Russia´s Ghosts are Never Dead

Academics tend to disapprove and disgrace journalistic inquieries as lacking a theoretical and ideatic basis, but for contemporary analysts of political events they need the backbone provided by journalists in order to create realistic interpretations of facts. 

Russia is not an easy topic to write about and live in. Under Putin´s reign for too many years to remember when it really started, the country is playing the maskirovka game internationally where its people are battling poverty and restriction of their basic rights. Internationally though, and in the field of memory policies, there is business as usual, with new and old ideologies being concocted for political survival reasons.

The Long Hangover: Putin´s New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past is a work of journalistic investigation into the genesis of the memory revival and policies underwent by Putin. Through interview with simple people, some of them inmates in the Gulag or former participants to WWII-related events, Shaul Walker the then Moscow correspondent of The Guardian, offers a lot of hints about the directions of the politics of memory as dictated by Putin and his trustees. Taking over a country in a desolate state of affairs the Russian president played hard the cards of pride and identity, reshaping collective memory and reigniting feelings of pride and self-reliance. Such moves operate on medium-term and according to the interviews related in the book, almost succeeded. 

I would have been keen to read - or hear, as I had access to the book in audio format - more critical perspectives and maybe some theoretical sources too, but journalistic work, as I know myself well, does not have too much time to deal with this part of the investigation, as it needs to stay connected on facts and specific details.

At the history scale, the strategies and policies implemented in the field of memory policies deserve a more extended academic consideration. I would be very curious to explore more into detail those moves and their unique genesis applied to other countries from the region, including former Soviet republics, as Russia and the Soviet Union in general is part of their history and everyday life.

Neglected for various reasons, this part of the world continue to offer interesting topics of study for academics and researchers of contemporary politics and mentalities. No matter how fast the geopolitical interests are shifting, keeping an educated eye into this region is rewarding and always intellectually challenging.

Rating: 3 stars

What´s in a Name?

At the beginning of a very inspirational workshop I took part to at the beginning of this week, organised by LADS Akademie in Berlin, on topics of anti-racism, the participants were asked to tell the story of their name: what does it mean, what is the origin, what is the story or the stories associated with it.

A very good start of a long discussion about racism and discrimination, in Germany and elsewhere, because, more often than not, a name may carry a heavy history. A name is not only a choice of your parent - with all the positive and negative aspects involved by that - but especially for those living as minorities or displaced from their countries of origins, it carries a tragic destiny. 

Especially when, in Berlin, for instance, a foreign-sounding name (especially if labelled of outside Western Europe, Arabic or Slavic) may limit your chances to rent an apartment. Or, when you are forced to change it for a more ´majority´-sounding one, in order to better fit the sound and the music of oppressive majorities.

When your own place of birth changes political hands, your name may be despised as belonging to a relative minority or majority. It can be wrongly written and pronounced in official contexts and, eventually, changed against your will. Your identity documents are the proof of how one or another authority decided against your will to modify your name. According to one hilarious family story, the brothers of my maternal grandfather were each and every one of them had their family name written completely different up to the various moods and levels of literacy of the officials that registered their births. At least in one instance, my great-great parents were told: What name is that? Doesn´t sound local? So they automatically made it sound so...

Learning how to correctly pronounce one name is a sign of respect and consideration, the first step towards acknowledging someone´s identity, and therefore respecting it. 

Everything starts with a name and indeed, a name means so much. Sometimes, a whole rich story extended across time, geography and generations.

Essay on the New French Elites

It was a long time since I´ve read a French-language essay, by Pierre Birnbaum, about the circulation of elites. His latest, Où va l´Etat. Essai sur les nouvelles élites du pouvoir published in 2018 by Seuil was an easy yet informative read on the changes underwent lately by the French elites. 

Despite the general tone, the book has to do with France - and only France. Birnbaum is a writer I used to quote often during my SciPo university classes and actually I was partially agreeing with his methods and conclusions. His researches are following the sociological methods integrated into a perspective of the historian of the state and I appreciate the mix of research perspectives and methods.

The analysis of Birnbaum starts with the raise to power of president Macron and inferrs further that the French state is currently under threat by the private sector, whose representative the current resident of the Elysée is. 

Long before Macron administration, the traditional path of circulation of elites - mostly via the Ecole Normale Supèrieure (ENA), the classical network of political representatives both at the local and central level - began to erode. Nowadays, according to Birnbaum whose analysis is based on research of professional CVs of the power representatives, the percentage of people belonging to the economic environment is over 50%. Besides a statistical account of persons, this challenge means that concepts of public management are entering the French political space which may on the long term challenge France with the concepts of the American society ´ouverte à tous les vents au monde du privé´. Besides the French existential fears when confronted with the American interference, Birnbaum also fears a higher occurence of corruption and he brings as arguments the increased frequency of mismanagement of public funds by political representatives from the last decade. The next effect of such changes may be the weakening of the state and the threat of populism.

I personally use this method of professional CV analysis when it comes to identify patterns and trends among elites. It is the easiest way to read the changes taking place within a society as well as the old and emerging centers of power.

However, only this approach is not enough for understanding a complex political system. For instance, Birnbaum´s analysis does not mention the fact that Macron won the power based on the support of a political party newly created. The essay does not have in any case any analysis about the situation of the current political party which is a pity for the overall evaluation of the situation. 

On the other hand, the fact that the traditional channels of power created by the selection of elites via ENA, for instance, is becoming obsolete is not necessarily a bad news as competition to this channel can offer more diversity and opportunities for the state configuration. 

Personally, I would have expect more than an essay about the new French elites, but I promise to return with more French analysis about the current system and its challenges, especially at the level of the intellectual elites. 

Rating: 3 stars