Networking Putinism: The Rhetoric of Power in the Digital Age

by Michael S. Gorham

Overview

Networking Putinism explores the internet's impact on political discourse in Russia and the strategies adopted both by Vladimir Putin and his associates to secure and legitimate their authority, as well as by the regime's most determined critics. Michael S. Gorham shows that despite Putin's famously dismissive attitude toward the internet, the Russian leader, his political team, and a motley array of web-savvy sympathizers have been consistently fixated on the medium, deeply invested in its development, and keenly aware of its ability to shape public political discourse.

The success of the regime's opponents in leveraging social media to criticize the regime forced Putin and his allies to find ways to more effectively exploit the new medium. In telling the story of these rhetorical online battles, Networking Putinism shows how, even in the most authoritarian of regimes, public language still matters, and digitally mediated communication remains a highly contested instrument of power.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501785429
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	02/15/2026
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Michael S. Gorham is Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Florida and the author of two award-winning books—After Newspeak and Speaking in Soviet Tongues—and coeditor of Digital Russia.

What People are Saying About This

Eliot Borenstein

This is a marvelous book that offers a sophisticated, incredibly detailed analysis of Russia's internet discourse. This book is especially persuasive because, while its focus is on the internet and new media, its arguments are firmly grounded in the larger scholarship on the distinct nature of political discourse in Russia.

Stephen Hutchings

Well researched, authoritative, persuasive, and highly readable, this excellent book makes a valuable and original contribution to our understanding of the rhetorical origins of Putinism and how the public sphere in Russia has both shaped and been shaped by developments in digital technology, the history of Runet, and the complex relationship between authoritarianism and the internet.