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Abstract
This dissertation is a Comparative Political Theory study of the conceptualizations of nation and national identity in the writings of 19th-century Russian thinkers. Analyses offered in this study utilize the framework of peripheral or subaltern imperialism in order to foreground the role of inter-polity histories and structural conditions—particularly, factors associated with colonialism and capitalist competition—in the construction of Russian national identity and political thinking. The first chapter investigates the ideal of the civic nation (natsia) in the political treatise Russian Truth authored by revolutionary Pavel Pestel, revealing the tensions within Pestel’s theory as a reflection of broader issues in the paradigm of the civic nation. The second chapter analyzes the Slavophiles’ concept of nationality (narodnost’) and critiques their perspective on Westernization and colonialism, highlighting the limitations of their critiques within the framework of Russian imperial identity. The third chapter analyzes an alternative account of Russian nationality through Mykola Kostomarov’s theory of Slavic federalism, which offers a subaltern perspective on Russia’s imperial history and politics. The fourth chapter delves into the civilizational theory of Nikolai Danilevsky, exploring the tensions within his concept of “cultural-historical type” or tsivilizatsia—understood as a self-enclosed system of cultural meanings and knowledge—tying these analyses to the problem of civilizational conflict.
Through these analyses, the dissertation argues that Russian national identity has been shaped by Russia’s dual role as both an imperial power and a subaltern state within the modern West-centric world-system. It highlights the contradictions inherent in Russian political thought— its constant oscillation between universalism and particularism, or the tension between its liberative and egalitarian impulses and the imperial or colonial logics of civilization (as supremacy) and sovereignty (as mastery)—and underscores the complexities of engaging non-Western perspectives within political theory debates. By bridging the gap between political theory, area studies on Russian nationalism, and comparative research on empires and imperialism, this study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the entangled workings of nation and empire in contemporary politics.
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