Conspiracy Discourse in Post-Soviet Russia: Political Strategies of Capture of the Public Sphere (1991-2014)
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Conspiracy Discourse in post-Soviet Russia: Political Strategies of Capture of the Public Sphere (1991-2014) A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities 2014 Ilya Yablokov School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Table of Contents Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................................................2 Abstract .....................................................................................................................................................................4 Declaration ................................................................................................................................................................5 Copyright Statement ................................................................................................................................................5 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................................6 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................7 Historical Background ........................................................................................................................................9 Literature Review ............................................................................................................................................. 10 Studies of Russian Anti-Jewish Conspiracy Theories ......................................................................................... 11 Studies of Conspiracy Theories in Imperial and Soviet Russia ........................................................................... 12 Studies of Conspiracy Theories in Post-Soviet Russia ........................................................................................ 13 Conceptual Framework and Methodology of the Project ......................................................................... 16 Structure of the Thesis .................................................................................................................................... 24 Chapter 1. The Spectres of Conspiracy Mythmaking: Public Intellectuals and Anti-Western Discourse in Post-Soviet Russia .................................................................................................................... 26 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................... 26 1.1. Gleb Pavlovskiĭ: Conspiracy Theories as a Political Technology ..................................................... 31 1.2. Aleksandr Dugin: The Eternal War of the Continents ....................................................................... 37 1.3. Nataliia Narochnitskaia: Orthodox Russia vs. the spiritless West [bezdukhovnyĭ Zapad] ........... 43 1.4. “Most Western People Belong to a Different Humanoid Group From Us”: Maksim Shevchenko’s Battle Against Western Neo-Liberalism .............................................................................. 49 Conclusion......................................................................................................................................................... 55 Chapter 2. The Soviet Collapse and Its Conspiracy Interpretations in Post-Soviet Russia ........ 58 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................... 58 2.1. The Overture to Collapse: Conspiratorial Origins of Gorbachev’s Perestroika ............................ 59 The Agents of Perestroika: Employing the Language of the Intelligence Services in Conspiracy Theories ............. 59 Andropov’s Conspiracy..................................................................................................................................... 61 “Westernized” Intelligentsia Against the Motherland ....................................................................................... 63 “The Manipulation of Consciousness” .............................................................................................................. 64 2.2. The Collapse of the USSR in 1991 ........................................................................................................ 66 Mikhail Gorbachev as a Favourite Scapegoat ................................................................................................... 66 Forgeries as Main Argument ............................................................................................................................ 68 Competing Conspiratorial Interpretations of the August Coup .......................................................................... 70 El’tsin’s Impeachment (1998-1999) ................................................................................................................ 73 2.3. “A Major Geopolitical Disaster”: Framing the Soviet Collapse in Putin’s Russia ......................... 79 2 Conclusion......................................................................................................................................................... 83 Chapter 3. Building “Fortress Russia”: Conspiracy Theories and Post-Soviet Strategies of Nation-Building ................................................................................................................................................. 86 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................... 86 3.1. Vladislav Surkov’s Sovereign Democracy: Theorizing the New Russian Identity ................................ 88 3.2. Constructing the Other: The United States as Russia’s Rival ............................................................ 96 3.3. “Nashi”: The Creation of Anti-Western National Elites ................................................................. 100 3.4. The Fall of an Empire: The Lesson of Byzantium ............................................................................ 103 3.5. The Case of Pussy Riot: Making the Nation of the “Orthodox People” ...................................... 107 Conclusion....................................................................................................................................................... 115 Chapter 4. The Image of the Enemy: Conspiracy Narratives in Post-Soviet Electoral Campaigns ......................................................................................................................................................... 118 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 118 4.1. The 2007-2008 Election Period: Combating the “Colour Revolution” in Russia ....................... 119 Putin as a National Leader ........................................................................................................................... 120 “Putin’s Enemies” ......................................................................................................................................... 124 International Observers as “Fake Structures” ................................................................................................. 126 The Leader Defines the Enemy: Putin’s Public Speeches on the Eve of the Parliamentary Elections ................ 128 4.2. The 2011-2012 Election Period: Splitting Russia .............................................................................. 132 “The Voice From Nowhere” .......................................................................................................................... 132 “The White Ribbon Aims to Shed Blood” ..................................................................................................... 134 Moscow vs. “The Real Russia” ...................................................................................................................... 137 Michael McFaul: “Ambassador for Colour Revolutions”................................................................................ 140 Poklonnaia Hill vs. Bolotnaia Square ............................................................................................................ 143 Conclusion....................................................................................................................................................... 146 Chapter 5. Battling Against “Foreign Agents”: Conspiracy Narratives in Domestic Politics Under Putin and Medvedev .......................................................................................................................... 148 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 148 5.1. Russian NGOs and the “Colour Revolutions”: Defining the Domestic Threat .......................... 149 The British “Spy-Rock”: Linking NGOs and Foreign Intelligence Services .................................................... 152 5.2. NGOs as “Foreign Agents”: New Developments in the Anti-Western Conspiracy Discourse 155 Conclusion......................................................................................................................................................