The political exclusion and commodification of women - Environmental and Human Security in the Arctic - page 264

This current attitude can be explained with reference to the time of the
USSR. At that time it was claimed that the 'Russian mentality' was cen-
tred and built upon ideas of collectivism, commonality and confidence in the
power of the state (e.g. Mjasnikov 1998; Shulyndin 1998). The Soviet ideol-
ogy embraced these values, and the unique model of the identity of the Soviet
people was created. Personality and individualism were neglected by the
state. Values of collectivism and state interest were promoted as significant.
Shulman, in analysing the problem of the individual versus the collective
in the Soviet Union, points out: '[privacy] is a seldom used noun' (Shulman
1977:381). Because of this governing ideology that was promoted by com-
munists, the rights of individuals were suppressed (Bakacsi et al . 2002). This
mentality remained, at least within state structures. In the aftermath of the
collapse of the USSR, with the economic and political chaos that ensued, the
state's position towards promoting individual and human rights was not pri-
oritized, or even really recognized as being relevant.
Weiler claims that the Russian authorities do not consider human beings
to be elements that are endowed with value in and of themselves, despite
any formal commitment to the contrary (Weiler 2002). Additionally, there
is a contradiction between the formal commitment of the state towards
upholding individual human rights and its actual actions. Weiler states: 'the
interaction of declining state resources with the lack of accountability of state
authority for its actions and inaction has created a deadly combination for
socially vulnerable individuals' (Weiler 2002:260). The latter include such
vulnerable groups as the poor, minorities, criminals (and criminal suspects)
and women (especially in cases of domestic violence and trafficking). When
Russia adopted the liberal notion that 'private matters should not be of pub-
lic concern' (Weiler 2002:274), this view was transformed through the lens
of the past in a country where the right of the individual was considered to
be unimportant. Suddenly a lack of concern for the individual was further
justified by a perception of democratization, associated with liberal ideals
regarding the private and public divide and the drive for a free market.
Democracy provides an opportunity to develop at both the individual and
the state level, including the opportunity for individuals to express them-
selves (freedom of opinion and expression) and to make one's own choices. In
order to achieve the latter, special attention must be paid to human rights and
the social values within the population and entrenched within state institu-
tions. The effort to liberate the individual requires that attention be paid to
the gender issue and related problems: 'all attempts at liberating the individ-
ual without liberating the female sex is just as pointless as the socialist project
of liberating the sex without liberating the individual' (Posadskaya 1994:4).