Main varieties of Russian nationalism in the post-Soviet period and their relationship to European heritage and contemporariness

Abstract

Russian nationalism at the beginning of the 21st century, although partially rooted in an older tradition, has now taken specifically modern shapes because of the new challenges faced by the Russian nation. A classificatory problem not only ensues from the diversity of forms but also the understanding of Russian nationality itself: either as a function of the state and civilisation or as the glorification of an ethnic group. That is why Russian nationalism is currently developing along two very different sets of ideological lines. One (even embodied in the officially sanctioned oppositional Liberal-Democratic Party) focuses on the revival of imperial Russia and is predominantly directed against weakening the state in the international perspective; it aims at the reconstruction of a fallen global power, with the idea of the Russian World as its leading imperative. The other trend amounts to the appreciation of the Russian ethnic element and is concerned about its demographic collapse and the growing presence of Muslims or other strangers in Russian political and social life. This kind of nationalism takes different shapes, focusing on such issues as the Orthodox tradition or even on the racial aspect of the population of the Russian Federation. These two varieties position themselves differently in relation to European civilisation. While imperialist circles see the Western world (both American and European) as a competitor and a civilisational threat, ethnic nationalists rarely turn against their European neighbours, rather emphasising common threats in the form of waves of migration and the takeover of cultural space.