Patriotism as Political Discourse in Contemporary Russia

Patriotism as Political Discourse in Contemporary Russia


Martynov M.Yu.,

Professor of the Department of Politics and Law, Surgut State University, martinov.mu@gmail.com


elibrary_id: 820700 |

Fadeyeva L.A.,

Professor of the Department of Political Science, Perm State University, Lafadeeva2007@yandex.ru


elibrary_id: 77229 |

Gaberkorn A.I.,

assistant of the Department of Politics and Law, Surgut State University, gab_alena@mail.ru


elibrary_id: 1051631 |


DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2020.02.08
Rubric: Russia Today

For citation:

Martynov M.Yu., Fadeyeva L.A., Gaberkorn A.I. Patriotism as Political Discourse in Contemporary Russia. – Polis. Political Studies. 2020. No. 2. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2020.02.08


The study was carried out in the framework of the state assignment for scientific research work of the Department of Education and Youth Policy of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra.


Abstract

The authors characterize patriotism not only as an academic concept but as a method of political argument articulation. Academic discourse is analyzed on the basis of the idea of concept circulation. The article is based on identity studies, with patriotism understood as a form of identity which is constructed by pluralities of actors and the highly competitive character of its process. The authors characterize the struggle for interpreting patriotism and identifying patriots in public discourse and the media in Russia today. They consider that state actors and pro-government publicists are dominant, but not the only actors of constructing patriotism. Analyzing the understanding of patriotism in public opinion, the authors notice that patriotic consciousness and feelings are not the direct result of symbolic policy influence. They have a more or less high level of independence despite such influence. The problems with the conceptualization of patriotism are connected with the disputable nature of the concept and, more importantly, with its political content. In the authors’ opinion, patriotism is seen as a political attitude, although it includes love for the Motherland as an emotional component. This political attitude is the self-identification of people as citizens of a state, whose institutions, in their view, are in the public interest. Thus, the political functions of patriotism are associated with the legitimationdelegitimation of the power and the formation of identity. This is why the struggle for the identification of patriotism is so hot. In framework the delegitimation of power, the significance of patriotism could rise, but accompanied with the search for another political actor as its subject. The authors consider the rise of patriotic discourse and the ever-stronger struggle for the identification of patriotism in political processes of the near-future. Important marks were demonstrated in July-August 2019, when the participants of protests used the Constitution and flag of the Russian Federation as propaganda tools.

Keywords
patriotism, civic identity, public discourse, symbolic policy, political struggle.


References

Edler T. 2012. How to be a Superpower. The Public Intellectual Debate on the Global Role of the United States after September 11. Berlin, Toronto: Barbaba Budrich Publishers.

Goode J.P. 2018. Everyday Patriotism and Ethnicity in Today’s Russia. – Russia before and after Crimea: Nationalism and Identity. Ed. by B. Kosto. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. P. 258-281.

Goode J.P., Stroup R.D. 2015. Everyday Nationalism: Constructivism for the Masses. – Social Science Quarterly. Vol. 96. No. 3. P. 717-739. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12188

Kateb J. 2006. Patriotism and Other Mistakes. Yale University Press. New Haven & London.

Patriotism. 2002. Ed. by I. Primoratz. Amherst, N.Y.: Humanity Books.

Patriotism in Philosophical and Political Perspectives. 2016. Ed. by I. Primoratz, A. Pavkovic. L., N.Y.: Routledge.

Rutland P. 2015. Petronation? Oil, Gas and National Identity in Russia. – Post-Soviet Affairs. Vol. 31. No. 6. P. 66-89. https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2014.952537

Semenenko I. 2013. The Quest for Identity. Russian Public Opinion on Europe and the European Union and the National Identity Agenda. – Perspectives on European Politics and Society. 2013. Vol. 14. No. 1. P. 102-122. https://doi.org/10.1080/15705854.2012.732396

Shlapentokh D. 2013. The Death of the Byzantine Empire and Construction of Historical / Political Identities in Late Putin Russia. – Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies. Vol. 15. No. 1. P. 69-96. https://doi.org/10.1080/19448953.2013.766088

White D. 2015. Political Opposition in Russia: The Challenges of Mobilization and the Political-Civil Society Nexus. – East European Politics. Vol. 31. No. 3. P. 314-325. https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2014.990628

Wiarda H.J. 2014. Political Culture, Political Science and Identity Politics: an Uneasy Alliance. Ashgate.

 

Abramov A.V. 2014. Modern Russian Patriotism as a Marker of Civic Identity and Society. – Bulletin of Moscow Region State University. Series: History and Political Sciences. No. 3. P. 215-221. (In Russ.)

Alekseeva T.A. 2015. Sovremennaya politicheskaya mysl’ (XX-XXI vv.). Politicheskaya teoriya i mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya: Ucheb. posobie dlya vuzov [Modern Political Thought (XX-XXI). Political Theory and International Relations]. Moscow: Aspect Press. (In Russ.)

Billig M. 2007. Banal Nationalism. (Russ. ed.: Billig M. Povsednevnoe napominanie o Rodine. – Logos. Vol. 1. No. 58. P. 34-71).

Eshev M.A. 2013. Russian Patriotism as a Basis of National Identity. – Vlast’. Vol. 21. No. 6. P. 116-118. (In Russ.)

Fadeeva L.A. 2012. Kto my? Intelligentsiya v bor’be za identichnost’ [Who Are We? Intelligentsia in the Struggle for identity]. Moscow: Novyi Khronograf.

Gavrilyuk V.V., Malenkov V.V., Gavrilyuk T.V. 2016. Modern Models of Russian Citizenship. – Sociological Studies. No. 11. P. 97-106. (In Russ.)

Guzenkova T.S. 2014. Patriotism, Globalization, and the National State: Interaction and Contradiction. – Patriotism as an Ideology of the Revival of Russia. Moscow: RISI. P. 15-28. (In Russ.)

Hegel G. 1990. Vorlesungen uber Rechtsphilosophie. (Russ. ed.: Hegel G. Filosofiya prava. Moscow: Mysl’).

Huntington S. 2004. Who Are We? The Challenges to America’s National Identity. (Russ. ed.: Huntington S. Kto my? Vyzovy amerikanskoi natsional’noi identichnosti. Moscow: Tranzitkniga).

Identity. The Individual, Society, and Politics. Ed. by I.S. Semenenko. 2017. Moscow: Ves’ Mir. (In Russ.)

Kuznetsov I.M. 2016. Variability of Patriotism Discourses in Everyday Consciousness of Russians. – Vlast’. No. 7. P. 164-171. (In Russ.)

Lubskii A.V. 2019. Patriotism and Citizenship in Russian Society, or How to Overcome the Deficiency of Citizenship in Russian Patriotism. – Humanities of the South of Russia. Vol. 8. No. 26. P. 47-66. (In Russ.)

Magaril S.A. 2016. Meanings of Patriotism – Historical Transformations. – Sociological Studies. No. 1. P. 142-151. (In Russ.)

Malinova O.Yu. 2015. Aktual’noe proshloe: simvolicheskaya politika vlastvuyushchei elity i dilemmy rossiiskoi identichnosti [Current Past: The Symbolic Politics of the Ruling Elite and the Dilemma of Russian Identity]. Moscow: ROSSPEN. (In Russ.)

Selezneva A.V. 2017. Patriotism as a Political Value: Political-Psychological Analysis. – Tomsk State University Journal of Philosophy, Sociology and Political Science. No. 38. P. 200-208. (In Russ.)

Shestopal Ye.B. 2014. Value Characteristics of the Russian Political Process and Strategy of the Country’s Development. – Polis. Political Studies. No. 2. P. 61-71. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2014.02.05

Trifonov Yu.N. 2016. About Patriotic Ideology in the Ideological Diversity. – Tomsk State University Journal of Philosophy, Sociology and Political Science. No. 3. P. 245-254.

Tsylev V.R., Mulina T.V. 2009. The Diversity of the Phenomenon of Patriotism of Young People of Murmansk. – Sociological Studies. No. 6. P. 105-106. (In Russ.) 

Vilkov A.A., Kolesnikov K.Yu. 2015. Subject Field Peculiarities of Political Analysis of Patriotism. – Bulletin of Moscow Region State University. Series: History and Political Sciences. No. 1. (In Russ.)

 

Content No. 2, 2020

See also:


Yankovskaya G.A.,
STRUGGLE FOR IDENTITY IN THE CONTEXT OF COMMUNICATIONS. – Polis. Political Studies. 2014. No4

Smorgunov L.V.,
Political identity and the concept of the political. – Polis. Political Studies. 2012. No6

Malinova O.Yu.,
Symbolic politics and the constructing of macro-political identity in post-soviet Russia. – Polis. Political Studies. 2010. No2

Korotetskaya L.V.,
Particular features of the intellectual patriotic discourse in Germany of the 1990s. – Polis. Political Studies. 2012. No1

Drobizheva L.M., Ryzhova S.V.,
Civic and Ethnic Identity and Perception of the Preferable State in Russia. – Polis. Political Studies. 2015. No5

 

   

Introducing an article



Polis. Political Studies
3 2019


Semenenko I.S.
Horizons of Responsible Development: from Discourse to Governance

 The article text  
 

Archive

   2024      2023      2022      2021   
   2020      2019      2018      2017      2016   
   2015      2014      2013      2012      2011   
   2010      2009      2008      2007      2006   
   2005      2004      2003      2002      2001   
   2000      1999      1998      1997      1996   
   1995      1994      1993      1992      1991