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The Discursive Construction of Russian National Identity Through the Russo-Georgian War

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The Discursive Construction of Russian National Identity Through the Russo-Georgian War Nation-Building in Times of Conflict: The Discursive Construction of Russian National Identity through the Russo-Georgian War A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2016 Marina Henrikson School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Table of Contents Table of Contents ................................................................................................................... 2 List of Figures and Tables ...................................................................................................... 5 Abstract .................................................................................................................................. 6 Declaration ............................................................................................................................. 7 Copyright Statement .............................................................................................................. 7 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ 8 Note on the Transliteration and Translations of Russian ....................................................... 9 Map of Georgia .................................................................................................................... 10 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 11 The Differing Interpretations .......................................................................... 14 Russia’s ‘Neutral’ Stance and the Recent Conflict in Ukraine ..................... 17 Historical Background .................................................................................... 19 The Soviet Period and the 1990s .............................................. 19 The Outbreak and Development of the 2008 War .................... 22 Review of the Literature on the 2008 War ..................................................... 25 The Essentialist Perception of Russian Identity ....................... 25 Discourse Analysis and the 2008 War ...................................... 27 Structure of the Thesis ................................................................................... 29 Chapter 1. War, Discourse, and National Identity ......................................................... 31 Introduction .................................................................................................... 31 1.1. The Role of Language and Discourse in Society .................................... 31 1.2. The Power of Words in War .................................................................... 36 1.3. Discourse and Identity ............................................................................. 38 The Nation-Building Process .................................................... 39 The Construction of Russian National Identity ........................ 40 1.4. The Discursive Battle in Russian Society .............................................. 43 Nation-Building and War ........................................................ 45 The Importance of the Other/s in the Construction of National Identity ..................................................................................... 47 1.5. The Categorisation of the Participants in the Conflict ........................... 49 The Themes in Focus and the Analysis of the Data. ................. 49 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 54 2 Chapter 2. The Discursive Construction of Russia as a ‘Non-Imperialist Great Power’ .............................................................................................................................................. 56 Introduction .................................................................................................... 56 2.1. Russian Greatness in a Historical Perspective ....................................... 59 2.2. Constructing a Great Power through Other Means ................................ 61 Enacting an Interventionist Discourse .................................... 62 A Legal Discourse as a Base ................................................... 67 2.3. Strengthening Russia through a Successful Military Operation ............ 70 2.4. Independence as a Result of the People’s Will ....................................... 74 2.5. A Moment of Truth and Russia’s 9/11 .................................................... 77 2.6. The Formation of a Non-Imperialist Great Power ................................. 83 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 89 Chapter 3. The Historic Legacy of the Soviet Union and the Cold War ..................... 91 Introduction .................................................................................................... 91 3.1. The Study of History Politics Related to Russia ..................................... 94 3.2. The Uses of the Soviet Past ..................................................................... 96 3.3. The Role of History in the Context of the Russo-Georgian War ........... 99 The New Russia and the Cold War Mentality of the United States ......................................................................................... 99 A Militarily-prepared Peaceful State ..................................... 101 3.4. The Role of History and the Independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia ...................................................................................................... 103 The Cold War on August 26 2008 .......................................... 104 The Ambivalent Stance towards Soviet History ..................... 108 The Spectre of Imperial History in the Post-Independence Period .................................................................................... 109 3.5. The Use of Elements from Russian Literary Culture ........................... 110 3.6. The Downplaying of the International Tension ................................... 112 3.7. The Distance from the Soviet Union .................................................... 114 3.8. The Repetition of the Discourse ........................................................... 118 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 122 3 Chapter 4. Discourses on Citizenship and Compatriot Policy during the 2008 War….. ............................................................................................................................................ 124 Introduction .................................................................................................. 124 4.1. Russia’s ‘Passportisation Policy’ .......................................................... 126 4.2. The Ambiguous Compatriots Policy .................................................... 128 4.3 Defining Nations and the Issue of Genocide ......................................... 129 Defining ‘Russians’, ‘Ossetians’, ‘Abkhazians’, and ‘Georgians’ ............................................................................. 130 The Duty to Protect in Times of War ...................................... 133 4.4. The End of War and the Protection Narrative ...................................... 135 4.5. The Uses of the Genocide Claim ........................................................... 137 4.6. The Georgian People and Territorial Integrity ...................................... 141 4.7. Imperial History and the Attack on Russia .......................................... 144 Uses of Imperial History ........................................................ 145 Russia as a Victim .................................................................. 151 4.8. The Five Foreign Policy Principles and the Continuation of the USSR ............................................................................................................................................ 153 Conclusion ............................................................................. 157 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 160 All Roads Lead to Russia as a Great Power .......................... 162 The Great Power Vision – a Legacy from the USSR ............. 164 The Protection Narrative and the Great Power Vision ......... 168 Some Final Remarks ............................................................... 171 Bibliography ................................................................................................. 174 Primary Sources ...................................................................... 174 Secondary Sources .................................................................. 180 Final Word Count: 67 419 words. 4 List of Figures and Tables Figure 1 Map of Georgia......................................................................................................10 Table 1 Tsygankov’s Constructivist Explanation of Foreign Policy: A Causal Process.....45 5 Abstract This thesis examines the discursive construction of Russian national identity through the 2008 war in Georgia with a focus on how this process was influenced by the Russian leadership’s desire to gain the support of both the domestic and international audiences for its actions outside its borders. These actions involved forceful military intervention, the recognition
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