The image of Genghis Khan and ethnic identities in Post-Soviet Russia

The recent rise of Asia as a global geopolitical center has led to renewed interest in Asian history, not just by Asians but by Europeans as well. Genghis Khan is one of those figures who attracts attention, and several movies on him have recently been created. One of them was made in Russia and has led to broad public response. These responses have made it possible to gauge the views of the Russian public on the role of Russia in the global community and the relationship between Russians and ethnic minorities of the Russian Federation.     

Nationalism in Russia

The articles in this issue examine the role played by nationalism in present-day Russian politics, focusing particularly on potential policy approaches to dealing with the various nationalist discourses that have gained in prominence in recent years.     

Are today's authoritarian leaders doomed to be indicted when they leave office? The Russian and other post-Soviet cases

The attitudes of leaders toward their personal future are very important to domestic and international politics. These views are particularly vital in the case of leaders of non-democratic regimes who could face legal prosecution for their corrupt acts or violations of human rights in their own country and abroad. In spite of these fears, however, the leaders in many authoritarian societies trespass laws, both domestic and international, in order to preserve their power and enrich their families. They expose themselves to the danger of the prosecution after they leave office or lose control of the regime. In this context, the author pays special attention to Vladimir Putin's political future and to the developments in Russia, which favor and disfavor his continued stay in power after 2008.     

Making love in Yeltsin's Russia: A case of ``de-medicalization' and ``de-normalization'

The collapse of the Russian currency in August 1998 and the continuingdeterioration of the economy that has followed vindicates those scholarswho have held a negative view of post-Soviet changes.¹They have argued for years thatthe collapse of the Soviet system is leading to the disintegration andcriminalization of Russian society. And the brief history of sexuality inpost-Soviet Russia perhaps illustrates that these scholars have a point whenthey argue that the collapse of the Soviet regime has triggered a destructiveprocess. The criminalization and related sexualization are part of a morebroad problem in post-Soviet society. The country has not been so muchas transforming into a Western style capitalist society as suffering a generalmeltdown.     

Corruption,the power of state and big business in Soviet and post-Soviet regimes

The growth of corruption after 1991 was probably unavoidable. The privatization of the state economy created favorable conditions for corruption, which did not exist before. The feudalization of a society, with its weakening of the state and the high autonomy of its office holders, was another major factor behind the outburst of corruption. However, while these “objective” factors account for a great part of corruption's growth, the transformation of the leaders of the country to people who encouraged corruption for their own benefit—one of the major elements of feudalization—also played an extremely large role in spreading corruption inside the country.Corruption poses greater concerns to society in the long term. Russian corruption undermines labor ethics, particularly among younger generations. Russian youths firmly believe that bribes and connections are the best and perhaps only way to become successful. Widespread corruption creates a parallel, semi-feudal chain of command that competes with the official hierarchy. The weakness of law enforcement agencies, as well as the army—now almost totally demoralized—is, to a great extent, the product of corruption.