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“Russian celebrations” and American debates about Russia in 1813

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Ivan Kurilla Open the ORCID record for Ivan Kurilla [Opens in a new window]
Ivan Kurilla*
Affiliation:
Department of International Relations and Area Studies, Volgograd State University, 100, pr. Universitetskii, Volgograd 400062, Russia Department of Political Science and Sociology, European University at St Petersburg, St Petersburg, Russia
*
∗ Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

In the article, the author uses a sociocultural approach to analyze debates in the US press that accompanied “Russian celebrations” in 1813. During the War of 1812, the Federalist opposition to President Madison's administration organized several celebrations of Russia's victories over Napoleon, who was a de facto ally of the USA in its war against England. As a result, harsh debates arose about the relative merits of the Russian nation. Madison's supporters described Russia in extremely critical terms, while the critics of the administration mostly spoke positively of the distant country. For both sides, the Russian victories were just a pretext for formulating their own political views, but by using an image of “the Other,” they elaborated and affirmed two major characterizations of Russia: in one view, it was a barbaric and uncivilized country; in the other, a guarantor of liberty and a rapidly developing and freedom-loving nation. The main difference was summarized in a pamphlet publication of correspondence between Robert Harper and Robert Walsh. The article affirms that the level of civilization in Russia was not just used as an argument in domestic polemics, but was determined according to the demands of that polemic.

Keywords

US-Russian relationsRussia's imagerole of media
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , January 2016 , pp. 114 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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