James Livingstone

The works of Fedor Dostoevskii contain some of the most vivid dreaming experiences in all of world literature. Drawing on a broad selection of these, this paper looks to shed light on their significance, attempting an understanding of the crucial functions that the dreams serve, as well as identifying and evaluating the sensations, properties and evocations that come to define the various dream-worlds conjured across Dostoevskii’s fiction. In seeking to explain the extraordinary richness of connections between these worlds, this paper argues for the notion of common dream-space, as characters from different novels appear to inhabit a shared dreamscape, in which they encounter shared images and perceptions, ranging from the subtlety of a single recurring sound to the reproduction of an entire fantasy land. It is the intimate and detailed access that Dostoevskii provides the reader to the minds of his protagonists that gives the novels their highly unusual, intense psychological power. The dreams are central to the emotional suction and immersion that, to this day, remains very distinct to Dostoevskii.

This paper challenges prevailing conceptualisations of the strategic relationship between the Russian state and post-Soviet Russian organised crime. As enthralling and provocative as mainstream western depictions of Russia as a ‘mafia state’ or ‘kleptocracy’ may be, they create and perpetuate a number of fundamental misconceptions about the ways in which organised criminal groups and the Russian state apparatus function and interact with one another. I argue instead that the two are interconnected through an array of loose, unstable and temporary alliances that constantly threaten to break down. I term this condition ‘fragile symbiosis’, as it is characterised by collaborative partnerships that are simultaneously both highly reciprocal and highly precarious. I draw on a wide range of illustrative case study examples and secondary organised crime research material in order to develop this hypothesis. Examining the evolving face of Russian organised crime since the collapse of the Soviet Union is crucial to explaining the interconnection between criminal networks and the state that exists today. I therefore provide detailed analysis of transformations in post-Soviet Russian organised crime before proceeding to explore particular instances of state-crime collaboration. Fragmentation is visible at every level, both within and between criminal groups and the state organisations with which they connect. Sporadically erupting internal conflicts place severe strain on these partnerships, producing a relationship that is anything but stable and secure.