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Nexus of Patriotism and Militarism in Russia a Quest for Internal Cohesion

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Nexus of Patriotism and Militarism in Russia a Quest for Internal Cohesion Nexus of Patriotism and Patriotism Militarism of in RussiaNexus Nexus of Patriotism his volume explores patriotism and militarism in today’s Russia. During the last 20-year period, there has been a consistent effort and Militarism Tin Russia to consolidate the nation and to foster a sense of unity and common purpose. To this end, Russian authorities have activated various channels, from educational programmes and youth organizations in Russia to media and popular culture. With the war in Ukraine, the manipulation of public sentiments – feeling of pride and perception of threat – has A Quest for Internal Cohesion become more systemic. The traditional view of Russia being Other for Europe has been replaced with a narrative of enmity. The West is Edited by Katri Pynnöniemi portrayed as a threat to Russia’s historical-cultural originality while Russia represents itself as a country encircled by enemies. On the other hand, these state-led projects mixing patriotism and militarism are perceived sceptically by the Russian society, especially the younger generations. This volume contributes to the current debates on the evolution of enemy images in Russia and the ways in which societal actors perceive official projections of patriotism and militarism in the Russian society. Katri Pynnöniemi holds a joint Mannerheim professorship of Russian Katri Pynnöniemi Pynnöniemi Katri by Edited security studies at the University of Helsinki and at the Finnish National Defense University. She has published widely on the system change in Russia as well as on Russian foreign and security policy. The contributors of the volume include several scholars on Russian studies, contemporary history, political science, sociology, and media studies. Nexus of Patriotism and Militarism in Russia A Quest for Internal Cohesion Edited by Katri Pynnöniemi Published by Helsinki University Press www.hup.fi © the authors 2021 First published in 2021 Cover design by Ville Karppanen Cover photo by iStockphoto/Gaika102. Kalach-on-Don, Volgograd Region, Russia. September 27, 2018. Honor guard of young soldiers on a mass grave at the site of the Battle of Stalingrad near the village of Golubinskaya. Print and digital versions typeset by Siliconchips Services Ltd. (Paperback): 978-952-369-034-9 (PDF): 978-952-369-035-6 (EPUB): 978-952-369-036-3 (Mobi): 978-952-369-037-0 https://doi.org/10.33134/HUP-9 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial 4.0 International License (unless stated otherwise within the content of the work). To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA. This license allows sharing and copying any part of the work, providing author attribution is clearly stated. Under this license, the user of the material must indicate if they have modified the material and retain an indication of previous modifica- tions. This license prohibits commercial use of the material. The full text of this book has been peer reviewed to ensure high academic standards. For full review policies, see http://www.hup.fi/ Suggested citation: Pynnöniemi, K. (Ed.), 2021. Nexus of patriotism and militarism in Russia: A quest for internal cohesion. Helsinki University Press, Helsinki. https://doi.org/10.33134/HUP-9. To read the free, open access version of this book online, visit https://doi.org/10.33134/ HUP-9 or scan this QR code with your mobile device: Table of Contents Preface v Figures and Tables vii Note on Transliteration and Translation viii Contributors ix Chapter 1: Introduction Katri Pynnöniemi 1 Part I: The Russian National Narrative 17 Introduction to Part I 19 Chapter 2: Enemy Images in the Russian National Narrative Kati Parppei 23 Chapter 3: Evolution of Russia’s ‘Others’ in Presidential Discourse in 2000–2020 Veera Laine 49 Chapter 4: Ivan Ilʹin and the Kremlin’s Strategic Communication of Threats: Evil, Worthy and Hidden Enemies Katri Pynnöniemi 81 Part II: Perceptions of Patriotism 111 Introduction to Part II 113 Chapter 5: An Unattainable Ideal: Youth and Patriotism in Russia Jussi Lassila 119 Chapter 6: A Growing Militarism? Changing Meanings of Russian Patriotism in 2011–2017 Eemil Mitikka and Margarita Zavadskaya 151 Chapter 7: Patriots on Air: Reflections on Patriotism in the Minds of TV Journalists Salla Nazarenko 183 Part III: Elements of Militarism 215 Introduction to Part III 217 Chapter 8: Upgrading the Image of the Russian Armed Forces: A Task Set for Military-Political Training Arseniy Svynarenko 221 Chapter 9: Russia’s Young Army: Raising New Generations into Militarized Patriots Jonna Alava 249 Chapter 10: Why Did the Seamen Have to Die? The Kursk Tragedy and the Evoking of Old Testament Blood Sacrifice Elina Kahla 285 Chapter 11: Conclusion Katri Pynnöniemi 313 Index 323 Preface The edited volume will explore the nexus between patriotism and militarism in today’s Russia. During the last 20-year period, there has been a consistent effort to consolidate Russian society and foster a sense of unity and common purpose. To this end, Russian authorities have activated various channels, from educational programmes and youth organizations to media and popular culture. With the conflict in Ukraine, the manipulation of pub- lic sentiments – feeling of pride and perception of threat – has become more systemic. The traditional view of Russia being Other for Europe has been replaced with a story about enmity. The West is portrayed as a threat to Russia’s historical-cultural originality and Russia as a country encircled by enemies. However, Russian society remains sceptical towards state-led projects that mix pat- riotism and militarism. This book will provide new insights into the evolution of enemy images, the ways in which societal actors perceive official projec- tions of patriotism and the growing role of militarism in Russian society. It is argued that these are key variables when analysing the trajectory of Russia’s foreign policy and the transformation of society in general. Thus, we may provide a nuanced understand- ing of the nexus of patriotism and militarism in Russia and its implications for the country’s domestic developments and for Europe in general. The authors of this book want to thank the Military Science Research Foundation for research funding. Keywords: patriotism, militarism, Russia, enemy images, sacri- fice, youth, threat perceptions Figures and Tables Figures 1. Trajectories of patriotic and militaristic sentiments in Russia between 2000 and 2018. 8 2. Definitions of patriotism in Russia. Question: What does it mean to you ‘to be a patriot’? 114 3. Frequency of keywords per programme of patriotic education. 138 4. Military-patriotic attitudes in Russia by age group. 140 5. National pride, willingness to fight, trust in the army and preference for strong leader. dynamics from 1990 to 2017. 162 6. PCA (principal component analysis) loadings in the index of patriotism across survey waves (years 2006, 2011 and 2017). 164 7. Association between authoritarianism and patriotism: 2006, 2011 and 2017. 167 8. Reported number of young people drafted during the years 2011–2014 compared to the number of servicemen on contract and the forecast until 2035 of number of young men who most likely will be drafted. 223 9. Distribution of answers to the question ‘To what degree army is trustworthy?’ between 1997 and 2020. 226 10. Distribution of answers to the question ‘What is your attitude towards military service?’ between 1997 and 2019. 227 11. Attitudes towards military service. Distribution of answers for respondents in four income categories: poor, respondents with middle-sized incomes, wealthy, rich. 231 Tables 1. Number of words mentioned in the president’s annual address (2000–2019). 94 2. Correlates of patriotism: results of OLS regression analysis. 168 3. Coding of variables. 179 4. Principal component analyses for patriotic indicators by WVS round. 181 5. Discourses on patriotism by TV journalists in Moscow. 198 6. Distribution of answers to the question ‘What is your attitude towards military service?’ Answers by age group. 229 7. Attitudes towards military service. Distribution of answers for Moscow, other towns and village residents. 230 8. Distribution of answers to the question ‘In your opinion who should serve in the army?’ Comparisons across age groups. 232 Note on Transliteration and Translation In this volume, the ISO 9 standard has been used to transliter- ate Cyrillic characters into Latin characters. Direct quotations from Russian have been translated by the authors unless stated otherwise. Contributors Alava, Jonna, Doctoral Researcher, University of Helsinki and researcher, the National Defence University, https://orcid .org/0000-0003-0793-8256 Kahla, Elina, Principal Investigator at the Aleksanteri Institute, and Docent in Cultural History of Russia at the University of Hel- sinki, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9473-8158 Laine, Veera, Doctoral Researcher, University of Helsinki, https:// orcid.org/0000-0003-3990-1714 Lassila, Jussi, Senior Research Fellow, the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5966-2947 Mitikka, Eemil, Doctoral Researcher, University of Helsinki, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0784-261X Nazarenko, Salla, Doctoral Researcher, University of Tampere Parppei, Kati, Academy Research Fellow, Adjunct Professor (Russian History), Department of Geographical and Historical Studies, University of Eastern Finland,
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