ČĖĘŽĀŅĀ× Professor to Give Lecture Sept. 29 on Gorbachev Legacy and Putinās War in Ukraine
Wed, 09/28/2022 - 01:05pm | By: David Tisdale
Though many consider the late Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev and current Russian
Federation President Vladimir Putin two very different types of leaders, they shared
similar philosophies about Ukraine in their opposition to its existence as a separate
state outside of the Russian sphere of influence.
On Thursday, Sept. 29, ČĖĘŽĀŅĀ× (ČĖĘŽĀŅĀ×) Associate Professor of History Brian LaPierre will give the lecture "ā at 5:30 p.m. in room 101 of the Liberal ČĖĘŽĀŅĀ× Building on the Hattiesburg campus. It may also be accessed online via Webex at .
When it was announced at the end of last month, the death of Mikhail Gorbachev seized global headlines. Gorbachevās death served not only as a chance to take stock of his legacy and accomplishments, but also became an opportunity to lament at the current situation in Russia and to push back against Putinās illiberal autocracy.
Gorbachev (L) and Putin (R) in discussion.
āIn countless media tributes, journalists have presented Gorbachev and Putin as mirror opposites,ā Dr. LaPierre said. āGorbachev gave new freedoms to the peoples of the USSR and democratized a totalitarian system; Putin stripped those freedoms away and resurrected a dictatorial regime. Gorbachev ended the Cold War peacefully and sought better relations with the West; Putin started the largest land war in Europe since WWII and plunged relations with the West to a new nadir.
āDespite the very real differences between these leaders, however, there is one area in which both men have some counterintuitive common ground: they both opposed Ukrainian independence and workedāeach in their own wayāto undermine it. In this lecture, Iāll explore these similarities to uncover the origins of the current war in Ukraine.ā
Dr. LaPierre is the author of "Hooligans in Khrushchev's Russia: Defining, Policing, and Producing Deviance during the Thaw." He has conducted significant archival research in Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe.
The ČĖĘŽĀŅĀ× History program is housed in the College of ČĖĘŽĀŅĀ× and Scienceās School of Humanities. Learn more about the program at /humanities/index.php.