DOCSLIB.ORG

Narrating the Border: the Discourse of Control Over China's Northwest Frontier

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Narrating the Border: the Discourse of Control Over China's Northwest Frontier ARBEITSBLATT Nr. 25 2004 INSTITUT FUR ETHNOLOGIE Steven Parham Narrating the Border: The Discourse of Control over China's Northwest Frontier UNIVERSITAT BERN Arbeitsblätter des Instituts für Ethnologie der Universität Bern Herausgegeben von: Annuska Derks Sabine Hoefler Ueli Hostettler Nathalie Peyer Anja Sieber Virginia Suter Michael Toggweiler Magdalena Urrejola Christian Wymann Heinzpeter Znoj Institut für Ethnologie Länggassstr. 49A, CH-3000 Bern 9 Fax +41 31 631 42 12 ISBN 3-906465-25-X © Steven Parham und Institut für Ethnologie der Universität Bern URL: http://www.ethno.unibe.ch/arbeitsblaetter/AB25_Par.pdf This is the electronic edition of Steven Parham, "Narrating the Border: The Discourse of Control over China's Northwest Frontier", Arbeitsblatt Nr. 25, Institut für Ethnologie, Universität Bern, Bern 2004 ISBN: 3-906465-25-X Electronically published November 8, 2004 © Steven Parham und Institut für Ethnologie der Universität Bern. All rights reserved. This text may be copied freely and distributed either electronically or in printed form under the following conditions. You may not copy or distribute it in any other fashion without express written permission from me or the Institut für Ethnologie. Otherwise I encourage you to share this work widely and to link freely to it. Conditions You keep this copyright notice and list of conditions with any copy you make of the text. You keep the preface and all chapters intact. You do not charge money for the text or for access to reading or copying it. That is, you may not include it in any collection, compendium, database, ftp site, CD ROM, etc. which requires payment or any world wide web site which requires payment or registration. You may not charge money for shipping the text or distributing it. If you give it away, these conditions must be intact. For permission to copy or distribute in any other fashion, contact: [email protected] ARBEITSBLATT Nr. 25 2004 Steven Parham Narrating the Border: The Discourse of Control over China’s Northwest Frontier "A true Communist and Internationalist wouldn't assign any particular importance to the question of borders, especially borders between fellow Socialist States." (Nikita Khrushchev 1974) "China and the Central Asian states have been cooperating from Time Immemorial. Geography is not the only factor of their closeness: there is also spiritual affinity." (Han official in Urumqi 2003) "The Chinese are like cockroaches: there are too many of them and you cannot get rid of them." (Kazakh official in Ucharal 2003) Acknowledgments The present paper could not have been accomplished without the support of many people who helped me in many different ways and to whom I would like to express my gratitude. Special thanks go to Professor Hans-Ruedi Wicker, Institute of Ethnology, University of Bern, for his encouragement and advice during the whole process of attempting a study in a region that is, from a theoretical and geographical point of view, not all that readily accessible. The field research for this paper would not have been possible without the generous financial support of the Karman Stiftung in Bern, Switzerland, and Professor Wolfgang Marschall's aid in obtaining this support. Also, I would like to thank the Feldforschungsspesenfonds of the University of Bern for its financial support. Research in Kazakhstan would not at all have been possible without the unwavering aid of Joseph 'let's yorknut' Peddicord whose invaluable Russian skills and personal qualities opened many doors and many more hearts in Kazakhstan; in the frequent laugh-or-cry situations he more than once helped me to keep my equanimity. Dr. Urs Breitenmoser (Institute of Veterinary Virology, University of Bern) I thank for his invaluable time and his knowledge of the area and numerous contacts he made accessible to me. In Kazakhstan, I thank Andy Offenbacher from the Nuclear Technology Safety Centre (United States Department of Energy) in Almaty for his time and the coffee; the director of the IOM in Almaty, Michael Tschanz, for his precious time and insights on the structure of the government of Kazakhstan; Valery Vladimerivich of the Taldyqorghan Business Centre for cutting through red tape; and the migration officer in Ucharal for professing to believe in my innocence and not deporting me back to Almaty again. In China (Xinjiang), I thank Emil and his Tatar gang of thieves for their amazing hospitality in Yining; Ma YueLiang in Turpan for several nights of genuine Chinese hospitality; and the border guards at Khorgos (Chinese side) for proving that not all who wear a uniform must be officious. I would like to express my thanks to Emanuel Schwarz for taking the time to edit this thesis and providing many a night of insight and inspiration. This is also a good opportunity to express my gratitude to My Dying Bride and Summoning who have kept me awake and motivated through long nights of writing and months of bus travel over the last years in all parts of Asia. Last but of course not least, I wish to thank Michèle with all my heart for being my flittery muse and providing a constant flow of creative vibes. Up The Irons for our next trip to Asia. Table of Contents Introduction..................................................................................................1 1. A Framework for China's Northern Frontier.......................................4 1.1. Methods of Frontier Anthropology.........................................................................4 1.2. The Nation-State and Its Frontiers..........................................................................6 2. A History of China's Frontier Relations..............................................16 2.1. Steppe Empires and China's Frontiers ..................................................................16 2.2. Tsarist Russia Encounters Qing China .................................................................22 2.3. Soviet Central Asia and 20th Century China.........................................................29 3. Frontier Policies Through Time: The Discourse of Control..............41 3.1. Frontier Policy from Han to Early Qing China.....................................................41 3.2. Frontier Policy in Qing China...............................................................................46 3.3. Frontier Policy in the ROC ...................................................................................51 3.4. Frontier Policy in the PRC....................................................................................54 3.5. Xinjiang and Its Borders Today............................................................................60 4. Field Research on the Xinjiang-Kazakhstan Border .........................65 4.1. Introduction...........................................................................................................65 4.2. Research Methodology and Critique ....................................................................68 4.3. Discussion: Kazakhstan ........................................................................................74 4.4. Discussion: Xinjiang.............................................................................................85 4.5. One Borderline – Two Frontiers: Comparing Both Sides ....................................96 Conclusion.................................................................................................100 Appendices I. Interviews Conducted .............................................................................................103 II. Maps 1: Central China and Inner Asia.........................................................................106 2: Xinjiang, Mongolia, and the South-eastern Kazakh Steppe ..........................107 3: XUAR and Its Neighbouring States Today ...................................................108 4: The Kazakhstan-Xinjiang Border ..................................................................109 5: Southeast Kazakhstan (Taldyqorghan Oblast) – Xinjiang Border ................110 6: Northeast Kazakhstan Oblast – Xinjiang – Russian Border..........................111 III. Joint Kazakhstan-PRC Declaration of 1995 (Russian Original)..........................112 IV. Pictures ................................................................................................................113 References..................................................................................................................116 1 Introduction It takes but a brief and cursory glance at atlases, encyclopaedias, and historical compendia to realise that cartographers excel in highlighting the boundaries between discrete entities, be they natural, as in maps showing topographic (mountains versus plains), climatic (tropical versus temperate), or geographic (deserts versus rainforests) features, or human in nature, as with maps of demography (urban centres versus rural peripheries), language areas, or political bodies (the representation of nation-states in a multitude of colours). Learning to 'interpret' and 'read' maps is instilled in most European school children at a young age and we have come to accept the graphic representation of these discrete entities as a phenomenon approaching the realm of intuition. However, how often do those contemplating a map pause to consider the assumption that these depicted objects, by their very nature, are generally unable to represent anything other than bounded, discrete entities? This may be intuitive in respect to the assumption
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Jacobs – Soviet Far East Geography 1930S
    THE NEW YORK TIMES The Opinion Pages The Opinionator Exclusive Online Commentary from The Times February 21, 2012 Manchurian Trivia By FRANK JACOBS Borderlines explores the global map, one line at a time. Here’s a bit of insight into the mind of a budding map-head. While my grade-school geography teacher attempted to stuff our heads with tables on the average rainfall in the Amazon and graphs on the relevance of the Donbas [1] for the Soviet economy, I kept staring at the page showing East Asia, wondering: Does Russia share a border with North Korea, or does China touch the sea? The map stubbornly refused to yield enough detail for an answer. The line that defined China’s borders with North Korea and Russia was inked too thickly to determine whether there was a Chinese-Russian-North Korean tripoint on land (but very close to shore), or a Chinese (but very narrow) beachfront on the Sea of Japan [2]. Both options seemed bizarre, yet either would have obvious geopolitical implications: in the former case, Russia would have unimpeded traffic with North Korea; in the latter, China would have direct access to a strategic body of water. Did the mapmakers deliberately gloss over the issue, not wanting to be bothered with such trivia [3]? It’s more likely that they too didn’t quite know where to draw the line: the last border disputes in the area, a region with some of the world’s tightest, most heavily policed borders, were settled less than a decade ago. Even then, the border is too intricate to display adequately on a small- scale map [4]; you can see it with a zoomable online map, but you have to get in pretty close to see what the dickens is going on.
    [Show full text]
  • A Garrison in Time Saves Nine
    1 A Garrison in Time Saves Nine: Frontier Administration and ‘Drawing In’ the Yafahan Orochen in Late Qing Heilongjiang Loretta E. Kim The University of Hong Kong [email protected] Abstract In 1882 the Qing dynasty government established the Xing’an garrison in Heilongjiang to counteract the impact of Russian exploration and territorial expansion into the region. The Xing’an garrison was only operative for twelve years before closing down. What may seem to be an unmitigated failure of military and civil administrative planning was in fact a decisive attempt to contend with the challenges of governing borderland people rather than merely shoring up physical territorial limits. The Xing’an garrison arose out of the need to “draw in” the Yafahan Orochen population, one that had developed close relations with Russians through trade and social interaction. This article demonstrates that while building a garrison did not achieve the intended goal of strengthening control over the Yafahan Orochen, it was one of several measures the Qing employed to shape the human frontier in this critical borderland. Keywords 1 2 Butha, Eight Banners, frontier administration, Heilongjiang, Orochen Introduction In 1882, the Heilongjiang general’s yamen began setting up a new garrison. This milestone was distinctive because 150 years had passed since the last two were established, which had brought the actual total of garrisons within Heilongjiang to six.. The new Xing’an garrison (Xing’an cheng 興安城) would not be the last one built before the end of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) but it was notably short-lived, in operation for only twelve years before being dismantled.
    [Show full text]
  • Combating Political Violence Movements with Third-Force Options Doron Zimmermann ∗
    Between Minimum Force and Maximum Violence: Combating Political Violence Movements with Third-Force Options Doron Zimmermann ∗ Introduction: Balancing the Tools of Counter-Terrorism In most liberal democratic states it is the responsibility of the police forces to cope with “internal” threats, including terrorism, since in such states terrorism is invariably defined as a criminal act rather than a manifestation of insurgent political violence. In many such instances, the resultant quantitative and qualitative overtaxing of law en- forcement capabilities to keep the peace has led to calls by sections of the public, as well as by the legislative and executive branches of government, to expand both the le- gal and operational means available to combat terrorism, and to boost civilian agen- cies’ capacity to deal with terrorism in proportion to the perceived threat. The deterio- rating situation in Ulster in Northern Ireland between 1968 and 1972 and beyond is an illustrative case in point.1 Although there have been cases of successfully transmogrifying police forces into military-like formations, the best-known and arguably most frequent example of aug- mented state responses to the threat posed by insurgent political violence movements is the use of the military in the fight against terrorism and in the maintenance of internal security. While it is imperative that the threat of a collapse of national cohesion due to the overextension of internal civil security forces be averted, the deployment of all branches of the armed forces against a terrorist threat is not without its own pitfalls. Paul Wilkinson has enunciated some of the problems posed by the use of counter-ter- rorism military task forces, not the least of which is that [a] fully militarized response implies the complete suspension of the civilian legal system and its replacement by martial law, summary punishments, the imposition of curfews, military censorship and extensive infringements of normal civil liberties in the name of the exigencies of war.
    [Show full text]
  • The Changkufeng and Nomonhan Incidents – the Undeclared Border War and Its Impact on World War Ii
    University of Texas at El Paso DigitalCommons@UTEP Open Access Theses & Dissertations 2014-01-01 The hC angkufeng And Nomonhan Incidents - The Undeclared Border War And Its Impact on World War II Tobias Block University of Texas at El Paso, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/open_etd Part of the Asian History Commons, Asian Studies Commons, Military History Commons, Slavic Languages and Societies Commons, and the Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies Commons Recommended Citation Block, Tobias, "The hC angkufeng And Nomonhan Incidents - The ndeU clared Border War And Its Impact on World War II" (2014). Open Access Theses & Dissertations. 1588. https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/open_etd/1588 This is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UTEP. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UTEP. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE CHANGKUFENG AND NOMONHAN INCIDENTS – THE UNDECLARED BORDER WAR AND ITS IMPACT ON WORLD WAR II TOBIAS BLOCK DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY APPROVED: __________________________________________ Joshua Fan, Ph.D., Chair __________________________________________ Paul Edison, Ph.D. __________________________________________ Jose Villalobos, Ph.D. __________________________________ Bess Sirmon-Taylor, Ph.D. Interim Dean of the Graduate School THE CHANGKUFENG AND NOMONHAN INCIDENTS - THE UNDECLARED BORDER WAR AND ITS IMPACT ON WORLD WAR II by Tobias Block, BA Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at El Paso in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department Of HISTORY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS OF EL PASO May 2014 Table of Contents Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
    [Show full text]
  • Frontier Politics and Sino-Soviet Relations: a Study of Northwestern Xinjiang, 1949-1963
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2017 Frontier Politics And Sino-Soviet Relations: A Study Of Northwestern Xinjiang, 1949-1963 Sheng Mao University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Mao, Sheng, "Frontier Politics And Sino-Soviet Relations: A Study Of Northwestern Xinjiang, 1949-1963" (2017). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2459. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2459 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2459 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Frontier Politics And Sino-Soviet Relations: A Study Of Northwestern Xinjiang, 1949-1963 Abstract This is an ethnopolitical and diplomatic study of the Three Districts, or the former East Turkestan Republic, in China’s northwest frontier in the 1950s and 1960s. It describes how this Muslim borderland between Central Asia and China became today’s Yili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture under the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The Three Districts had been in the Soviet sphere of influence since the 1930s and remained so even after the Chinese Communist takeover in October 1949. After the Sino- Soviet split in the late 1950s, Beijing transformed a fragile suzerainty into full sovereignty over this region: the transitional population in Xinjiang was demarcated, border defenses were established, and Soviet consulates were forced to withdraw. As a result, the Three Districts changed from a Soviet frontier to a Chinese one, and Xinjiang’s outward focus moved from Soviet Central Asia to China proper. The largely peaceful integration of Xinjiang into PRC China stands in stark contrast to what occurred in Outer Mongolia and Tibet.
    [Show full text]
  • March 02, 1969 Soviet Report to East German Leadership on Sino-Soviet Border Clashes
    Digital Archive digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org International History Declassified March 02, 1969 Soviet Report to East German Leadership on Sino-Soviet Border Clashes Citation: “Soviet Report to East German Leadership on Sino-Soviet Border Clashes,” March 02, 1969, History and Public Policy Program Digital Archive, SAMPO-BArch J IV 2/202/359. Translated by Christian F. Ostermann. http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/116975 Summary: Soviet report summarizing Sino-Soviet military clashes along the border and the island of Damansky. Credits: This document was made possible with support from the Leon Levy Foundation. Original Language: German Contents: English Translation 5 Copies 3/8/69 On March 2, 1969, at 11 o’clock local time, the Chinese organized a provocation on the Island Damansky which is located on the river Ussuri south of Khabarovsk, between the points Bikin and Iman (Primorsky Region). The ascertained facts are that this action had been prepared by the Chinese government for a long time. In December 1968 and in January/February 1969, groups of armed Chinese soldiers violated the border at the Damansky Island several times, operating from Hunzy. After protests by the Soviet border guards, the Chinese military returned to their border posts or marched along the line which constitutes the border between China and the USSR. In the events of March 2, 1969, the border control forces at Hunzy played only a secondary role. An especially trained unit of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army with a force of more than 200 men was used for the staging of this provocation. Secretly, this unit was brought on the Island Damanskiy during the night of March 2.
    [Show full text]
  • First Years of the Re-Establishment of Estonia's Naval Defence
    142 First Years of the Re-establishment of Estonia’s Naval Defence Reet Naber ABSTRACT The Navy and the fleet had been very important to Estonia during the War of Independence of 1918–1920. The British fleet that arrived at the roadstead in Tallinn in December fended off the threat of the Soviet Russia’s Baltic Fleet and guaranteed supply channels for weapons, volunteers and other aid to be brought to Estonia. History and historians played an important role in the restoration of Esto- nian naval defence: the Estonian Academic Military History Society was founded in the Maritime Museum in 1988, and the Guild of Estonians Who Served in the Finnish Navy during World War II was established in autumn 1991. The subma- rine ‘Lembit’, which had been launched in 1937, once belonged to Estonia and was reclaimed from the Baltic Fleet in early 1992, became the first vessel of the Estonian Navy. The first naval units of the Defence League were also restored in 1992 and they took over a number of patrol boats of the Soviet border guard. The naval defence of Estonia was built up in the cooperation and compe- tition of several institutions – the Defence Forces, the Border Guards and the Estonian Maritime Administration. The establishment of maritime border guard units was considered of primary importance. Estonia received ships and boats from the Nordic countries, Germany and the US, and some Soviet vessels were also in working order. Structuring the Naval Forces of the Estonian Defence Forces started later and the Commander of the Navy was appointed in February 1994.
    [Show full text]
  • Facing the Terrorist Challenge
    LANDESVERTEIDIGUNGSAKADEMIE WIEN FacingtheTerrorist Challenge- CentralAsia’sRolein RegionalandInternational Co-operation StudyGroups RegionalStabilityinCentralAsia SecuritySectorReform ViennaandGeneva,April2005 Publishers: Bureau for Security Policy at the Austrian Ministry of Defence; National Defence Academy, Vienna and Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, Geneva in co-operation with PfP-Consortium of Defence Academies and Security Studies Institutes Editors: Anja H. Ebnöther Maj Ernst M. Felberbauer Martin Malek Managing Editors: Karin Grimm Silvia Hyka Facilitating Editor: Etienne Berchtold Production: Akademiedruckerei Landesverteidigungsakademie, Vienna. Address: Stiftgasse 2a, 1070 Vienna, AUSTRIA ISBN: 3-902275-13-8 2 CONTENTS Philipp H. FLURI Preface 5 Heidemaria GÜRER Forms of Regional Cooperation in Central Asia 7 Bakhtiyar KAMILOV Formation of Conceptual Approaches to the Problems of Ensuring National Security in Central Asian States - Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan 19 Sergey GOLUNOV Border Security in Central Asia: Before and After 9/11 89 Toktogul K. KAKCHEKEYEV Changes to Kyrgyzstan’s Special Forces; Influences on the War on Terror 111 Anna MATVEEVA Tajikistan: Evolution of the Security Sector And the War on Terror 133 3 Serhiy I. PYROZHKOV Geopolitical Change in Central Asia; A View from Ukraine 157 Rafik S. SAYFULIN Republic of Uzbekistan against Terrorism: Approaches, Experiences, Prospects 169 Raisa K. KADYROVA Protection of Power in Central Asia – Using Terror as a Pretext? A Kirgyz NGO's Vision 185 Joris VAN BLADEL Security as a Holistic Idea and the Consequences for the Central Asian States 209 Peter K. FORSTER The Terrorist Threat and Security Sector Reform in Central Asia: The Uzbek Case 227 Charles HARNS Migration, State Security and Regional Stability in Central Asia 247 Bulat K.
    [Show full text]
  • Case Study Report
    EUBORDERREGIONS FP7 RESEARCH PROJECT CASE STUDY #1 NORWAY - RUSSIA Case Study Report Elaborated by The Barents Institute Team UIT The Arctic University of Norway 1 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 4 1.1 The border, the border region and the border traffic zone ............................................................. 4 1.2 Data material and network analysis ................................................................................................. 5 1.3 Historical background ....................................................................................................................... 8 1.4 The impact of the past on current cross-border relations ............................................................. 10 1.5 Minorities and their impact on current cross-border relations ..................................................... 11 2. Socio-economic characteristics ................................................................................................... 13 2.1 Finnmark County ............................................................................................................................. 13 2.2 Murmansk Region ........................................................................................................................... 14 2.3 Regional indicators compared to national indicators ..................................................................... 16 2.4 Differences
    [Show full text]
  • ICRP Calendar
    The notions of International Relations (IR) in capital letters and international relations (ir) in lowercase letters have two different meanings. The first refers to a scholarly discipline while the second one means a set of contemporary events with historical importance, which influences global-politics. In order to make observations, formulate theories and describe patterns within the framework of ‘IR’, one needs to fully comprehend specific events related to ‘ir’. It is why the Institute for Cultural Relations Policy (ICRP) believes that a timeline on which all the significant events of international relations are identified might be beneficial for students, scholars or professors who deal with International Relations. In the following document all the momentous wars, treaties, pacts and other happenings are enlisted with a monthly division, which had considerable impact on world-politics. January 1800 | Nationalisation of the Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed 01 from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Dutch government in 1800. 1801 | Establishment of the United Kingdom On 1 January 1801, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland united to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Most of Ireland left the union as the Irish Free State in 1922, leading to the remaining state being renamed as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1927. 1804 | Haiti independence declared The independence of Haiti was recognized by France on 17 April 1825.
    [Show full text]
  • Afghanistan's Police
    UNITeD StateS INSTITUTe of Peace www.usip.org SPeCIAL RePoRT 1200 17th Street NW • Washington, DC 20036 • 202.457.1700 • fax 202.429.6063 ABOUT THE REPO R T Robert M. Perito The Afghanistan National Police is Afghanistan’s front line of defense against insurgency and organized crime. Yet despite nearly $10 billion in international police assistance, the Afghan police are riddled with corruption and incompetence and are far from the professional law enforcement organization needed Afghanistan’s Police to ensure stability and development. This report details the past failures and current challenges facing the international police assistance program in Afghanistan. It draws conclusions about the prospects for current programs and offers The Weak Link in Security Sector Reform recommendations for corrective action. The report urges that the international community’s approach to police assistance expand to embrace a comprehensive program for security Summary sector reform and the rule of law. • In seven years, the Afghan National Police forces have grown to 68,000 personnel, with The report is based on a conference titled “Policing a target end strength of 86,000. The ANP includes the uniformed police force, which is Afghanistan,” which was hosted by the United States Institute responsible for general police duties, and specialized police forces, which deal with public of Peace’s Security Sector Reform Working Group on May 27, order, counternarcotics, terrorism, and border control. 2009. It draws on the author’s participation in numerous Afghanistan-related conferences, interviews, workshops, and • Despite the impressive growth in numbers, the expenditure of $10 billion in international study groups; on his two visits to the country; and on an police assistance, and the involvement of the United States, the European Union, and extensive review of the literature on the Afghanistan police multiple donors, the ANP is riddled with corruption and generally unable to protect Afghan development program.
    [Show full text]
  • Gathering and Geopolitics in Eighteenth-Century Eurasia
    The Eye of the Tsar: Intelligence- Gathering and Geopolitics in Eighteenth-Century Eurasia The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Afinogenov, Gregory. 2016. The Eye of the Tsar: Intelligence- Gathering and Geopolitics in Eighteenth-Century Eurasia. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:33493450 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA The Eye of the Tsar: Intelligence-Gathering and Geopolitics in Eighteenth-Century Eurasia A dissertation presented by Gregory Dmitrievich Afinogenov to The Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of History Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts November, 2015 © 2016 - Gregory Dmitrievich Afinogenov All rights reserved. Dissertation Advisor: Professor David Armitage Gregory Dmitrievich Afinogenov The Eye of the Tsar: Intelligence-Gathering and Geopolitics in Eighteenth-Century Eurasia Abstract This dissertation argues for the importance of knowledge production for understanding the relationship between the Russian Empire, the Qing Dynasty, and European actors, from the mid-seventeenth to the early nineteenth century. It focuses specifically on intelligence-gathering, including espionage, as a genre of intellectual work situated in state institutions, oriented toward pragmatic goals, and produced by and for an audience of largely anonymous bureaucrats. It relies on archival sources from Moscow, St.
    [Show full text]