How did the vastness of the Eurasian steppe shape the political model of Russian imperialism? What does the Russian Empire have in common with other Eurasian empires — the Ottoman, Persian, Mughal, Chinese, and others? What are the roots of Russia’s assimilationist imperialism and its claims to global domination? And why is the Russian political model so deeply rooted in the logic of war and military conquest?
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“Thinking in dark times” is a podcast by UkraineWorld, an English-language media outlet about Ukraine brought to you by Internews Ukraine
Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, the editor-in-chief of UkraineWorld and president of PEN Ukraine.
Guest: Michael Khodarkovsky, an American historian of Ukrainian origin and one of the leading scholars of Russian and Eurasian history.
We talk about his new book, The Steppe and Its Empires: The Russian Empire and Its Eurasian Counterparts, published by Yale University Press in 2026. In this book, Khodarkovsky looks at Russia not so much through its relationship with Europe, but by comparing it with the empires of Eurasia — the Ottoman, Persian, Mughal, and Chinese empires.
Book: https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300284386/the-steppe-and-its-empires/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
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UkraineWorld: https://ukraineworld.org/en
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CONTENTS:
00:04 Intro
00:00:45 Who is Michael Khodarkovsky and what is his new book, "The Steppe and Its Empires," about?
01:52 Why should Russia be studied in the context of Eurasian empires, not European ones?
05:38 How do Eurasian empires like Russia, Persia, or China broaden our understanding of imperialism and colonialism beyond the Western maritime empires?
10:26 How did the Eurasian steppe influence the Russian Empire's identity and its expansionist drive?
15:38 What is the "include and rule" principle of Eurasian empires, and how did it differ from Western "divide and rule" strategies?
18:07 Did Russia have feudalism, and how did its lack of feudalism differentiate it from Western European states and even Ukraine?
25:51 What is the concept of "universal monarchy" in Eurasian empires, and how did it separate them from Western monarchies?
33:23 Why were Eurasian empires, particularly Russia, "organized for war" rather than "organized for law"?
39:13 What factors allowed Russia to build such a highly centralized state, even more so than other Eurasian empires?
45:51 What is Ukraine's unique place in the historical narrative of steppe and Eurasian empires, especially concerning its dual nomadic and sedentary influences?
