The Red Mirror: Putin's Leadership and Russia's Insecure Identity

by Gulnaz Sharafutdinova

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780197502969
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	10/01/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Gulnaz Sharafutdinova is Reader in Russian Politics at King's College London. She is the author of Political Consequences of Crony Capitalism Inside Russia (Notre Dame University Press) and co-editor of Soviet Society in the Era of Late Socialism, 1964-1985 (Lexington Press).

Table of Contents

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

Editorial Reviews

"The Red Mirror covers the vital aspects of identity politics in post-Soviet Russia with skill and nuance, covering a remarkable breadth of secondary literature that links up decades of scholarship." — Matthew Blackburn, Europe-Asia Studies

"Methodologically The Red Mirror is an eclectic book bringing to the fore various theories and approaches to compose a coherent picture on Russian development during this millennium and understand it ... the book is most insightful and up-to-date." — Simo Mannila, University of Helsinki , Eurasian Geography and Economics

"Sharafutdinova's ambitious new undertaking is a major contribution to both the literature in Russian area studies and theoretical research focusing on the development of political identity." — Igor Zevelev, Russian Review

"In focusing mainly on Russian government of the last decade, Sharafutdinova has deepened our understanding of Russia, its citizens, and the autocratic President Putin. She scrupulously and often brilliantly examines many different groups and topics, and thus reveals Putin's skill at undermining the West and restoring the nation's self-respect. But this has also led to economic stagnation and a need for some oppression, factors that, she believes, ultimately threaten his rule." — Peter Reddaway , Professor Emeritus of Political Science, George Washington University

"Gulnaz Sharafutdinova's new book focuses on a first order question for any reader who wants to understand Russia or, more generally, modern autocracies: why Putin's popularity was so high in 2014-2018 despite dismal economic performance? The Red Mirror traces the origins of Putin's narrative, explains its appeal to Russian public, and explores the nuts and bolts of the media machine Putin uses to deliver the narrative in the most effective way." — Sergei Guriev , Professor of Economics, Sciences Po, Paris

From the Publisher