Questioning Post-Soviet

QUESTIONING POST-SOVIET Edward C. Holland and Matthew Derrick, Editors QUESTIONING POST-SOVIET Edward C. Holland and Matthew Derrick, Editors Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars One Woodrow Wilson Plaza 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20004-3027 www.wilsoncenter.org ISBN: 978-1-938027-60-4 Cover Photo: Damaged Lenin statue sitting on a chair with a book in his hand. peeling vintage paint. Ruins of the factory background. The concept of system failure © Shutterstock/ Pavel Yavnik November 2016 THE WILSON CENTER, chartered by Congress as the official memorial to President Woodrow Wilson, is the nation’s key nonpartisan policy forum for tackling global issues through independent research and open dialogue to inform actionable ideas for Congress, the Administration, and the broader policy community. Conclusions or opinions expressed in Center publications and programs are those of the authors and speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Center staff, fellows, trustees, advisory groups, or any individuals or organizations that provide financial support to the Center. Please visit us online at www.wilsoncenter.org. Jane Harman, Director, President, and CEO BOARD OF TRUSTEES Thomas R. Nides, Chair Public members: William D. Adams, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Secretary of Health and Human Services; David Ferriero, Archivist of the United States; Carla D. Hayden, Librarian of Congress; John F. Kerry, Secretary of State; John B. King Jr., Secretary of Education; David J. Skorton, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Designated appointee of the president from within the federal government: Fred P. Hochberg, Chairman and President, Export- Import Bank of the United States Private Citizen Members: Peter J. Beshar, John T. Casteen III, Thelma Duggin, Lt. Gen. Susan Helms, USAF (Ret.), Barry S. Jackson, Nathalie Rayes, Earl W. Stafford, Jane Watson Stetson WILSON NATIONAL CABINET Ambassador Joseph B. Gildenhorn & Alma Gildenhorn, Co-chairs Peter J. Beshar, Eddie & Sylvia Brown, Ambassador Sue & Ambassador Chuck Cobb, Lester Crown, Thelma Duggin, Judi Flom, Sander R. Gerber, Harman Family Foundation, Frank F. Islam, Willem Kooyker, Frederic V. & Marlene A. Malek, Ambassador Robert A. & Julie Mandell, Thomas R. Nides, Nathalie Rayes, Wayne Rogers, B. Francis Saul II, Diana Davis Spencer, Earl W. Stafford, Robert Stein, Jane Watson Stetson, Leo Zickler TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Preface Matthew Rojansky 5 Introduction Edward C. Holland and Matthew Derrick 19 Uncertainty in the Urban Form: Post-Soviet Cities Today Megan Dixon and Jessica Graybill 39 Cursed Economies: How the Soviet Legacy Haunts and Hampers Reform Sergey Aleksashenko 55 Soviet Etchings on the Post-Soviet Parchment: The Past and Present of Mobility and Migration Alexander Diener 75 From Private to Public: Religious Practice and Belief in Russia and Central Asia Edward C. Holland and Matthew Derrick 93 How “The State” Survived the Collapse of the Soviet Union William E. Pomeranz 103 Frozen Fragments, Simmering Spaces: The Post-Soviet De Facto States Gerard Toal and John O’Loughlin 127 The Notion of Eurasia: A Spatial, Historical and Political Construct Marlene Laruelle 143 Conclusion: After Post-Soviet Edward C. Holland 153 Contributors 15 Post-Soviet Successor States Baltic 100 K Sea Tallinn ESTONIA LATVIA RUSSIA Riga LITHUANIA Vilnius Moscow Minsk BELARUS Kyiv Astana UKRAINE Chișinău KAZAKHSTAN MOLDOVA GEORGIA Black Sea UZBEKISTAN Tbilisi Caspian Bishkek Sea Yerevan Baku Tashkent KYRGYZSTAN TURKMENISTAN ARMENIA Dushanbe Ashgabat AZERBAIJAN TAJIKISTAN Figure A: Location Map Preface PREFACE As I write, we commemorate twenty-five years since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of fifteen sovereign and independent successor states. The same historical events also definitively ended the Cold War, a process which had itself begun thirty years ago or more. The ongoing legacies of both these transformative events have been of central importance to the mission and work of the Kennan Institute. Indeed, it was our cofounder, George F. Kennan, who in his seminal writings shaping U.S. policy for the Cold War, encouraged Americans to look beyond the bluster of superpower political, military, and economic rivalry to the deep historical, psychological, and cultural roots of Moscow’s conduct. Yet rather than clarifying the intellectual dilemmas attendant upon studying the former Soviet Union, the collapse of the Soviet empire and the Cold War’s end underscored a host of new problems with which scholars, policymakers, and the general public had to wrestle. On the most basic level, a question emerged from day one whether the space occupied by the various former components of the Soviet Union could ever again be thought of as a coherent whole. This was, of course, a debate about nomenclature–was it the post-Soviet space, Eurasia, the newly independent states, or something else–but also much more. This region, however it was labeled, became the locus of dynamic, interrelated, but also contradictory processes of political and economic restructuring, national identity construction, global and regional integration, and even revolution and armed conflict. Such transfor- mations, with varying energies and straining in practically every direction, continue to this day. What has not changed is the commitment of the Kennan Institute to pur- sue the study of these questions in all their complexity. We seek to support deep scholarly inquiry and debate, focused on insights that can help to shape and inform U.S. policy toward the region, and to do so as a public trust, open and accessible to the American people and the wider world. We 1 Matthew Rojansky Preface have done this consistently for over forty years, through thousands of publications, events, and fellowships. And we have been uniquely positioned to sustain deep scholarly interest and expertise on the region during times of bitter rivalry, promising friendship, and tumultuous transition alike. The topic of this volume, Questioning Post-Soviet, and the diverse dimensions addressed in the chapters herein, fittingly, embody the Kennan Insti- tute’s ongoing mission. Leading scholars in each of their respective fields, the contributing authors have gathered here the key concepts that can help us, as observers, understand the region that was once called the Soviet Union. And they have done so, thanks to the vision and stewardship of the editors, such that the whole is clearly more than just the sum of the parts. The reader may come to this volume with his or her own strongly held views on the question suggested by the title, and yet by the end, those views will have been forced to expand in at least some dimensions. That is because there clearly can be no single definitive answer to the question of what this space is today, much less what it has been over the past quarter century, or what it may be a quarter century from now. There is instead an opportunity, at practically any time, to enhance our collective knowledge and understanding by posing the question, and by inviting diverse and thoughtful answers. Why have we chosen to raise the question now, with this particular selec- tion of topics and in this particular format? The 25th anniversary, of course, has the advantage of consolidating attention on this region, but it also offers us as observers the chance to pause and take stock, which may in turn yield greater space for reflection. Such time and space is especially precious as dangers to peace, stability, and prosperity once again loom over the region and the wider world, drawing not only policymakers but scholars on all sides into sometimes bitter and destructive conflict. Perhaps we have undertak- en to publish this volume, most of all, because it has been, as we knew it would be, a fascinating and rewarding adventure, a chance to solicit big ideas from the leading scholars in our field, and to take a whirlwind tour of a quarter century of change and continuity. Speaking for myself and my colleagues here at the Kennan Institute and the Wilson Center, it has been a pleasure to work with the editors, Profes- sors Derrick and Holland, and with each of our contributing authors. We are 2 Preface deeply grateful to each of them for taking the time and energy to add their expert voices to this forum, and we look forward to continuing the discus- sion long after this volume goes to press. We are likewise grateful to the U.S. State Department and the Congress for their continued support of our field through the Title VIII program, which has helped to make this and so much of the Kennan Institute’s most important work possible. Indeed, the majority of the contributors to this volume have been beneficiaries of Title VIII support in the course of their careers. Finally, I want to especially thank my colleagues Liz Malinkin, Kathy Butterfield, and Kerrin Cuison, as well as our copy editor Joseph Gregory, without whose tireless efforts this publica- tion would never have come together. To conclude, let me say that for a frequent and enthusiastic American visitor to the region, such as myself, this volume may be as much a travel guide as an analytical tool. Armed with new insights about the religious and com- munal practices of populations that are often highly mobile, snapshots of places thriving under renaissance as well as those enduring slow motion collapse, and profiles of the thinkers and administrators shaping their respective societies, I am certain to benefit even more from my next journey. And in that I am surely not alone. Whether you are persuaded or provoked by this volume’s diverse perspectives on its central question, I can offer this advice: go there, and see the region for yourself. Matthew Rojansky Director, Kennan Institute 3 Introduction INTRODUCTION Edward C.

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