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D. Comparison between Russia, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia
The interest for comparing Russia, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia is based on
economic, as well as cultural and historical reasons. The following table is a
schematic comparison tool between the four countries.
Let’s start with the dimensions of the four countries: from the area size point
of view Russia is 840 times bigger than Slovenia and 70 times bigger as far as
population is concerned. But if we go down to national and cultural feeling, things
come out differently: every nation considers itself like a collective individuality,
admitting the comparison on one to one level. But, of course, also size plays a role,
so that these kind of comparisons are always simplifications of a complex reality:
by means of an exhibit like that of table 2, it is not possible to compare all the
nuances of history and culture between nations, but it must be considered only a
tool to make some progress in comparing complex social, economic and ethnic
phenomena.
After the Slavic ancestry at point 3, in modern times, at points 4 and 5, the
fate of the four countries has been pretty different, which is also the reason for the
cultural and linguistic differences between them. In the period before modern times
only Russia was an independent state, whereas the other three ethnic entities were
under foreign rule. But such foreign influence had not only bad consequences.
Slovakia, Slovenia and partially Poland, sustained western acculturation, creating
changes, which can be still observed, as Huntington stressed out, by his model 2 of
cultural differences.
On the other hand, also the ancestral aspect are not totally cancelled by
historical diversification: for instance, it is still possible for a Slavonic speaker
from one country, if he is carefully listening to speakers of other countries, to
understand their speech, which is not the case, let’s say, if we take speakers of neo-
Latin or neo-Germanic languages, much more differentiated than the Slavic ones 3 .
It is interesting in my opinion though, that at points 7 and 8 of historical
development the named Slavonic nations came back to a common option: the
socialist system. It would be interesting to understand why this kind of country,
economy and business management and organization system was so appealing for
Slavonic populations. It is true that for some of them, particularly Poland and
Slovakia, it was not adopted by free option, but trough outside compulsion by the
Russian army, spreading through their territory, before the end of World War II,
2
Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Ed.: Simon
and Schuster, 1996
3
The name “Slavic” or “Slavonic”, comes originally probably from the word “slovo”, meaning
simply “word”, so that Slavs would be those people, who know “words”, i.e., speakers, as
contrasted to “non speakers”. For instance, a general Slavonic name for Germans, “Nemci”,
with the literal meaning “deaf”, is simply meaning, in a first approach, those people who do
not understand, i.e., they are deaf, to regard to Slavonic words and languages.