Russian Orthodoxy and Russian Nationalism

Much has been made of resurgent Russian nationalism over the last two decades, outbreaks of which are in part behind the invasion of Ukraine in 2014, and certainly the fight over Ukrainian Orthodoxy still ongoing and so well covered by my friend Nick Denysenko's superb book, noted here in my interview with him. I confess to finding all nationalisms absurd on their face but some of the claims advanced by Russia in this regard are especially so, not least in trying, with a straight face, to claim that Moscow is somehow the mother-church of Kyiv, when it was of course the latter Christianized in 988.

For those desirous of deeper insights into these nationalist forces, a recently published book will help: The New Russian Nationalism: Imperialism, Ethnicity and Authoritarianism 2000-2015, eds. Pål Kolstø and Helge Blakkisrud (Edinburgh University Press, 2017), 436pp.

About this book the publisher tells us the following:

Russian nationalism, previously dominated by ‘imperial’ tendencies – pride in a large, strong and multi-ethnic state able to project its influence abroad – is increasingly focused on ethnic issues. This new ethno-nationalism has come in various guises, like racism and xenophobia, but also in a new intellectual movement of ‘national democracy’ deliberately seeking to emulate conservative West European nationalism.

Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the subsequent violent conflict in Eastern Ukraine utterly transformed the nationalist discourse in Russia. This book provides an up-to-date survey of Russian nationalism as a political, social and intellectual phenomenon by leading Western and Russian experts in the field of nationalism studies. It includes case studies on migrantophobia; the relationship between nationalism and religion; nationalism in the media; nationalism and national identity in economic policy; nationalism in the strategy of the Putin regime as well as a survey-based study of nationalism in public opinion.