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Marc Jansen teaches at Amsterdam University's Institute of Russian and East European Studies.

Omfatter også følgende navne: Marc Jansen, Marc Carel Jansen

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Juridisk navn
Jansen, Marc Carel
Fødselsdato
1946
Nationalitet
Nederland
Erhverv
Ruslandkenner
Kort biografi
Marc Jansen s tudied history at the University of Amsterdam (1967-73), taking his doctor's degree at the same university in 1979. 1973-2011 he taught Russian and East European Studies there, lately as part of the European Studies program. He has also been employed by the Dutch Research Organization NWO, the University of Utrecht , and the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam. Published books and articles on Russian and Soviet history and politics, regularly appears for the media as a specialist on Russia and the former Soviet Union. During several years lived and worked in Moscow, travelled to many parts of Russia and other former Soviet countries. On behalf of the OSCE observed elections in Russia (1993-2011), Ukraine (1994-2007), Georgia (2004), Kazakhstan (1994), and Kyrgyzstan (1995). (See the author's 'Over de zin van verkiezingswaarneming', L. Versteegh et al., red., De veelzijdige burger, Amsterdam 2005.)
Since October 2011 guest researcher, European Studies Department,  University of Amsterdam.

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As Marc Jansen points out in his introduction to this short (150 pages plus notes) history, Georgia has some strong claims in the "earthly paradise" stakes: beautiful landscape, fertile valleys, a gentle climate, and a culture based around five-hour lunches. And the second-longest Christian tradition in the world (it adopted Christianity just a few years after Armenia).

Unfortunately, it soon turns out that Georgia has also faced some pretty tough historical challenges, in the shape of large, aggressive neighbours. Rome/Byzantium/Ottoman Turkey in the west, Persia, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane in the East, and since the 18th century, Russia in the north. Georgian culture has only really been able to flourish in the periods when one or more of these neighbours was weak or distracted elsewhere, as it did during the "golden age" of the 11th century. At other times the country has often been weak, split into rival principalities that became clients of the big neighbours.

Most of us would have trouble naming any famous Georgians apart from Stalin, Beria, and maybe Eduard Shevardnadze. None of them exactly role-models, unfortunately. Jansen devotes plenty of space to Georgia's history since the Russian revolution: the brief period of independence under the Mensheviks, absorption by the new Bolshevik state and creation of the Georgian SSR, Stalin's rise to power, the terror of the thirties and forties, varying degrees of regional autonomy under Khrushchev and Brezhnev, and then the chaos that followed the dissolution of the USSR.

As in quite a few other newly-independent territories, the first politicians who jumped on the box after Moscow let the reins go were nationalists (naive, or cynical and opportunistic: take your pick) who gained popular support by picking on minorities. In Georgia's case, the perceived threat to the non-Georgian Abkhazians and South Ossetians led to unrest and civil war that gave Russia an excuse to occupy both regions and set them up as supposedly independent states, not recognised by the UN. Which of course conveniently weakens Georgia and has left it with a legacy of political instability and difficult relations with neighbours. Not ideal for a country whose economy depends mostly on agricultural exports (and the fees it earns by transporting oil and gas across its territory).

A very interesting introduction to a country I didn't know much about.
… (mere)
 
Markeret
thorold | Jul 6, 2023 |
Absoluut een must-read om te begrijpen wat momenteel (voorjaar 2022) helaas aan de gang is. Marc Jansen heeft er een heel evenwichtig geschiedenisverhaal van gemaakt dat kritisch is ten aanzien van zowel Oekraïense als Russische historici. Het geeft vooral aan hoe ingewikkeld de geschiedenis van dit land is. Als je dacht dat de Lage Landen uitzonderlijk veel vreemde mogendheden over de eigen grond hebben gekregen, en voortdurend van de ene onderhorigheid naar de andere werden geslingerd, dan lijkt dat niks vergeleken met de Oekraïense ervaring. En wie dacht dat de Russen op dit moment werkelijk alle grenzen overschrijden van het menselijke, die moet maar eens lezen wat Polen, Roemenen, Duitsers, Fransen, en Engelsen daar in het verleden hebben aangericht. Vooral de hoofdstukken over de Tweede Wereldoorlog zijn ronduit hallucinant en misselijk-makend. En oh ja, voor de literatuurliefhebbers: Jansen toont concreet aan wat voor een (Russisch-nationalistische) geschiedvervalser Poesjkin was, je gaat er op slag zijn verhalen vanuit heel ander oogpunt mee bekijken. Dit is historisch werk op zijn best: inzichtelijk (zelfs in de chaos van de realiteit), overzichtelijk en vooral uitermate uitgebalanceerd en degelijk. Spijtig dat het ophoudt in 2017, maar toch knap gedaan… (mere)
½
1 stem
Markeret
bookomaniac | Jun 4, 2022 |
De gruwelijke gesschiedenis van Rusland in beknopte weergave. De gruweldaden van hey Stalin regiem en de gevolgen voor de nationale identiteit.
 
Markeret
telos | Feb 19, 2021 |
Although I am well used to reading many books about the horrors of Stalinism, this was particularly downbeat. I think this was partly due to the writing style. Neither author is a native English speaker (one Russian, one Dutch) and the language was rather stilted, sometimes reading like a rather literal translation from Russian, a lot of it being recounting of events and lists of appointments and arrest and execution dates; I didn't think there was enough analysis, as there is in Robert Conquest's books on the Stalin era. So all in all a little dry.… (mere)
½
 
Markeret
john257hopper | Apr 23, 2011 |

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