AT THE EDGE OF THE NATION: The Southern Kurils and the Search for Russia's National Identity

摘要

A riddle captivates your attention until it is solved. "The Southern Kurils' problem is fascinating because it has no solution," a Japanese Sovietologist once said at an informal post-conference banquet. Based on a broad variety of sources, including Russian media, interviews with officials and experts and many others, At the Edge of the Nation is probably the first book-length study that persuasively explains the importance of the Southern Kuril Islands "for defining a national identity" (163) in post-Soviet Russia, while comprehensively examining the problem from various angles. The book consists of nine chapters. Opening the study with a brief discussion of the islands' role in Russia's search for a new identity (chapter 1) and introducing the historical background of the Southern Kurils (chapter 2), the author masterfully guides the reader through the ongoing debate of post-Soviet times. He distinguishes three major groups of politicians: the liberal institutionalists (chapter 3), the territorial imperativists (chapter 4) and the pragmatic patriots (chapter 5). The first group, which dominated the political horizon in the first half of the 1990s, painstakingly searched for a way to improve the relationship with Japan, while trying to avoid the accusations from the territorial imperativists who insisted on the undisputed integrity of the islands. The last group, the pragmatic patriots, "fuse together certain aspects" of the agenda of the first two groups. The author demonstrates how the pragmatic patriots have persistently tried to find a hikiwake (win-win) (87) solution that would be reciprocally beneficial for Russia and Japan while promoting the idea of signing a peace treaty. Despite the great differences in approaches and frequent criticism of political opponents, almost all actors on the political scene are quite unanimous in their desire to improve and develop relations with their eastern neighbour. Furthermore, despite unsolved questions and a history of military confrontations, Japan has always been the object of interest and even "romance" for the Russian people.