Militarizing Men M i l i ta r i z i n g M e n Gender, Conscription, and War in Post-Soviet Russia Maya eichler Stanford UniverSity PreSS Stanford, California Stanford University Press Stanford, California ©2012 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Stanford University Press. Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Eichler, Maya, author Militarizing men : Gender, conscription, and war in post-Soviet Russia / Maya Eichler. pages cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-8047-7619-6 (cloth : alk. paper) — isbn 978-0-8047-7620-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Draft—Russia (Federation). 2. Masculinity—Russia (Federation). 3. Gender identity—Russia (Federation). 4. Militarism—Russia (Federation). 5. Chechnia (Russia)—History—Civil War, 1994—-Social aspects. I. Title ub345.r9e53 2012 947.086—dc22 2011008956 Typeset at Stanford University Press in 10/14 Minion I dedicate the book to the men and women in Russia and around the world who challenge the power of militaries and resist the gendered logic of militarization—sometimes at the risk of their own lives. And to Priya Poesie, with hope for a less militarized future. Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: The Personal and Public Politics of Militarizing Men 1 1 Gender and Militarization in the Soviet Union 15 2 Militarized Masculinity and State Leadership in the Russian-Chechen Wars 35 3 The Societal Crisis of Militarized Masculinity: Conscription, Economic Transformation, and the Russian-Chechen Wars 59 4 The Soldiers’ Mothers Movement: Contesting and Reproducing Militarized Gender Roles 85 5 Veterans of the Chechen Wars: Questionable Warriors or a Model of Masculinity? 108 Conclusion: Masculinity, Soldiering, and War in Post-Soviet Russia 136 Notes 145 Referencees 195 Index 219 acknowledgments i firSt beCaMe intereSted in the topic of gender and militariza- tion in Russia in the mid-1990s. I had friends who were active in the Russian peace movement, mostly Quakers from Russia and abroad with whom I attended various workshops and retreats. Many of the Russian men I met in this context had turned to the Quakers for help in either evading con- scription or fighting for their right to conscientious objector status. Through one of my friends I visited the offices of soldiers’ mothers who were active in St. Petersburg. I was deeply impressed with these women’s work and their gumption to take on the military. My interest in draft evasion and the sol- diers’ mothers movement re-emerged years later when I was introduced to feminist International Relations scholarship on the role of gender in processes of militarization. In particular, the work of Cynthia Enloe and Sandra Whit- worth inspired this project. Reading their work, I found myself preoccupied with the question of what made the challenges to the military and state by soldiers’ mothers so powerful. As I realized later, these women were challeng- ing not only notions of patriotic motherhood but also something even more fundamental—namely, the common-sense idea that serving in the military is a citizenship duty of men and is important to their socialization as men. I am enormously grateful to the following people who read earlier drafts of this book and generously shared their comments and suggestions: Claudia Brunner, Aurélie Campana, Deborah Cowen, Alison Crosby, Cynthia Enloe, Wenona Giles, Patrick James, Nadejda Marinova, Jennifer G. Mathers, Ananya Mukherjee-Reed, Sergei Plekhanov, Laura Sjoberg, Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom,