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What explains Putin's enduring popularity in Russia? In The Red Mirror, Gulnaz Sharafutdinova uses social identity theory to explain Putin's leadership. The main source of Putin's political influence, she finds, lies in how he articulates the shared collective perspective that unites many Russian citizens. Under his tenure, the Kremlin's media machine has tapped into powerful group emotions of shame and humiliation—derived from the Soviet transition in the 1990s—and has politicized national identity to transform these emotions into pride and patriotism. Culminating with the annexation of Crimea in 2014, this strategy of national identity politics is still the essence of Putin's leadership in Russia. But victimhood-based consolidation is also leading the country down the path of political confrontation and economic stagnation. To enable a cultural, social, and political revival in Russia, Sharafutdinova argues, political elites must instead focus on more constructively conceived ideas about the country's future. Integrating methods from history, political science, and social psychology, The Red Mirror offers the clearest picture yet of how the nation's majoritarian identity politics are playing out.
Preface
PART I
1. The Return of the 'Soviet' or the 'National' in Putin's Russia?
2. The White Knight and the Red Queen: Blinded by Love
PART II Of History and Identity: Recent and Very Recent
3. Shared Mental Models of the Late Soviet Period
4. The New Russian Identity and the Burden of the Soviet Past
PART III Of Leaders and Opinion-Makers: Top-Down Political Construction
5. Constructing The Collective Trauma of the 1990
6. MMM for VVP: Building the Modern Media Machine
7. Le Cirque Politique a la Russe: Political Talk Shows and Public Opinion Leaders in Russia
Conclusion
8. Searching for a New Mirror: On Human and Collective Dignity in Russia
Epilogue
Description
What explains Putin's enduring popularity in Russia? In The Red Mirror, Gulnaz Sharafutdinova uses social identity theory to explain Putin's leadership. The main source of Putin's political influence, she finds, lies in how he articulates the shared collective perspective that unites many Russian citizens. Under his tenure, the Kremlin's media machine has tapped into powerful group emotions of shame and humiliation—derived from the Soviet transition in the 1990s—and has politicized national identity to transform these emotions into pride and patriotism. Culminating with the annexation of Crimea in 2014, this strategy of national identity politics is still the essence of Putin's leadership in Russia. But victimhood-based consolidation is also leading the country down the path of political confrontation and economic stagnation. To enable a cultural, social, and political revival in Russia, Sharafutdinova argues, political elites must instead focus on more constructively conceived ideas about the country's future. Integrating methods from history, political science, and social psychology, The Red Mirror offers the clearest picture yet of how the nation's majoritarian identity politics are playing out.
