ToC Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas – East European History, vol. 65 (2017), issue 4

Hermann Beyer-Thoma Discussion

Vol. 65 (2017), issue 4

Étienne Forestier-Peyrat: Soviet Federalism at Work: Lessons from the History of the Transcaucasian Federation, 1922–1936, pp. 529-559

This paper starts from a discussion of a forgotten page of South-Caucasian history, the existence from 1920 to 1936 of a Transcaucasian Federation (ZSFSR) uniting Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaidžan, in order to reconsider two claims generally made about the Soviet regime. First, that the building blocs of the Soviet state were national republics, a fact that only consolidated after the Second World War. Second, that Soviet federalism was a mere Potemkin village camouflaging an exceedingly centralized state. The author argues that federalism was taken seriously precisely because it provided Soviet leaders, notably in the initial period of the USSR, with original political and administrative tools, that allowed for a management of multinational societies and multilevel conflicts, and created structures of mutual control between Transcaucasian actors. This argument is made on the basis of numerous published and archival sources coming from the three Transcaucasian republics and Russia, as well as European and Turkish diplomatic sources. Far from being a footnote in the history of the Soviet Union, the ZSFSR can indicate new paths for a wider reconsideration of the political uses of federalism in authoritarian regimes.


Svetlana Suveica: Loyalitäten im Zeitalter der Extreme: Lokale Beamte Bessarabiens während des Zweiten Weltkriegs (1939–1945) [Loyalties in the Age of Extremes: Local Officials in Bessarabia during World War II (1939–1945)], pp. 560-596

The article discusses the issue of loyalty in the Southeast European region of Bessarabia (today Republic of Moldova), which during World War II several times switched its political status from Romania to USSR and back several times (1940, 1941, and 1944). The analysis, based on an extensive documentary basis from different archives, provides a new bottom-up perspective, which has in focus local public institutions and their employees. It reveals that both regimes, while acknowledging the importance of the bearers of local knowledge of the society and entrusting them daily administrative issues, with constant distrust looked upon the activity of local employees during the previous regime and suspected them of “betrayal”. No standard criteria of loyalty assessment were applied; it was fragile and had a situational character. When one regime left and another came, the great majority of high-rank public officials (heads of districts and mayors under the Romanians, and heads of local councils under the Soviets), left Bessarabia together with the army and administration, in order to avoid annihilation. In contrast, low-rank employees (e. g. secretaries, accountants, as well as priests and teachers) stayed in the region, their decision being guided rather by personal and family interests than by political or other considerations. The daily praxis of loyalty was based on pragmatic adjustment to the new political requirements, so that personal and career benefits were ensured. Regardless of their origin and duty, people made efforts to survive the war and secure their families’ well-being; public employees did not make an exception and developed different survival strategies, such as inventing new autobiographies. The findings of this article challenge the dominant versions of the wartime histories of the region written through the ‘occupation vs. liberation’ lens, showing that there was ‘continuity’ rather than ‘rupture’ at the local level. Through this perspective, an entangled version of the history of the contested Bessarabian (Mold­ovan) borderland that encompasses both the Romanian and the Soviet regimes can be written.


Shohei Saito: Crossing Perspectives in “Manchukuo”: Russian Eurasianism and Japanese Pan-Asianism, pp. 597-623

The paper explores Japan’s use of Eurasianism to promulgate Pan-Asianism in the 1920s and 1930s while Russian émigrés in Manchukuo utilized Eurasianism to resist the concept of Pan-Asianism. The writings of Nikolai Trubetzkoy are particularly informative in this analysis as we consider his rejection of pan-isms and the use of his writings to justify Pan-Asianism. Ultimately, the motivations behind pan-isms parallel those of nationalism, as ethnic groups vie for superiority, often based on inferiority complexes and fueled by the need to compensate for perceived inferiority.


Dmitry Zhukov, Sergey Lyamin: Non-linear Effects of Turbulent Institutional Modernization, pp. 624-650

This article looks into new developments and additions to the concept of modernization generated by computer experiments with simulation models. The authors focused on the findings obtained within a number of modeling paradigms, including agent-oriented, system dynamics modeling, fractal geometry and self-organized criticality. The article presents a review of nonlinear effects emerging in the conditions of forced institutional modernization in the BRICS countries, for instance. The authors show that ‘turbulent’ modernization is typical for such countries, and is accompanied by a number of adverse factors, including cause-effect disbalance, phase transitions, sizable role of small-scale interactions, which (in some cases) may have a crucial effect on institutional dynamics. In particular, such effects have manifested themselves on the post-Soviet stage of the relations between the federal government and regional political elites in Russia. The article is also centered around issues related to preservation and expansion of traditional institutions and their influence on national modernization projects. The authors analyze heuristic potential of different models for simulation of rapid disintegration of institutions and for the development of technologies propelling institution collapse. The present models imply the scenarios in which minor external impact may cause catastrophic consequences in a weak system of institutions ridden by archaic and dysfunctional norms and practices. The authors highlight the theoretical feasibility and practical need for non-disastrous scenarios of institutional modernization.

 

Chronik:

Joachim von Puttkamer: Nachruf auf Gottfried Schramm (1929–2017), pp. 692-693

Hans-Jürgen Bömelburg: Nachruf auf Klaus Zernack (1931–2017), pp. 694-694

Beate Fieseler: Zum Tod von Bernd Bonwetsch (1940–2017), pp. 695-695

Hermann Beyer-Thoma: Zum Tod von Trude Maurer (1955–2017), pp. 696-696