‘But in Asia we too are Europeans’: Russia’s multifaceted engagement with the standard of civilisation

Abstract

The standard of civilisation served Western states to hierarchically organize international politics and reproduce Western pre-eminence. Russia, depending on the historical period, has been interpreted as either an ardent follower or a major challenger to Western projects but it has been markedly absent from debates regarding the standard. This article proposes to engage Russia in the standard of civilisation discussion with reference to the standard's two most considered expositions: the colonial-era 'original' and what the literature interprets as the standard's contemporary revival. In order to do so, I trace Russia's nineteenth century colonial practices and analyse Russia's selected policies towards post-Soviet states in the post-Cold War period. On the basis of these explorations, I argue that Russia's application of the standard of civilisation goes beyond the mere reproduction of hierarchical arrangements between an imagined centre and peripheries. The practices of the standard of civilisation have been employed to improve Russia's desired, and imagined, status in international politicsthat of a great power equal to the West. From that it follows that the concept of the standard of civilisation should be recognised as ordering relations not only of the strong and the weak but also of those in position of power in international politics.

A New Wave of Research on Civilizational Politics

“…Similarly, several works devoted to Russia's positioning of itself on the international scene approach the question of how Moscow reacts to the notion of "standards of civilization," arguing that this reaction alternates among acceptance, challenge, and the creation of alternate ranking systems. Kaczmarska (2016), for example, examines how Russia engages with the notion of "standards of civilization" both in the 19th century and today to improve its status in international politics.…”

Political Imagery and the Russia-Germany-America Triangle

“…Pomerantzev and Weiss (2014) argued that "feeling itself relatively weak, the Kremlin has systematically learnt to use the principles of liberal democracies against them" (4). The ruling clique rebels against and heeds a "standard of civilization" (Kaczmarska 2016). It imitates the West while asserting distinctiveness (Wood and Cox 2021).…”