In 1697, having been Czar of Russia for fifteen years and having reached the ripe age of 25, Peter decided to go west, in disguise. Together with a handpicked delegation of Russian merchants, officials, and intelligentsia, Peter visited Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and England to learn how most expeditiously to improve Russia, and his own capacity to rule.
This is the age-old debate between the Slavophiles and the Westernizers, which played out so tragically in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Russia. We see similar dynamics in many other countries, where blowback against globalization clashes with neoliberal proponents. The result of this tug-of-war, then and now, is see-saw policy making rather than continuous progress.
This is the age-old debate between the Slavophiles and the Westernizers, which played out so tragically in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Russia. We see similar dynamics in many other countries, where blowback against globalization clashes with neoliberal proponents. The result of this tug-of-war, then and now, is see-saw policy making rather than continuous progress.