Russian Studies under the Soviet Union and Thereafter: Developments and Lessons

Although Russian studies existed in world academies in preceding centuries in different styles, it was only in the second half of the 20th century that major academic centers in Europe and the United States paid serious attention to understanding the Soviet Union and its current developments by attracting some emigrant Soviet authors and scientists. For these academic centers, recognizing the Soviet Union as the biggest enemy of liberalism, capitalism and democracy, which formed the main pillars of the modern societies and governments in Europe and the United States was highly important. The collapse of the Soviet Union, among other things, questioned Kremlinology and created a crisis for Russian studies institutes, because the occurrence of the collapse was not included in the known theories.