first part by Nigel Swain particularly deals with what is called ‘East European Meso-Area’ with a special focus on the cases of Bulgaria and Romania. The writer, by referring to Ieda Osamu, argues that with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the ties of Slavic Eurasian meso-mega area have experienced important pressures, which manifested itself in the form of economic expansion in Far East and Siberia, of Islamic revivalism in Central Asia and of institutional and communal transformations engineered by the EU acquis conditionality in Central and Eastern Europe. The writer, then, examines the cases of Bulgaria and Romania, with specific focus on the institutional transformation of the local authorities, in order to answer the question of whether the pressures coming from the EU have caused a transition to Western norms, or a transformation of them in the Central and Eastern European meso-area.
Ieda Osamu, with the third article of this part, problematizes the construction of regional identities in the Central and Eastern European meso-area with the case study of Hungarian agrarians in late 19th century. Triggered by the global competition over agricultural product, the Hungarian agrarians constructed a kind of ‘dual-identity’ in which they constructed the notions of ‘Central Europe’ and ‘the East of Europe’, not interchangeably, but occasionally according to their politico-economic interests which helped to emerge dual regional identity.
In the fourth and last article of the first part of the book, Ildar Gabdrafikon and Henry E. Hale makes a critical examination of the notion of democracy in the mega-area of Russia, which has been under pressures coming from the neighboring worlds. As opposed to the ‘Weastern’ conceptions of democracy, the writer argues about the notion of patronal presidentialism as an important term for understanding the Russian way of democracy. It simply indicates a set of institutions that produce cycles of political consolidation and competition, which makes the system democratic at some times, and autocratic at other. In this system, the president is in a quite powerful position as opposed to other state organs, and this power is exercised not only through the laws, but also by means of the informal channels like patron-client relationship. In order to exemplify this Russian way of political functioning, the writer examines the case of Bashkortostan, the most authoritarian region in the Russian federalism. The writers argue that with the consolidation of the political power in the hands of Putin in recent years, it appears that the country was going more towards autocracy. However, the patronal presidentialism produces rooms for political contestation for the regional entities. And the 2003 elections are analyzed in that regard with reference to Bashkortostan.
In the second part of the book, ‘Regional Integration in Central-Eastern Europe and Romania’, the ethno-national relations and the questions of citizenship in the ‘Romanian regions’ are analyzed with respect to the three countries, namely Romania, Hungary and Moldova. The first article by Constantin Iordachi examines the issue of dual citizenship in Western and Eastern parts of Europe. Pointing out that the motives behind the emergence of this question have been quite different, Iordachi underlines the fact that the main aim of the dual citizenship has been to further integrate the permanent residents into the society in the Western Europe as well as in North America. However, as far as the Central and Eastern Europe is concerned, the central factor behind the emergence of dual citizenship is to reconstruct the ‘imagined communities’ in the Central and Eastern European meso-area. That is to say, unlike the Western examples, the Central and Eastern European examples of the dual citizenship have been formulated with such concerns as nation-building in the post-communist transformation era.
Zoltan Kantor, in the second article of this part, makes a critical examination of the general theme of nationalism in the Central and Eastern European meso-area. The writer, mostly basing his arguments on the triadic nexus of Rogers Brubaker, discusses the existence of ‘nationalizing state’, ‘nationalizing minority’ and ‘external national homeland’ to underline different types of nationalism in the region. In line with the arguments of Iordachi, the writer stresses that these notions emerged within a context where the countries in the Central and Eastern European meso-area entered into a process of post-communist nation building. This process is called as ‘status law syndrome’ which indicates those laws extending beyond the borders of the nation. Within this general theoretical framework, Kantor takes the examples of Hungary, Romania and Hungarians living in Romania as the case study to clarify this notion of post-communist nation building.
In the third chapter of the second part, Steven D. Roper focuses on the question of identity formation in Moldova, the eastern neighbor of Romania. Because Moldova is located at a point where Europe meets Eurasia, the formation of common Moldovan identity has been quite problematic especially in the post-communist period. Relying on such a factual analysis, the writer examines the role of education in the formation of Moldovan identity and tries to answer the question of how education curriculum and instruction have been used to create different visions of Moldovan identity especially in the 2000s. Then, the cases of Russian-language instruction, an integrated history course, and Romanian-language schools closures in Transnistria are analyzed in a detailed manner in order to understand these different conceptualizations of the Moldovan identity.
The last part of the book, ‘The Caucasus, Inner Asia and the Outside World’, approaches to this meso-area by providing an historical examination of the interregional relations in the area. This particular part consists of five chapters, each of which deals with specific cases and problems within its wider historical framework.
The first chapter by Paul Werth deals with the issue of the place of religion in the relations of societies in the Slavic Eurasia. The writer takes the Armenian Catholics as a case study and examines the strategy utilized by the Russian Empire to use the Armenian Catholics as a foreign policy tool to influence the internal affairs of the neighboring countries. In other words, the Russian Empire tried to utilize the prestige of Armenian Church, the Supreme Patriarch of all Armenians, for the aim of gaining concessions from the states having Armenian minorities in their countries.
In the second article, Maeda Hirotake examines an interesting historical experience like forced migrations emerged in the period between 16th and 18th century in order to demonstrate how such a seemingly insignificant event led to the formation of multi-ethnic Caucasian society. The writer specifically focuses on the reign of Shah Abbas I of Safavid Empire, 1587 – 1629. In this period, when the political power of the Safavids was consolidated, the forced migrations of people with different origins emerged as an important historical development giving the way to the emergence of cultural pluralism in the area.
Victor A. Shnirelman, in the third article of this last part, makes an interesting study on the interpretations and re-interpretations of the Caucasian war and its leader Sheikh Shamil in both Soviet, and post-Soviet times. Pointing out firstly the generally accepted distinction between social memory and history, the writer argues within Foucaultian conception that the history is in fact written or controlled by those holding power in their hands. That is to say, the interpretations of the historical events mostly reflect the power structures at a particular social and historical context. With due regard, the writer critically evaluates how the Caucasian war and its leader Sheikh Shamil have been portrayed differently within Chechen and Ungush communities in different historical periods.
In the fourth chapter, the issue of national consciousness among the Mongolian peoples is analyzed by Arai Yukiyasu with reference to the existence of three written languages which in time caused the emergence of ethnic boundaries in the years 1920 – 1940, even though one written language was adopted in the later times. The article is mainly about how the written language did create different conceptualizations of national consciousness among the three Mongolic peoples; Mongolians, Buryats and Kalmyks. Even though these three groups came into being from the same ethnic origin, and the languages they use were quite similar to one another, the writer argues that the very practical experiences of the interwar period caused the construction of artificial boundaries among themselves. By means of such a case study, the writer aims to underline the point that contrary to common perceptions, national consciousness does not emerged naturally or remain stable. Instead, it is very likely for it to be constructed through very practical experiences like the language policies imposed by the state on three Mongolic peoples between the years 1920 – 1940.
With the final chapter of this last part of the book, Suda Masaru develops an important and critical analysis of the issues of democratization and civil society in a Central Asian country like Uzbekistan. Mainly relying on the argument that the existence of neither rural nor bourgeoisie society has led to the absence of Western style civil society in the country, the writer points out that Uzbekistan has been experiencing a period of state-led construction of civil society. In that regard, Masaru implies that there might exist non-Western ways of establishing civil society and democratization, which have been underway in Uzbekistan since the independence. However, the writer reminds that such state-led projects possesses inherent dangers of authoritarian leadership which seems to be the case in the country.
All in all, this edited book on the Eurasian regions constructs a new theoretical outlook to the study of the socio-political interactions in mega as well as meso levels. With this novel approach, it seems that the social constructivism is more deeply incorporated into the study of IR as Meso-Mega approach takes into account the system and the agent while interpreting the recent developments in the region.
Note: This book was previously published in the Journal of Central Asian and Caucasian Studies, Volume 4, Number11
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