No. 198: Identity Politics

No. 198: Identity Politics

Author(s): Bruno De Cordier, Viatcheslav Morozov
Editor(s): Stephen Aris, Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perović, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder, Aglaya Snetkov
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 198
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen; Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, George Washington University
Publication Year: 2017

This edition examines questions of identity politics. Firstly, Bruno De Cordier outlines how the driving forces behind the insurgency in Donetsk and Lugansk are more complex than often assumed, highlighting the emergence of a “resistance identity” based on Donbass identity, the legacies of the USSR, the Great Patriotic War and anti-fascism, Orthodox Christianity, the freemen identity of the steppe of Novorossiia, and anti-colonial resistance. Secondly, Viatcheslav Morozov assesses Russian identity politics, arguing that the current strategy of emphasising ‘traditional values’ stands in contrast to Russia’s modern and urbanised society, a contradiction that, in the long run, will undermine Russia’s quest for great power status.
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