Escape from Freedom? The Russian Academic Community and the Problem of Academic Rights and Freedoms

This article provides an overview of the issue of academic rights and freedoms as an integral part of academic ethos in the USSR and the Russian Federation and concludes that there has been a paradoxical shift in the relative extent of rights and freedoms in the wider society vs. the academic world. In this author's opinion, academic proto-freedom existed in the USSR as a component of the privileged position, held by a segment of the academic community, and, therefore, the latter was freer than the Soviet society in general. The situation evened out in the late 80's and early 90's, and, finally, with the advent of neo-liberal reforms and the attack of authoritarianism against the remaining academic autonomy of Russian universities in the 2000s, resulted in the situation of fewer freedoms within a university compared to the society as a whole.