A Radicalizing Event: How the Chornobyl Disaster Catalyzed the Collapse of the USSR (1986–1991)
Visegrad Scholarship at OSA Lecture Series
The next event of the Visegrad Scholarship at OSA Lecture Series will be the presentation entitled A Radicalizing Event: How the Chornobyl Disaster Catalyzed the Collapse of the USSR (1986–1991) by Sergii Mirnyi, Research Fellow, Ukrainian National Museum “Chornobyl”.
A Radicalizing Event: How the Chornobyl Disaster Catalyzed the Collapse of the USSR (1986–1991)
by Sergii Mirnyi, Research Fellow, Ukrainian National Museum “Chornobyl”
Five years after the explosion of Reactor 4 at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located one hundred kilometers from Kyiv, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Was it just “after” or, at least partly, “because of”? The author, who was a witness and participant of both events, argues that it is rather the latter.
A constellation of several important material, psychological and cultural characteristics of the “nuclear”, the ionizing radiation makes it the uniquely powerful psycho-social stressor. It can agitate and radicalize society to an unprecedented degree; in combination with favorable national and international circumstances, it can result in a dramatic change of the country. The sources found in OSA holdings (in particular but not only, Chornobyl and Samizdat collections of 1986–1989), largely support this view.
The topic discussed has direct practical importance: it gives an insight into the possible scenarios of the collapse of the present-day authoritarian state of Russia.
The presentations will be held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in the Meeting Room of the Blinken OSA Archivum, and online.
The Zoom link of the meeting is: https://ceu-edu.zoom.us/j/94090308823?pwd=sseSQObd5Wkit2Azg3tDW8mJO80qxn.1
