Putinism: Post-Soviet Russian Regime Ideology

Contrary to common assertions that President Vladimir Putin’s Russia is a Stalinist, fascist, or nonideological state, Suslov argues that the regime boasts a distinct ideology of its own. He traces the development of “Putinism” over the president’s more than 20 years in office by studying the work of Russian scholars, intellectuals, political figures, and think tanks. One of the key elements of Putinism is a peculiar kind of “identitarian” conservatism that emphasizes the unchanging identity and values of the Russian people through the centuries while dismissing as unimportant the political upheavals and transformations of Russia’s 1,000-year history. Other elements include populism and chronic anti-Westernism, as well as insistence on Russia’s “genuine sovereignty”: its political independence, the uniqueness of its historical experience, and its right to determine its destiny. Although he calls this set of ideas “Putinism,” Suslov emphasizes that it is not “Putin’s ideology” and suggests that these beliefs will likely outlive him and may even appeal to nations outside Russia who feel belittled by and disappointed in the West. Suslov claims that “Putinism” expresses the deep sentiments of many Russians, but his book has too little about ordinary people to illustrate this point.