Russian conservatism in the Putin presidency: The dispersion of a hegemonic discourse

Journal of Political Ideologies

Volumn 10, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 121-143

  Prozorov, Sergei ^a  

^a PETROZAVODSK STATE UNIVERSITY   (Russian Federation)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

HEGEMONY; POLITICAL DISCOURSE;

EASTERN HEMISPHERE; EURASIA; RUSSIAN FEDERATION; WORLD;

EID: 20644457900     PISSN: 13569317     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13569310500097224     Document Type: Article

References (94)

1. Cf. Modest Kolerov (Ed.) Termidor (Moskva: Tri Kvadrata, 2002).
2. See Michel Foucault, Archaeology of Knowledge (London: Routledge, 1989), pp. 35-36.
3. See, e.g., Mikhail Kochkin, 'The Birth Pangs of Russian Conservatism', Russia and Eurasia Review, Vol. 2, No. 6 (2003);
4. Heikki Patomaki and Christer Pursiainen, 'Western Models and 'the Russian Idea': Beyond Inside/Outside in Discourses on Civil Society', Millennium, Vol. 29, No. 1 (1999);
5. S.G. Simonsen, 'Nationalism and the Russian Political Spectrum: Locating and Evaluating the Extremes', Journal of Political Ideologies, 6(3) (2001);
6. Gregor James, 'Fascism and the New Russian Nationalism', Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 33(1) (1998).
7. Artemiy Magun, 'Opyt i Ponyatie Revolutsii', Novoje Literaturnoje Obozrenie, Vol. 64 (2003): http://magazines.russ.ru/nlo/2003/64/ magun4.html. Emphasis added. All translations from Russian in this article are made by the author.
8. Michel Foucault, 'Politics and Reason', in Lawrence D. Kritzman (Ed.) Michel Foucault: Politics, Philosophy, Culture. Interviews and Other Writings 1977-1984 (London: Routledge, 1988), p. 59. Emphasis added.
9. Sergei Prozorov, Political Pedagogy of Technical Assistance: A Study in Historical Ontology of Russian Postcommunism (Tampere: Studia Politica Tamperensis, 2004), Chapter 1.
10. Leonid Polyakov, 'Liberalny Konservator', Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 18 (2000).
11. See also Samuel Huntington, 'Conservatism as an Ideology', American Political Science Review 51 (1957), 454-473.
12. For the more detailed exposition of the relation of conservatism to the substantive ideologies of liberalism and socialism see Michael Freeden, Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach (London: Clarendon Press, 1996), Part 3.
13. Vladimir Putin, 'Rossiya na Rubezhe Tysyacheletiy', Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 230 (1999).
14. See Richard Sakwa, Russia's Crisis and Yeltsin's Leadership (University of Tampere: Gateway Papers, Vol. 4, 1999);
15. Richard Sakwa, 'Crisis and Reconstitution of the State in Russia' in Helena Rytövuori-Apunen (Ed.) Russian - European Interfaces in the Northern Dimension of the European Union (Tampere: Studia Politica Tamperensis, 2000);
16. Martin Nicholson, 'Putin's Russia: Slowing the Pendulum Without Stopping the Clock', International Affairs, 77(3) (2001),
17. Prozorov, op. cit., Ref. 6, Chapter 4.
18. Vladimir Putin, Annual Address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation (2001): http://www.russiaeurope.mid.ru/RussiaEurope/ speech7.html.
19. Yegor Gaidar, 'Revolutsiya Ostalas' v 20-m veke; Reformy Prodolzhayutsa v 21-m', Izvestia, 6 (2001).
20. Polyakov, op. cit, Ref. 7.
21. Alexei Ulykaev, 'Pravy Povorot', Polit.ru (1999): http:// www.polit.ru/documents/147910.html.
22. Ulykaev, ibid.
23. See Renato Cristi, Carl Schmitt and Authoritarian Liberalism (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1998);
24. Sergei Prozorov, 'Three Theses on Governance and the Political', Journal of International Relations and Development, 7 (2004).
25. See Yegor Holmogorov, 'Poezd Vne Raspisania', Russkiy Zhurnal (2004): http://www.russ.ru/columns/reaction/20040324-hm.html.
26. See Iver Neumann, Russia and the Idea of Europe (London: Routledge, 1996).
27. For an application of this distinction to contemporary Russian politics see Vyacheslav Morozov, 'V Poiskah Evropy: Rossiysky Politichesky Diskurs i Okruzhajushy Mir', Neprikosnovenny Zapas, Vol. 4 (2003): http://magazines.russ.ru/nz/2003/4/moroz.html.
28. Mikhail Leontiev et al., Memorandum Serafimovskogo Kluba (2003): http://www.serafim-club.ru/about/o.shmtl.
29. Aleksandr Hramchikhin, 'Gody Natsionalnoy Katastrofy, ili Luchshee Vremya v Istorii Gosudarstva Rossijskogo', Grazhdanskie Debaty (2004): http://www.globalrus.ru/opinions/136984.
30. See Maxim Sokolov, 'Epitafia Slovu Konservator: Benefis Setevogo Berdicheva', Grazhdanskie Debaty (2003): http://www.globalrus.ru/ opinions/132430;
31. Aleksandr Privalov, 'Tovarish, Ver'!', Expert, Vol. 20 (1999).
32. Privalov, op. cit., Ref. 20. Emphasis added.
33. Boris Mezhuev cited in 'Konservator-2, ili Novogodny Surpriz ot Leibmana', Kreml.Org (2003): http://www.kreml.org/calendar/docs/ 13044138.
34. See Prozorov, op. cit., Ref. 6, Chapter 5, for a different philosophical linkage of sovereignty and freedom, achieved through a synthesis of political ontologies of Carl Schmitt and Michel Foucault.
35. Leontiev, op. cit., Ref. 18. Emphasis added. The attribution of freedom to the political community in the discourse of liberal conservatism does not entail the dispossession of the individual of his freedom. On the contrary, it is the conceptual transfer of the pluralist vision from the domestic realm to the international sphere that makes possible the equation of state sovereignty with freedom.
36. Gleb Pavlovsky, 'Proshai Belovezhje!', Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 235 (2000). It is no coincidence that after the two years of conventional liberal rhetoric the Union of Right Forces attempted an (ultimately unsuccessful) return to the liberal-conservative position during the 2003 election campaign with Anatoly Chubais's controversial blueprint for a 'liberal empire', which posits Russia as a strong liberal state, capable of establishing the hegemony of its principles throughout the post-Soviet space.
37. See Anatoly Chubais, 'Missiya Rossii v 21-m Veke', Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 209 (2003).
38. Pavlovsky, ibid.
39. Pavlovsky, ibid. Emphasis added.
40. For a powerful critique of this 'abstract patriotism' of liberal conservatism see Alexander Tsipko, 'Lovushki Abstraktnogo Patriotizma', Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 223 (2000).
41. Cf. Magun, op. cit., Ref. 4.
42. For the analysis of the Russian postcommunist transformation as a 'Great Revolution' see Vladimir Mau and Irina Starodubrovskaya, The Challenge of Revolution (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).
43. Mikhail Remizov, 'Apologia Predvzyatosti', Russkiy Zhurnal (2002): http://www.russ.ru/polities/20021111-rem.html.
44. For the more detailed analysis of the conservative episteme see Mikhail Remizov, Opyt Konservativnoj Kritiki (Moskva: Pragmatika Kultury, 2003).
45. Cf. Freeden, op. cit, Ref. 7, Part 3.
46. Mikhail Remizov, 'Vvedenie v Epistemologiu Konservatizma', Russkiy Zhurnal (2003): http://www.russ.ru/politics/20030117-rem.html.
47. Remizov, op. cit., Ref. 30.
48. Mikhail Remizov, 'Opyty Antropologii Konservatizma. Opyt Pervy: Psevdomorfozy', Russkiy Zhurnal (2000): http://www.russ.ru/ politics/partaktiv/20000920.html.
49. See also Mikhail Remizov, 'Opyty Antropologii Konservatizma. Opyt Vtoroj: Litsa Non-Grata', Russkiy Zhurnal (2000): http:// www.russ.ru/politics/partaktiv/20001004_remizov.html.
50. Mikhail Remizov, 'Vtoroye Dyhanie', Russkiy Zhurnal (2002): http://www.russ.ru/politics/20030214-rem.html. This approach radicalises as an existential disposition Huntington's thesis that situational conservative arguments are deployed when an existing order may not longer be legitimised in its substantive terms, i.e. when its substantive values lose their self-evidence.
51. See Huntington, op. cit., Ref. 7.
52. Remizov, op. cit., Ref. 33.
53. Remizov, ibid. Emphasis added.
54. Cf. Carl Schmitt, Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1985), pp. 15-16.
55. Mikhail Remizov, 'Opyty Antropologii Konservatizma. Opyt Vtoroj: Litsa Non-Grata', Russkiy Zhurnal (2000): http://www.russ.ru/politics/ partaktiv/20001004_remizov.html.
56. Schmitt, op. cit., Ref. 37, p. 32.
57. Remizov, op. cit., Ref. 38.
58. See Prozorov, op. cit, Ref. 6, pp. 332-338 for the discussion of this failure in terms of the 'lingering of the political' in Russian postcommunism.
59. Mikhail Remizov, 'Predchuvstvie Suverena', Russkiy Zhurnal (2003): http://www.russ.ru/politics/20031030-rem.html.
60. See Thomas Osborne and Nikolas Rose, 'In the Name of Society, or Three Theses on the History of Social Thought', History of the Human Sciences, 10(3) (1997).
61. Mikhail Remizov, "Smuta' ili 'Revolutsia'?', Russkiy Zhurnal (2002): http://www.russ.ru/politics/20020909-rem.html.
62. Mikhail Remizov, 'Russkie Vne Sebya, ili Konservatism Protiv Konservatizma', Russkiy Zhurnal (2003): http://www.russ.ru/ politics/20030131-remizov.html. Emphasis added.
63. Remizov, ibid.
64. Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Empire (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2000).
65. Boris Mezhuev, 'Ostorozhnee s Leviznoy', Russkiy Zhurnal (2003): http://www.russ.ru/politics/20030924-mezh.html.
66. Konstantin Krylov, 'Rossiya v Tretjey Pozitsii', Portal Sotsial-Demokraticheskoj Politiki (2003): http://www.pdsp.ru/docs/ tribune/Conserv/1/1142.html.
67. Yegor Holmogorov, 'K Restavratsii Budushego', Russkiy Zhurnal (2003): http://www.russ.ru/politics/20030926-holm.html.
68. Remizov, op. cit., Ref. 31.
69. See Prozorov, op. cit., Ref. 6, Chapter 4.
70. Mikhail Remizov, 'Revolutsiya Dolzhna Byt' Konservativnoy', Russkiy Zhurnal (2003): http://www.russ.ru/politics/20030922-rem.html.
71. Mikhail Remizov, 'Den' Obshenatsionalnoj Skuki', Russkiy Zhurnal (2000): http://www.russ.ru/politics/events/20001109_remizov.html.
72. Mikhail Remizov, "Gosudarstvenniki' Protiv Gosudarstva', Russkiy Zhurnal (2003): http://www.russ.ru/politics/20030303-rem.html.
73. Remizov, ibid.
74. Remizov, ibid.
75. Remizov, ibid.
76. See Prozorov, op. cit., Ref. 6, pp. 325-330.
77. Mikhail Remizov, 'Kurs Putina vs. Mif Putina', Russkiy Zhurnal (2003): http://www.russ.ru/politics/20030905-rem.html.
78. Mikhail Remizov, "Putin' kak Slovo Parazit', Russkiy Zhurnal (2002): http://www.russ.ru/politics/20020327-rem.html.
79. Vladimir Putin, Poslanie Federalnomu Sobraniu Rossiyskoj Federatsii (2004): http://www.kremlin.ru/text/appears/2004/05/ 64879.shtml.
80. See also Konstantin Krylov, 'Putinskaya Triada: Bezopasnost', Svoboda, Komfort', Agenstvo Politicheskih Novostey (2004): http:// www.apn.ru.
81. Stanislav Belkovsky, 'Paternalism Abandoned: Putin Becomes Chubais', Moscow Times, May 27 (2004): http://www.themoscowtimes.com/ stories/2004/05/27/010.html.
82. Remizov, op. cit., Ref. 42.
83. Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality. Volume One: An Introduction (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1990), pp. 99-100.
84. For the philosophical exploration of this lineage see e.g., Alan Megill, Prophets of Extremity: Nietzsche, Heidegger, Foucault, Derrida (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985);
85. Richard Wolin, The Terms of Cultural Criticism: The Frankfurt School, Existentialism, Poststructuralism (New York: Columbia University Press, 1992).
86. Besides the already discussed work of Remizov, who is strongly influenced by both Nietzsche and Foucault, the confluence of conservatism and poststructuralism is also evident in the work of such theorists as Andrei Ashkerov and Nikita Garadzha, and such political commentators as Stanislav Belkovsky.
87. See Prozorov, op. cit., Ref. 15 for the more detailed discussion of this theme.
88. See Sergei Prozorov, 'X/Xs: Toward a General Theory of the Exception', Alternatives 30 (2005) for the more detailed discussion of the negativity inherent in the constitutive revolutionary event.
89. See also Michel Foucault, 'A Preface to Transgression' in Donald F. Bouchard (Ed.) Language, Counter-Memory, Practices: Selected Essays and Interviews (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1977);
90. Mika Ojakangas, A Philosophy of Concrete Life: Carl Schmitt and the Political Thought of Late Modernity (Jyvaskyla: SoPhi, 2004);
91. Jacques Ranciere, 'Ten Theses on Politics', Theory and Event, 5 (2001).
92. Slavoj Žižek and Glyn Daly, Conversations with Slavoj Žižek (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2004), p. 166.
93. Magun, op. cit., Ref. 4.
94. Žižek and Daly, op. cit., Ref. 70, pp. 135-138.