The Post-Soviet Human: Philosophical Reflections on Social History After the End of Communism

The post-Soviet period (1989-2022) was, in its own way, an unprecedented era in human history. Its uniqueness lied not only in the fact that the USSR’s dissolution had opened opportunities for the people and nations of Eastern Europe and northern Eurasia to experience freedom and test their creative powers, but also in the fact that these opportunities did not extract a price comparable to the cost in human lives and suffering during the Russian Revolution and Civil War of 1917-24. The post-Soviet Human attempted to establish free politics and economy, as well as to gain collective emancipation and personal freedom during this era. Even though these attempts failed in most cases, the post-Soviet Human’s political creativity--with its democratic and autocratic achievements--was an intriguing phenomenon worth deeper study and understanding. Without learning the lessons of post-Soviet history, the East European and north Eurasian peoples are doomed to perpetually repeat its vicious cycles of tragedy and destruction.

Dr Mikhail (Mykhailo) Minakov has been a Senior Advisor at the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, since 2017. He is a prominent Ukrainian philosopher and empirical investigator who taught and researched, for over twenty years, at various universities in Ukraine, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and the United States. Working between Kyiv, Washington and Milan, Minakov specializes in political and social theory, international development, as well as the history of modernity. He is editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed Ideology and Politics Journal published by the Good Politics Foundation in Kyiv. He also edits the Kennan Focus Ukraine blog, and philosophical web portal Koinè. Minakov is the author or co-author of twelve books as well as numerous articles in philosophy, politics, and history.