Russian Political Culture and the Post-Revolutionary Impasse

Political has emerged in the past few years as one of the most widely invoked concepts in the interpretation of Soviet affairs. The concept offers a salutary contribution to the balanced understanding of the character of the Soviet system and its behavior. Generalities about Russian tradition and national character, however, are not enough to demonstrate how the cultural legacy of the remote past may continue to affect the politics of the present. Edward Keenan has made one of the most significant efforts yet to identify the concrete substance of Russian political culture as well as to explain the manner of its influence in the post-revolutionary era. He has brought to light some extraordinary parallels between pre-Petrine patterns of political behavior and the Soviet modus operandi. Indeed, the correspondence is so close that it is hard to believe that Keenan did not have the Soviet regime in mind when he constructed his image of Muscovite politics. In any case, the resemblance between the two epochs implies a powerful carryover of ancient ways into the post-revolutionary mentality. How could this carryover happen? What are its implications? These are the key questions that need to be explained.