Treść książki

Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
MARTADZIEWAŃSKA
EKATERINADEGOT
ILYABUDRAITSKIS
INTRODUCTION
T
realityofRussiaduringthelastdecade.Everything
heword“stability”wasoftenusedtodescribethe
aboutthisstabilityseemedpredictableandwell-
functioning—stableeconomicalgrowthresultedinrising
prosperity,whichcreatedamiddleclass,therequisite
baseforstability.Initsturn,thismiddleclasswas
satisfiedbytheauthoritarian,butpredictablepolitical
regimeofVladimirPutin.Itseemedthattherulesofthe
gamewereestablishedandnobodywasabout
tochallengethem,atleastnotseriously.Manywithin
Russiabegantomakecomparisonswiththestagnation
ofBrezhnev’s70s,whichwasdescribedbySoviet
philistinesandthepessimistic
intelligentsia
asasadbut
quiet“endofhistory.”
Withthepassingofthedecade,thePutin-led“end
ofhistory,”justasallothers,provedtobeanother
ideological
tourdeforce
.Itbecameclearthatthe
economicgrowthwasfake,basedonnothingotherthan
unreliableoilprices.TheRussianmiddleclassfelt
deprivedofthefuture,andpoliticalupheavalswiftly
enteredthesleepysocialspace.
Themasspoliticalprotestsattheendof2011—
early2012questionedthebaseoftheunstablepost-
Sovietcontractbetweenpowerandsociety—social
insensitivity,brutalmarket-drivenindividualismand