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The Role of Messianism in Contemporary Russian Identity and Statecraft

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The Role of Messianism in Contemporary Russian Identity and Statecraft Durham E-Theses THE ROLE OF MESSIANISM IN CONTEMPORARY RUSSIAN IDENTITY AND STATECRAFT BOUVENG, KERSTIN,REBECCA How to cite: BOUVENG, KERSTIN,REBECCA (2010) THE ROLE OF MESSIANISM IN CONTEMPORARY RUSSIAN IDENTITY AND STATECRAFT, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/438/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 THE ROLE OF MESSIANISM IN CONTEMPORARY RUSSIAN IDENTITY AND STATECRAFT Kerstin Rebecca Bouveng Abstract Russian messianism – the longstanding idea of Russia as a ‘chosen’ nation with a historical mission is typically represented as a cliché with little or no relevance in politics. However, an increasing deployment of several interrelated messianic ideas and notions has been noted in both public and official Post-Soviet discourse, raising the question of how we should understand its persistence and contemporary revival. We first develop a conceptual framework based on insights about identity and statecraft from poststructuralist and related approaches, then proceed to trace key characteristics and narratives of Russian messianism in history and the secondary literature of various disciplines. The study proposes that Russian messianism should be conceptualised as a persistent discursive framework, holding a kaleidoscopic range of both complementing and contesting discourses, that have the purposes of legitimising the existence and policies of Russia as a state and defining Russian identity in ambiguous relation to a broad Western Other. This conceptualisation is then applied to contemporary Russian discourse. By analysing samples of key official discourse (2000-2007) the thesis shows how the Russian state adopts, negotiates and reproduces certain messianic narratives from public discourse, in which they abound. We then compare the convergence and divergence of the official and public political discourse with popular discourse, based on the analysis of semi-structured interviews with 160 semi-elite and ordinary Russians, conducted in 2005. We find that the Russian messianic framework is widely used at all levels of discourse and among all categories of Russian people, but in ways and contexts different from in public and official discourse. Overall, this thesis makes contributions to Russian studies by providing a theoretical conceptualisation of Russian messianism; and to the study of international relations by an analysis of discourses central to the production of Russia as a collective identity, state and international actor. THE ROLE OF MESSIANISM IN CONTEMPORARY RUSSIAN IDENTITY AND STATECRAFT Kerstin Rebecca Bouveng Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Government and International Affairs Durham University 2010 ii With love to my sweet Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the true Messiah, to whom I owe everything iii Acknowledgements I received a lot of help, support and inspiration from many corners of the world during the process of writing this thesis, and listing everyone is impossible. So here are a few select thanks: David Kerr, my stoic academic mentor: for the sticks and carrots, for your patience and helpfulness, for enduring my continuous structural crises, for making sense of my long-winded Swedish English, for your sound direction and inspiration, and much more: thank you from the bottom of my heart. I don’t know how you managed not to give up on me. I am also grateful to my undergraduate tutors Anna K. Dickson and Rosamund Bartlett who both encouraged me to do research in the first place. Apostle Elijah Delapanosta, my spiritual mentor: for challenging me to dream big dreams and have high aspirations, for believing in my potential, for your prayers, and much more: thank you. You called me Dr Bouveng when this doctorate seemed more than impossible. Vladimir Storchak, for long conversations about our fascinating topic and sharing your work with me: I am much indebted to you. In Russia, I also received inspiration, feedback and practical help from Alexander Petrov, Danila Shchipkov, Filipp Shchipkov, Tatyana Shchipkova, Olesya Pomazan, Sergey Khotin, Irina Saprikina and Tatyana Shakleyina, among others. Paul Hayman: for believing in and encouraging me, for invaluable feedback on various chapters, particularly the theory: thank you so much. Your motto that ‘IR theory is fun’ has really impacted my thinking. I also thank Alvidas Jokubaitis who read various chapters and, alongside with research students at Vilnius University gave very useful feedback and advice. Tatyana Hunt: your help, friendship and hospitality have been invaluable to me. Thank you for being an excellent Russian teacher, helping me organise the interviews, sharing your family, friends, house and even dacha with me, giving me ideas and inspiration, helping gather primary sources, for long hours talking about your country, and much, much more. Grace Delapanosta, for your friendship, countless hours of baby-sitting, for cooking for me when I was tired from studying, for supporting and helping me in countless other ways: thank you. I also thank Jean and Allan Straughan for many hours of baby-sitting. Steve Chivasa, and Gary and Kaye of KCG Computers, to name but a few, provided help with my computers and formatting documents in time of great need. To my father, Kristian Bouveng: for being an example of a hard and disciplined worker, and to my mother, Eva Lofquist: for inspiring me from an early age to think critically, thank you both. Elise, my sweet girl, for patiently waiting and playing by yourself many hours at a time, since you were but a baby, while Mamma has been writing her book: thank you. I am so proud of you. Finally, this thesis would never have been written without the near two hundred Russians who gave me the privilege of listening to their thoughts, fears, hopes and stories about their country and themselves. Spasibo Vam. iv Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... iv 1.0.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 1.1.0 Topic: Russian messianism and the crisis of Russian identity .................... 1 1.1.1 The ambiguous end of Russian ideology and revival of messianism ...... 1 1.1.2 Statement of relevance ............................................................................. 7 1.2.0 Hypotheses, Research questions and Intellectual Approach ..................... 11 1.3.0 Methodology .............................................................................................. 15 1.4.0 Thesis organisation .................................................................................... 17 2.0.0 How to understand Russian Messianism in Theory ...................................... 20 2.1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................... 20 2.2.0 Constructivism ........................................................................................... 21 2.3.0 Neorealism ................................................................................................. 26 2.4.0 Classical, Culturalist and Historicist Political Realism ............................. 28 2.5.0 Poststructuralist and Multidisciplinary Self-Other studies ........................ 33 2.6.0 Conclusion: A new conceptualisation of Russian messianism .................. 44 3.0.0 Methodology ................................................................................................. 48 3.1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................... 48 3.2.0 Discourse, and discourse analysis applied ................................................. 56 3.3.0 Evidence .................................................................................................... 61 3.4.0 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 69 4.0.0 Russian Messianism as Intellectual Tradition ............................................... 70 4.1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................... 70 4.2.0 Historiography and literature ..................................................................... 71 4.3.0 Historical overview of Russian messianic discourses ............................... 81 4.3.1 Early variants of messianic discourse .................................................... 81 4.3.2 Secularisation and millenarianism: the state vs. the people ................... 88 4.3.3 From Romantic nationalism to Revolution ...........................................
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