The Russian Orthodox Church and Political Party Platforms

Abstract

This essay examines some of the ways in which the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) has influenced political outcomes in the Russian Federation between 1995-2005. It is useful to begin by exploring political ideology as a potential point of intersection between the ROC’s preferences and those of the people whom the church purports to represent. If the ROC speaks for the overwhelming portion of Russian society that identifies itself as Orthodox, as the religious leadership has consistently claimed, then it is logical to expect that the political views of that population will display at least some congruence with the official positions of the church. Moreover, this should be a conscious phenomenon: ostensibly Orthodox voters and politicians should demonstrate to at least some degree that they have purposefully referenced the ROC’s official ideology when defining their own political stance. The influence of the ROC on voter choice has been explored in depth elsewhere, and has been found to be minimal. Here, I look beyond the voters to determine whether or not the ideology of Russia’s political elite has been affected at all by the church’s positions. This essay, then, assesses the platforms of twelve political parties that have played a visible role in Russian politics in the period under examination, to determine whether there was a significant increase in their purposeful orientation towards the ROC. A careful study of the available evidence reveals a division within the political elites. On the one hand, some of the party platforms show that politicians tend to assign the ROC more influence over voter choice than the church actually yields. On the other hand, analysis of