This book provides a bold examination of the political use of history in contemporary Russia. Anton Weiss-Wendt argues that history is yet another discipline misappropriated by the Kremlin for the purpose of rallying the population. He explains how, since the pro-democracy protests in 2011–12, the Russian government has hamstrung independent research and aligned state institutions in the promotion of militant patriotism. The entire state machinery has been mobilized to construe a single, glorious historical narrative with the focus on Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. Putin's Russia and the Falsification of History examines the intricate networks in Russia that engage in “historymaking.” Whether it is the Holocaust or Soviet mass terror, Tsars or Stalin, the regime promotes a syncretic interpretation of Russian history that supports the notion of a strong state and authoritarian rule. That interpretation finds its way into new monuments, exhibitions, and quasi-professional associations. In addition to administrative measures of control, the Russian state has been using the penal code to censor critical perspectives on history, typically advanced by individuals who also happen to call for a political change in Russia. This powerful book shows how history is increasingly becoming an element of political technology in Russia, with the systematic destruction of independent institutions setting the very future of History as an academic discipline in Russia in doubt.

This book analyzes the dubious role of the Democratic Antifascist Youth Movement "Nashi" in contemporary Russia. Part of the Putinist project of political stabilization, Nashi mobilizes young Russians through its emotional appeal, skillful use of symbolic politics, and promise of professional self-realization.

The pandemic exposed long-standing and inherent inequities in societies and opened old wounds of discrimination, dissent, and division. Governance in such uncertain times need to focus on the short-term needs but cannot lose sight of the longer-term impact of structural inequalities and cultural and social fissures embedded in political systems.

This volume seeks to fill the vacuum created by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress's decision to cease publishing comprehensive assessments of Russia's performance and potential. It provides readers with authoritative descriptions of Russia's economy, military prowess and international ambitions. The volume does not settle controversies, but does provide readers with an objective basis for assessing Russia's prospects without the distortions caused by fake news and disinformation wars.

'Political technology' is a Russian term for the professional engineering of politics. It has turned Russian politics into theatre and propaganda, and metastasised to take over foreign policy and weaponise history. The war against Ukraine is one outcome. In the West, spin doctors and political consultants do more than influence media or run campaigns: they have also helped build parallel universes of alternative political reality. Hungary has used political technology to dismantle democracy. The BJP in India has used it to consolidate unprecedented power. Different countries learn from each other. Some types of political technology have become notorious, like troll farms or data mining; but there is now a global wholesale industry selling a range of manipulation techniques, from astroturfing to fake parties to propaganda apps. This book shows that 'political technology' is about much more than online disinformation: it is about whole new industries of political engineering.

Two decades before the war against Ukraine, a “special operation” was launched against Russian historical memory, aggressively reshaping the nation’s understanding of its history and identity. The Kremlin’s militarization of Russia through World War II propaganda is well documented, but the glorification of Russian medieval society and its warlords as a source of support for Putinism has yet to be explored. This book offers the first comparison of Putin’s political neomedievalism and re-Stalinization and introduces the concept of mobmemory to the study of right-wing populism. It argues that the celebration of the oprichnina, Ivan the Terrible’s regime of state terror (1565–1572), has been fused with the rehabilitation of Stalinism to reconstruct the Russian Empire. The post-Soviet case suggests that the global obsession with the Middle Ages is not purely an aesthetic movement but a potential weapon against democracy. The book is intended for students, scholars, and non-specialists interested in understanding Russia’s anti-modern politics and the Russians’ support for the terror unleashed against Ukraine.

History is not just a study of past events, but a product and an idea for the modernisation and consolidation of the nation. ‘The Use of History in Putin’s Russia’ examines how the past is perceived in contemporary Russia and analyses the ways in which the Russian state uses history to create a broad coalition of consensus and forge a new national identity. Central to issues of governance and national identity, the Russian state utilises history for the purpose of state-building and reviving Russia’s national consciousness in the twenty-first century. Assessing how history mediates the complex relationship between state and population, this book analyses the selection process of constructing and recycling a preferred historical narrative to create loyal, patriotic citizens, ultimately aiding its modernisation. Different historical spheres of Russian life are analysed in-depth including areas of culture, politics, education, and anniversaries. The past is not just a state matter, a socio-political issue linked to the modernisation process, containing many paradoxes. This book has wide-ranging appeal, not only for professors and students specialising in Russia and the former Soviet Space in the fields of History and Memory, International Relations, Educational Studies, and Intercultural Communication but also for policymakers and think-tanks.

Elgiz Pozdnyakov is a prominent scientist, professor and member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Russian Federation. He has written several works on political theory and philosophy. In this book Elgiz Pozdnyakov offers an insightful appraisal of the contemporary social and political situation in Russia, viewed through the lens of the Russian nation’s historical development. The work on this book was already complete by the night of December 5, 2009, when an event took place in the Russian city of Perm that shook the entire country. As a consequence of the reckless use of fireworks at Perm’s ironically named Lame Horse nightclub, a fierce fire erupted that took lives of more than 150 people. This event offered yet another occasion to take a critical look at the state of affairs in Russia today. A miraculously preserved video graphically renders the facts of the tragedy. It shows a packed room of good looking and well-dressed young people sitting at the tables, as apparently the entire beau monde of Perm had come to the club on that night. Onstage a fantasy-like show is unfolding, accompanied by the popular song I Rock You, while a charming MC entertains the guests. Everything appears to be proceeding normally, the night is at its peak, and suddenly the camera pans upward and we see that the ceiling has caught on fire. The MC looks at the guests and announces in a calm voice, "Ladies and gentlemen, we are burning.” This tragedy combined all the main vices of modern Russian life: irresponsibility, corruption and indifference. The Perm incident is not a result of accidental circumstances, but sprang from a regular phenomenon. Indeed anywhere one might go nowadays – to the movie theater, to a restaurant, to a supermarket or pool — there is no guarantee that the ceiling will not fall down, the staircase not collapse, or the building not catch on fire. The Lame Horse is a fitting symbol of today’s Russia, and Russia’s modern-day motto is aptly expressed by the words: "Ladies and gentlemen, we are burning.”

This book examines crucial facets of the Russian invasion: among them, the Russian sexual violence against occupied Ukrainians, their “collaboration” and “filtration,” legal prosecutions especially relating to kidnapped Ukrainian children, the portrayal of events in Bucha on Russian social media, and the lessons learned from the Ukrainian refugee crisis in Poland during the initial weeks of the war, as well the potential pursuit of justice at the International Court of Justice, and the genocide claim more generally. This anthology will serve as a valuable resource for scholars, policymakers, and the broader community involved in the study of genocide and conflict. It endeavours to offer not only insights into the immediate circumstances of the invasion but also a framework for broader discussions and a foundation for informed dialogues on the multifaceted dimensions of this geopolitical upheaval. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Journal of Genocide Research.

The contributors to this book discuss the new conjunctions that have emerged between foreign policy events and politicized expressions of Russian nationalism since 2005. The 2008 war with Georgia, as well as conflicts with Ukraine and other East European countries over the memory of the Soviet Union, and the Russian interpretation of the 2005 French riots have all contributed to reinforcing narratives of Russia as a fortress surrounded by aggressive forces, in the West and CIS. This narrative has found support not only in state structures, but also within the larger public. It has been especially salient for some nationalist youth movements, including both pro-Kremlin organizations, such as "Nashi," and extra-systemic groups, such as those of the skinheads. These various actors each have their own specific agendas; they employ different modes of public action, and receive unequal recognition from other segments of society. Yet many of them expose a reading of certain foreign policy events which is roughly similar to that of various state structures. These and related phenomena are analyzed, interpreted and contextualized in papers by Luke March, Igor Torbakov, Jussi Lassila, Marlène Laruelle, and Lukasz Jurczyszyn.