To The Reader

Abstract

13 Ab Imperio, 1/2002 The current issue of Ab Imperio is dedicated to the paradoxes of modernization in Russia and the USSR in a broad context. The discussion is introduced by an interview with Carl E. Schorske, who, although not a historian of Russia, has been among the pioneers of the studies of modernity. Schorske has always been interested in the formation of modern cultural consciousness and in his works he analyzes the dynamics of this consciousness in the context of the late Austro-Hungarian Empire. In this interview, Schorske addresses such issues as the discrepancy between the dynamics of economic and political modernization and cultural modernity, the relationship between state and culture, the interaction of different social, ethnic and religious groups in the process of modernization and, last but not least, the historical consciousness of the modern. In their contribution the Dutch scholars Hans van der Loo and Willem van Rijen reconstruct the theoretical sources of the concept of modernization and criticize the evolutionary, totalizing, harmonizing and dehumanizing aspects of modernization theories. These intellectual travels of the concept of modernization are also visible in the article of the German historians Jurgen Kocka and Gunilla-Friderike Budde, who analyze the development of the “Sonderweg” debate in Germany. Echoing some of the ideas found in Schorske’s interview, this discussion of the controversies surrounding the idea of the German “Special Path” tells about the concept of normative development and attempts to overcome the limitations of this concept in the context of a comparative history of modernity. TO THE READER 14 To the Reader Ideas of the unique character of Russian development are well known to the Russian academic audience. These ideas were re-introduced into Russian academic discourse as tools to explain the phenomenon of backwardness or catching-up development at the time of perestroika. Kocka nad Budde’s article may help to stimulate discussion about the need for a comparative history of “Special Path” theories. Such a history can be useful in exploring regional contexts in a comparative perspective. It also can help to create the basis for a history of mutual influences, cultural transfert and “shared history”. The German historian Manfred Hildermeier, who works on Russian history, looks at the possibility of extrapolating the experiences of the German debate on “Sonderweg” into the Russian context. The author explains the impossibility of reconciling the modernization process in Russia in the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century to its social and political incarnations. At the same time, Hildermeier points out similarities between the Russian discourse of the “Special Path” and German “Sonderweg”, and suggests ways to overcome the limitations of these discourses. In his work this is done via the analyses of key features of Russian civil society, such as the birth and development of the judicial system and of the local and the nobility self-government as constitutive elements of civil society. These features bring elements of “shared history” into the larger European context. Editors of Ab Imperio: I. Gerasimov S. Glebov A. Kaplunovski M. Mogilner A. Semeyonov ...