Fear of Ideology: Political Theory and Political Practice in Contemporary Russia

Stevan Gajić

Abstract

The battle of ideas has raged in Russia since the times of Peter the Great and Catharine the Great and continues even today. The front line is between the liberals (Westernisers, Europhiles) and a camp that could broadly be called conservatives (Slavophiles, Eurasianist). Today’s Russia faces a new challenge, having emerged from a rigid communist system, as before in history the country is faced with soul-searching. In today’s Russia there are three broad ideological camps: liberals, conservatives and realists. Beyond this division they can be defined as systemic and non-systemic, according to whether they are recognised as legitimate by the Kremlin and whether they themselves see the state as a legitimate actor. Liberals and conservatives can be in or out of the system, but not the realists, who because of their centrist position are voluntarily locked in to the system. In this article, I explore the dynamics between the three camps, the attitude of the state towards them and their representation in institutions such as universities and the media. I also determine their positions through a set of test questions pertaining to the 1993 Constitution, the Russian Central Bank and the conflict in Ukraine. I also want to explain the position of conservatives, the only camp striving to create a new ideological formula, as well as the attitude of the state to conservatism in the atmosphere of the new Cold War. Or is the state deploying its spin-doctors and only using these divisions as a tool for creation of a never-ending political reality show? The symbol of this political reality show in Russia is the Kremlin’s spin-doctor-in-chief, Vladislav Surkov, who used sovereign democracy as a syncretic term and a temporary ideological placeholder to balance the ideological camps. Finally, I contemplate what might lie ahead for Russia and whether the state, currently ever balancing between the three camps, could swing towards conservatism.

References

• Бердяев, Н.А. (2013) “Русская идея”. Санкт Петербург: Азбука.
• Billington, J.H. (2004) “Russia in Search of Itself”. Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press; Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Cooper, R. (2004) “The Breaking of Nations”. London: Atlantic Books.
• Curtis, A. (2016) BBC documentary “HyperNormalisation”, [online]. Available at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fny99f8amM [Accessed 18 July 2018].
• Данилевский, Н.Я. (2008) “Россия и Европа”. Москва: Институт русской цивилизации.
• Димитријевић, В. (ed.) (2006) “Љубав је јача од смрти“. Београд: Православна мисионарска школа при храму Светог Александра Невског.
• Dugin, A.G. (2012) “The Fourth Political Theory”. Moscow: Eurasian Movement.
• Фёдоров, Е.А. (2014) “Национально-освободительное движение России”. Санкт-Петербург: Весь.
• Фурсов, А.И. (2017) “Вперед, к победе!”. Москва: Книжный мир.
• Goldman, M.I. (2003) “The Piratization of Russia”. London: Routledge.
• Гумилёв, Л.Н. (2007) “Ритмы Евразии”. Москва: АСТ.
• Иыин, А.И. (1993) “О Грядущей России”. Москва: Военное издательство.
• Karlin, A. (2018) The Ukraine Has Not Yet Perished (And Won’t Anytime Soon), The Unz Review,[online]. Available at: www.unz.com/akarlin/ukrotriumph [Accessed 8 September 2018].
• Катасонов, В.Ю. (2014a) “Мировая кабала”. Изд. 2-е. Москва: Алгоритм.
• Катасонов, В.Ю. (2014b) “Экономика Сталина”. Москва: Институт русской цивилизации.
• Ledeneva, A.V. (1998) “Russia’s Economy of Favours”. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Ledeneva, A.V. (2006) “How Russia Really Works”. New York: Cornell University Press.
• Леонтјев, К. (2005) “Византизам и словенство”. Београд: Логос.
• Лимонов, Е.В. (2014) Statement. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lOMF6cJpzo [Accessed 12 September 2018].
• Нарочницкая, Н.А. (2005) “За что и с кем мы воевали”. Москва: Минувшее.
• Pomerantsev, P. (2014) “Nothing is True and Everything is Possible”. New York: Public Affairs.
• Remington, T.F. (2004) “Politics in Russia”. New York: Pearson Longman.
• Решетников, Л.П. (2013) “Вернутся в Россию”. Москва: Российский Институт Стратегических Исследований.
• Савицкий, П.Н., Сувчинский, П.П., Флоровский, Г.В., Трубецкой, Н.С. (1921) “Исход к Востоку: Предчувствия и свершения”. София: Российско-Болгарско книгоиздательстве.
• Shevtsova, L. (2003) “Putin’s Russia”. Washington D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
• Солоневич, И.Л. (2010) “Народная монархия”. Москва: Институт русской цивилизации.
• Суботић, М. (2004) “Пут Русије: евроазијско становиште”. Београд: Плато.
• Surkov, V. (2018) We Began a New Era in 2014, Russia in Global Affairs, [online]. Available at: www.sott.net/article/384651-Essay-by-Putin-Advisor-Vladislav-Surkov-on-Russias-Eurasian-Future-We-Began-a-New-Era-in-2014 [Accessed 27 August 2018].
• Трубецкој, Н.С. (2004) “Европа и човечанство”. Београд: Логос.