You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
The break-up of the Soviet Union gave birth, as you know, to fifteen independent states and to the dozens of expected and unexpected challenges that are usually described as post-Soviet phenomena. Understanding these phenomena requires in many cases an interdisciplinary approach, which may include applied psychoanalysis. Virtually every post-Soviet phenomenon could be a subject for several Ph.D. dissertations. However, since I have only ten minutes to speak, let me just identify some of the major post-Soviet issues in very general terms and give a brief illustration of how a psychoanalytic approach can help to understand them.
The first phenomenon to consider is the fact that the decline and fall of the Soviet Empire was so surprisingly short and relatively non-violent. Why? One of the explanations I can offer is that for many centuries, the borders of Russia were undetermined compared to those of Western Europe, where all territories were clearly divided. Russia's borders were not only very approximate, but also constantly expanding. This flexibility of borders specifically influenced national consciousness, making it, some would say, unshaped or undetermined. In addition, endless Russian space became not just an external factor but a deeply internalized feature of the Russian mind. The outstanding Russian philosopher Nicolai Berdiayev wisely pointed out that the Russian soul was wounded by the endless space of Russia. This notion well explains the typical Russian underdeveloped sense of responsibility for the country's destiny, its borders, as well as a dulled sense of threat, of which I could give you dozens of illustrations.
Another phenomenon is Russia's identity crisis. Certainly, Russians have been mourning the loss of their Empire and it is difficult to predict how long this process will last. Here I would like to mention just one peculiarity of the Russian Empire, and later the Soviet Empire, that has made the identity crisis so severe. Compared to the large