Starovoitova, Galina 127,158 state, the 3-9, 20, 24, 26-30, 38-41, 48, 58, 62, 81; see also petrostate composite state 121-2,126 failed state 105,127 parasitic state 40-1,122 resource-dependent vs. labor- dependent state 28-31 stopmodernism 1, 7, 9, 67, 71, 76 structuration 5, 7-8,114 subsidiary plots 44 Surkov, Vladislav 67-8
taste 5-7,13, 81-2, 85, Tatarstan 35,126,130-1,136 taxation 22, 28-30, 36, 44, 48,
56-7, 63, 95,129 tax evasion 49, 56, 82 terra nullius 117-19 Tooze, Adam 105 Transborder Carbon Tax 18 Tregub, Sergei 47-8 Treisman, Daniel 64,144,146 Trotsky, Lev 5, 42 trust 9-11, 60, 71. 76-7, 94, 96
Ukraine 1, 3, 7-8,13-5,19, 21, 23, 27, 32-3, 46, 48, 50-1, 62, 68-71, 77-9, 84-7, 91,
102-15,118-22,125-31, 139-40 unearned money 64-5,137 universities 31-2, 42, 71-4,131 Utopia 5-6, 26, 80 Utrata, Jennifer 93,154
vaccines 76-7
Venezuela 24-6, 37, 47, 64, 95 vices 102
arrogance 10, 65 greed 22, 65, 87,102, poshly 82 sloth 87, 94 vanity 52-3, 82,137 Vishnevsky, Anatole 86, 94,155
waste 9-11, 20,132 Weber, Max 4 Wenar, Leif 132-3,159 Williams, Robbie 81-2 Wilson, Woodrow 134-6
yachts 30, 34, 43-4, 53~5, 82,
137-8 Yeltsin, Boris 36,130
Z (letter) 115-17; see also
fetishism Zubarevich, Natalya 129
"Etkind situates Putin's 2022 war in a much bigger story about Russian history and the country's role as a major oil producer in a world facing a climate crisis. A concise book packed with big ideas."
Shaun Walker, The Guardian
Putin's war is a "special operation" against modernity. The invasion has been directed against Ukraine, but the war has a broader target: the modern world of climate awareness, energy transition and digital labor. By trading oil and gas, promoting Trump and Brexit, spreading corruption, boosting inequality and homophobia, subsidizing far- right movements and destroying Ukraine, Putin's clique aims at suppressing the ongoing transformation of modern societies.
9781509556588
Alexander Etkind distinguishes between Russia's pompous, weaponized paleomodernity, on the one hand, and the lean, decentralized gaiamodernity of the Anthropocene, on the other. Putin's clique has used various strategies - from climate denialism and electoral interference to war and genocide - to resist and subvert modernity. Working on political, cultural and even demographic levels, social mechanisms convert the vicious energy of the oil curse into all-out aggression. Dissecting these mechanisms, Etkind's brief but rigorous analyses of social structuration, cultural dynamics and family models reveal the agency that drives the Russian war against modernity. This short, sharp critique of the Russian regime combines political economy, social history and demography to predict the decolonizing and defederating of Russia.
Alexander Etkind is a professor at the Central European University in Vienna.
Cover illustration: Simon Levy/iStock Cover design: www.simonlevyassociates.co.uk
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