Abstract
Russia : a Eurasian Hegemony ?, by Gerhard Simon The collapse of the Soviet Union and Communist ideology has plunged Russia into a political and national identity crisis. Politically speaking, it must be noted that the end of Communism has not succeeded in convincing the majority of Russian voters of the need for rapid western-style democratization. On the contrary, a large part of the political class believe that the westernization of the political system would imply the abandon of Russian specificity and thus the loss of national identity. This, they believe, can only be maintained through present-day Russia keeping total faith with its centuries-old past, that of the Russian and Soviet empires. This explains why communists, ultranationalists and even many democrats seek to reestablish Russian hegemony over and beyond the territory of the ex-Soviet Union. Such a quest risks hindering the democratization of the Russian state and the consolidation of the nation.
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