samedi 3 février 2007

Research Notes I

From:
George W. Breslauer, ''Evaluating Yelstin as Leader'', in Gorbatchev and Yelstin as leaders, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2002, p. 295-318. 331 pages. ISBN: 0521892449
See the three underlined passages. Very important to understand today's political context in Russia. Hitler and Mussolini took power in weak newborn democracies. Putin's Russia fits this profile. The second passage clearly talks about the effects of this on the rise of nationalistic attitudes.
The first underlined passage is very important:
''Yelstin opened the door to the one ideology that had not yet been discredited: Russian nationalism. Perhaps radical nationalism will not emerge ascendant owing to its weak resonance among the Russian people and to the widespread awareness among elites of the country's real weakness. If radical nationalism does seize the initiative, however, it could destroy Yelstin's greatest ideational accomplishment - acceptance of a secular and tolerant definition of citizenship - along with the fragile organizational system he set up.''

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