The Worlds which the Portuguese, the Russians and the Turks Created: Empires on Europe’s Periphery

The revealing analogies among the Portuguese, Russian, and Turko-Ottoman empires add analytical depth to our understanding of the evolution of modern world-system. The empires emerged simultaneously with capitalism and equally relied on the new power techniques of gunpower, bureaucracy, state control over trade, and official religion. Starting from the geopolitical margins of Anatolia, the Pyrenees, or Russian forests, the new empires soon achieved tremendous territorial gains and wealth. But after their first century of success, these empires came under the penetrating pressures of emergent capitalist forces (the Netherlands and later England).The empires reacted by selectively adopting the organizational and technological innovations of capitalism in the bouts of Absolutist reforms under Peter I, Pombal, or during the Tanzimat period. All three empires underwent another wave of modernizing efforts through the constitutionalist revolutions in 1905-1910 that nonetheless failed to prepare them for the military catastrophe of 1914. The developmentalist dictatorships of Salazar, Atatürk, and Stalin, for all their ideological differences, equally sought to strengthen the production bases under the conditions of state direction and economic autarchy. The global wave of democratic rebellions in 1968 undercut all three versions of developmentalism pushing the bureaucratic and capitalist elites in all three states to seek the preservation of their positions through European integration — whose outcome remains to be seen.La mise en évidence des analogies entre les empires portugais, russe et turc ottoman permet d’approfondir notre compréhension de l’évolution de l’organisation mondiale contemporaine. L’émergence des empires s’est faite simultanément à celle du capitalisme, et ils ont reposé de la même façon sur les nouvelles techniques de pouvoir que sont la force des armes, la bureaucratie, le contrôle de l’État sur le commerce et la religion officielle. Partant des frontières géopolitiques de l’Anatolie, des Pyrénées ou des forêts de Russie, les nouveaux empires ont très vite atteint une expansion territoriale et une richesse considérable. Pourtant, après un premier siècle couronné de succès, ils ont subi la pression envahissante des puissances capitalistes émergentes (les Pays-Bas et, plus tard, l’Angleterre).Ces empires ont réagi en adoptant de façon sélective les innovations techniques et organisationnelles du capitalisme au moment des réformes absolutistes de Pierre Ier, de Pombal, ou pendant la période du Tanzimat. Ils ont tous trois connu une autre vague d'efforts de modernisation à travers les révolutions constitutionnelles de 1905-1910 qui ne les ont pourtant pas préparés à la catastrophe militaire de 1914. Les dictatures développementalistes de Salazar, Atatürk, et Staline, malgré toutes leurs différences idéologiques, s’efforçaient de la même façon de renforcer les bases de production dans des conditions de direction de l’État et d’autarcie économique. La vague mondiale de rébellions démocratiques de 1968 a miné ces trois versions du développementalisme, poussant les élites bureaucratiques et capitalistes dans ces trois États à chercher à préserver leur position à travers l’intégration européenne ‑ dont le résultat reste à voir.O evidenciar das analogias entre o império português, russo e turco otomano dá uma maior profundidade analítica à nossa compreensão da evolução do sistema mundial contemporâneo. Os impérios formaram-se simultaneamente com o capitalismo mas apostando também nos novos poderes técnicos das armas de fogo, na burocracia, no controlo do estado sobre o comércio, assim como na religião oficial. Desde as margens geopolíticas de Anatólia, dos Pirenéus, ou das florestas russas, os novos impérios conquistaram rapidamente um território imenso e tremendas riquezas. Mas após o seu primeiro século de êxitos, esses impérios foram submetidos à crescente pressão das forças capitalistas emergentes (os Países Baixos e mais tarde a Inglaterra).Reagiram adoptando, de forma selectiva, as inovações do capitalismo ao nível da organização e da tecnologia durante o período das reformas absolutistas sob o comando de Pedro I°, do marquês de Pombal ou durante o período do Tanzimat. Mais tarde, os três tiveram que suportar outra vaga de esforços de modernização com as revoluções constitucionais entre 1905-1910, que no entanto falhou no que diz respeito à preparação à catástrofe militar de 1914. As ditaduras desenvolvimentistas de Salazar, Atatürk e Estaline, apesar de suas diferenças ideológicas, procuraram fortalecer as bases de produção em condição de supervisão do estado e de autarcia económica. A onda global de revoltas democráticas, em 1968, reduziu o peso dessas três versões de desenvolvimentismo, ao empurrar as elites burocráticas e capitalistas desses três estados para uma procura de preservação das suas posições através da integração europeia – cujas consequências permanecem por definir

American Culture and Anti-Americanism in Russia

The University Archives has determined that this item is of continuing value to OSU's history.The Slavic Center is organizing a symposium on “American Culture and Anti-Americanism in Russia” to be held on 7 May 2004 from 2:30-5:00 at the Mershon Center. This event is part of a series of symposia exploring the impact of American culture on various regions of the world. Each of the five area studies centers at OSU, in cooperating with the Mershon Center, will host a meeting dealing with its respective region. Last quarter the Middle East Center organized such a symposium. This quarter the Slavic Center invites a former diplomat, a sociologist, and a political scientist to participate in a panel focused on the impact of American culture on Russian culture and anti- Americanism emerging since the end of the Cold War.Ohio State University. Center for Slavic and East European StudiesOhio State University. Mershon Center for International Security StudiesEvent webpage, event summary, phot

The Vicious Circle of Post-Soviet Neopatrimonialism in Russia

Published online: 10 Aug 2015, journal issue (vol.32, N5) appeared in 2016Since the collapse of Communism, Russia and some other post-Soviet states have attempted to pursue socio-economic reforms while relying upon the political institutions of neopatrimonialism. This politico-economic order was established to serve the interests of ruling groups and establish the major features of states, political regimes, and market economies. It provided numerous negative incentives for governing the economy and the state due to the unconstrained rent seeking behavior of major actors. Policy reform programs discovered these institutions to be incompatible with the priorities of modernization, and efforts to resolve these contradictions through a number of partial and compromise solutions often worsened the situation vis-à-vis preservation of the status quo. The ruling groups lack incentives for institutional changes, which could undermine their political and economic dominance, and are caught in a vicious circle: reforms often result in minor returns or cause unintended and undesired consequences. What are the possible domestic and international incentives to reject the political institutions of neopatrimonialism in post-Soviet states and replace them with inclusive economic and political ones?Peer reviewe

Spaces, Trajectories, Maps: Towards a World-Systems Biography of Immanuel Wallerstein

<em>World-systems analysis, although itself a macrohistorical perspective, eminently allows for writing individual biographies because these are structurally conditioned and historically contingent trajectories developing in specific time and space. The biographical genre seems particularly useful in intellectual popularization and in exploring how macro-level concepts behave in observed empirical situations. This article offers and demonstrates specific recommendations and methodological warnings in application to the personal trajectory of Immanuel Wallerstein, the founder of world-systems analysis as an intellectual movement.</em

Does Capitalism Have a Future? That Is the Research Question. In Response to Bruce Scott

Forum on 'Does Capitalism Have a Future? That Is the Research Question In Response to Bruce Scott

Does Capitalism Have a Future? That Is the Research Question. In Response to Bruce Scott

Forum on 'Does Capitalism Have a Future? That Is the Research Question In Response to Bruce Scott

Russia: Failed Transition?

Georgi Derluguian, Department of Sociology, Northwestern University, talked about the Russian economy and socio-political system. The accompanying audio files provide the complete recording and audience discussion of the talk given by the author. Those who download the audio files must have their own software for playing and listening

How Soviet Bureaucracy Produced Nationalism, and what came of it in Azerbaijan

The analysis focuses on the trajectory of Azerbaijan over the last two decades. Azerbaijan not only provides a good empirical summary of the depressing trend in a large set of countries, from the Balkans to the Caucasus and Central Asia--political contestation leading to ethnic conflict, state breakdown, and an apparent return to Third World backwardness. It also happens that the Azerbaijan revolution, intertwined with an ethnic uprising in Nagorno Karabagh, an autonomous Armenian province inside the Azerbaijan SSR, signalled the final crisis of Soviet power. The manifest powerlessness of Gorbachev's administration in face of the escalating violence in the Caucasus started a chain reaction of national uprisings which in 1991 resulted in the disintegration of the USSR. But if we focus on Azerbaijan alone, we may succumb to the usual pitfall of attributing Soviet disintegration to nationalism alone. Therefore let us first undertake a compressed analytical description which should allow us to see more clearly something central to all the uprisings that precipitated the Soviet collapse--the position of national intelligentsias under state socialism

A Tragedy Arising from Success

The historian and macrosociologist Georgi Derluguian of America's Northwestern University has shared with >i>Ekspert>/i> his opinion of the book >i>The Siberian Curse: How Communist Planners Left Russia Out in the Cold>/i> and his view of the problem of the geographical distribution of industrial capacity and labor resources in Russia.