Russian Nationalism: A Discussion between Marlene Laruelle & Andreas Umland

On the occasion of the release of Marlene Laruelle's Russian Nationalism: Imaginaries, Doctrines, and Political Battlefields (Routledge, 2018) in Open Access , join us for a discussion between the author and Andreas Umland.
Both specialists will address the questions of the ideological diversity of Russian nationalism, its sociological basis, the doctrinal greyness of Putin’s regime, the issue of an anti-Putin Russian nationalism, the Kremlin's support of the Western far-right, and comparison with Ukrainian nationalism.
Marlene Laruelle, Ph.D., is Director and Research Professor at the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies ( IERES ), GW. Dr. Laruelle is also a Co-Director of PONARS (Program on New Approaches to Research and Security in Eurasia) and Director of GW’s Central Asia Program. Her research explores the transformations of nationalist and conservative ideologies in Russia and nationhood construction in Central Asia, as well as the development of Russia’s Arctic regions. Two of her books will be out in late 2020: Is Russia Fascist? Unraveling Propaganda East and West (Cornell University Press) and Memory Politics and the Russian Civil War. Red versus Whites (Bloomsbury).
Andreas Umland is Principal Expert at the Program for European, Regional and Russian Studies of the Ukrainian Institute for the Future in Kyiv. In 2014, he became a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation in Kyiv, and in 2019, a Nonresident Fellow at the Center for European Security of the Institute of International Relations in Prague. He holds an M.A. from Stanford University, an M.Phil. from Oxford University, a diploma and doctorate from the Free University of Berlin, and a Ph.D. from Cambridge University. His publications can be downloaded here: ukma.academia.edu/AndreasUmland .

[@jpulawski3428]

Thanks for the insight - and the clarifications !

[@alexeyulko]

An interesting take on Putin's nationalism here. He is definitely a Russian ethnic nationalist, but in a rather old-fashioned, Soviet sense. The Soviet identity was also ostensibly multi-cultural and multi-ethnic but it was based upon and adjusted to the Russian cultural norms. After a relatively short genuine post-colonial sentiment right after the revolution, the dominant narrative in the USSR became that 'joining' the Russian state (or proletariat) - i.e. being colonised by Russia had 'an objectively progressive meaning.' The Soviet rhetoric was revolving around the claim that it was the Russian working class that was the most revolutionary and progressive - so Russian imperialism was in a way good because it enabled the oppressed peoples around Russia to be in touch with the liberating force of Russian workers. 'Nationalism' was the term reserved for those non-Russians who were not 'Soviet' enough and as 'the Soviet' was referenced to the Russian norms, ' the national' was always 'the Other' i.e. manifested through marginal ethnic details, e.g. clothing, food, music, dances - and of course, language. Putin's regime has done with this 'revolutionary' veneer and is very consistent about it: Russia in his view is a multi-ethnic state which allows other ethnic groups in it some kind of marginal identity provided that the core and implied unity between the Russian ethnicity and nationhood is never questioned.

[@GOUST241]

You understand that if you are an ethnic nationalist, then you cannot offer other peoples to "join" you

[@alexeyulko]

@@GOUST241 Of course you can. Russian nationalism is based on the 'older brother' narrative, where the Russians are seen as a 'naturally' superior ethnic group which has all the knowledge, skills and power to govern over their neighbours, 'less developed' nations, who are expected to accept this narrative voluntarily.

[@Forest_Knight]

Three years on, the writing was on the wall but Marlene didn't see it. Russia was rapidly becoming a far right ethno-nationalistic state.

[@thefifthcolumnepisteme]

I truly hope never being forced to taste the magical mushrooms Andreas Umland ingested before this conversation, for an hour a half he kept on jumping from alucination to wishful thinking and back again. What a bizarre spectacle!