RUSSIAN STATE-BUILDING AND THE PROBLEMS OF GEOPOLITICS

A basic task of the state is to ensure the continuation and security o f the community within which it is found. In an attempt to achieve thi s, state elites pursue long-term strategies. Such strategies involve n ot just questions of external security, but also the structuring of do mestic society with an eye to faciliting the extraction and mobilisati on of resources. The tsarist state sought to achieve this through a co optive strategy which left some room for independent economic initiati ve. The soviet elite sought to encapsulate all actors into a single co mmand stucture, thereby removing all scope for independent activity. U ltimately both strategies failed, and the post-Soviet leaders are face d with the problem of devising a more successful alternative.