Harnessing History: Narratives, Identity and Perceptions of Russia's Post-Soviet Role

Abstract

Russian political elites have long been aware of the power of myths to forge national unity. However, the past six or seven years have seen core myths increasingly situated within a highly selective narrative of Russian history. This narrative is accepted as contextual information for policy discussion, and so sets cognitive parameters for evaluations of Russia's history, identity and role. This standard narrative of Russian history prioritises the state, supports gradualism and continuity, and dramatically reduces the potential for re-conceptualising Russia's role in contemporary international relations.

Political Imagery and the Russia-Germany-America Triangle

“…Old symbols and motifs, “the Soviet anthem but with new words, the coat of arms from the pre-imperial era and the flag from the imperial period,” returned (Bacon 2012, 779). “New” Russia is disassociated from crimes and failings of predecessors (Chatterje-Doody 2014; Petrov 2018) while asserting inheritance of the Soviet or Tsarist empire’s rights, privileges, and fame. The “Russian Federation” is selectively interchangeable with these defunct entities.…”

Emotions and war on YouTube: affective investments in RT’s visual narratives of the conflict in Syria

“…Additionally, narrative analysis of the broadcasts allows us to examine how the plot (portrayed on-screen) and story (inferred by the on-screen action, if not shown directly) reveals judgements about sequences and, crucially, consequences (i.e. suggestions of causality) (Bleiker 2015;Chatterje-Doody 2014). Our analysis takes account the ways in which RT's narration of the Syrian conflict represents the key actors in the story and their actions, and the ways in which agency was attributed (or concealed).…”

Roles and Realities in Russian Foreign Policy

“…Presidents Yeltsin, Putin and Medvedev have all linked Russia's future fortunes with its inheritances from the past, and carefully represented the past in ways supportive of their preferred policy directions 3 . Though identity has long been a central debate in Russian academic and political discourse, recently, leading politicians have presented a narrative of Russia's past that is highly restrictive both of content and representation, and which has helped to foreground and naturalise preferred identity themes that support the ruling elite and its approach to international relations 4 . Five recurring themes are helpful for understanding Russia's approach to Eurasian integration:…”