Structural violence in the confessional state: the creation of a Crimean diocese, 1768–1860
Journal: Canadian Slavonic Papers
Year: 2020

This article examines the nature of violence in the confessional state through a diocesan lens. Establishing the Russian Empire’s religious policy in the midst of near constant warfare, Catherine II created a system dependent upon violence and its legacies. Through time, violence transitioned from somatic (bodily) to structural as the confessional state organized religions into a tightly regulated hierarchy. Reinforced by latent violence, the state used positive and negative inducements to influ