Imperial ambitions of Russians

Abstract

This article is based on the findings of the Political Ideas of Russian Society project realized by the Laboratory for Political Studies since 2008. The Laboratory has already conducted about 1000 in-depth interviews with respondents of various age cohorts and various social–economic statuses. All respondents demonstrated the Great Power pathos formed by two basic components — Russia is a great power and/or nostalgia of the lost Soviet might — serves the leitmotiv of authoritarian sentiments.

Euromaidan and conflict in Eastern Ukraine in social networking sites: Territorial differences of pro-Russian subscriptions in Ukraine

“…Second, the legitimization of Russian involvement in the conflict was often supported by the narrative of Slavic unity and Russian greatness. It supports conclusions of Kasamara, V. and Sorokina, A. (2012) about imperial ambitions of the Russian population of different social statuses.…”

A blind and militant attachment: Russian patriotism in comparative perspective

“…A diverse array of authors persuasively describe the early 1990s as a sort of crucible, a period whose twin shocks of economic collapse and imperial dissolution forged Russians' post-Soviet identity (Oushakine, 2009;Alexievich, 2016;Sharafutdinova, 2020). Related references to a "post-imperial syndrome" (Gaidar, 2010;Kasamara and Sorokina, 2012;Kailitz and Umland, 2019) suggest a national attachment shaped by the resentment over status lost and the hunger for its recovery, conditions not inconsistent with a patriotism that is far from benign. Although our primary empirical analysis begins with a 1995 survey, we present, by way of conclusion, complementary evidence based on 1990 data that the character of Russian patriotism did indeed take a militant turn earlier in the decade.…”

A Blind and Militant Attachment: Russian Patriotism in Comparative Perspective

“…A diverse array of authors persuasively describe the early 1990s as a sort of crucible, a period whose twin shocks of economic collapse and imperial dissolution forged Russians' post-Soviet identity (Oushakine, 2009;Alexievich, 2016;Sharafutdinova, 2020). Related references to a "post-imperial syndrome" (Gaidar, 2010;Kasamara and Sorokina, 2012;Kailitz and Umland, 2019) suggest a national attachment shaped by the resentment over status lost and the hunger for its recovery, conditions not inconsistent with a patriotism that is far from benign. Although our primary empirical analysis begins with a 1995 survey, we present, by way of conclusion, complementary evidence based on 1990 data that the character of Russian patriotism did indeed take a militant turn earlier in the decade.…”