Patriotism from Below in Russia
Résumé
The accession to power of Vladimir Putin in 2000 was followed by a policy of national revival that crystallised under the banner of patriotism. Several government-sponsored programmes of ‘patriotic education for the citizens of the Russian Federation’ were adopted to promote the glorification of the fatherland, its greatness, and its distinctiveness. This policy has been conveyed by official institutions such as the educational system, the military, and the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as by United Russia and pro-presidential youth movements such as Nashi and Molodaya Gvardiya. Patriotic symbols have emerged in public space and historical commemorations now set the agenda. Television and cinema have been significant in staging this revival of Russia's national identity. Reference to the fatherland is used as a means of mobilising a detached public around the state and giving renewed prestige to a country whose international status has been questioned. This widespread discursive and symbolic patriotic turn has been extensively addressed by scholars, especially in the fields of history, culture, and consumption. Nevertheless, nearly 15 years after the first patriotic education programme, the question remains of how this Kremlin-backed patriotism has impacted on Russian society. The ‘patriotism’ argument is often presented by scholars as a tool to explain Moscow's foreign policy objectives, especially since the Ukrainian crisis, and the regime's popularity in relation to its liberal opposition. However, we know little about how patriotism has transformed individual and collective practices. Observing from diverse points of departure, the essays presented in this collection provide sociological insight into the practices that have developed in Russia in the 2000s and 2010s under the patriotic umbrella. More than the designs and designers of the patriotic programmes, we are interested here in the users of patriotism. Based on empirical studies carried out in several Russian regions, this collection highlights the diversity of the social practices that qualify as patriotism. It demonstrates the individual and collective appropriation of patriotism and contributes to the examination of the relationship of social actors and the state, showing the limits of the political loyalty driven by patriotism.