The Red Mirror: Putin's Leadership and Russia's Insecure Identity
What explains Putin's enduring popularity in Russia?

In The Red Mirror, Gulnaz Sharafutdinova uses social identity theory to explain Putin's leadership. The main source of Putin's political influence, she finds, lies in how he articulates the shared collective perspective that unites many Russian citizens. Under his tenure, the Kremlin's media machine has tapped into powerful group emotions of shame and humiliation—derived from the Soviet transition in the 1990s—and has politicized national identity to transform these emotions into pride and patriotism. Culminating with the annexation of Crimea in 2014, this strategy of national identity politics is still the essence of Putin's leadership in Russia. But victimhood-based consolidation is also leading the country down the path of political confrontation and economic stagnation. To enable a cultural, social, and political revival in Russia, Sharafutdinova argues, political elites must instead focus on more constructively conceived ideas about the country's future.

Integrating methods from history, political science, and social psychology, The Red Mirror offers the clearest picture yet of how the nation's majoritarian identity politics are playing out.
"1137018733"
The Red Mirror: Putin's Leadership and Russia's Insecure Identity
What explains Putin's enduring popularity in Russia?

In The Red Mirror, Gulnaz Sharafutdinova uses social identity theory to explain Putin's leadership. The main source of Putin's political influence, she finds, lies in how he articulates the shared collective perspective that unites many Russian citizens. Under his tenure, the Kremlin's media machine has tapped into powerful group emotions of shame and humiliation—derived from the Soviet transition in the 1990s—and has politicized national identity to transform these emotions into pride and patriotism. Culminating with the annexation of Crimea in 2014, this strategy of national identity politics is still the essence of Putin's leadership in Russia. But victimhood-based consolidation is also leading the country down the path of political confrontation and economic stagnation. To enable a cultural, social, and political revival in Russia, Sharafutdinova argues, political elites must instead focus on more constructively conceived ideas about the country's future.

Integrating methods from history, political science, and social psychology, The Red Mirror offers the clearest picture yet of how the nation's majoritarian identity politics are playing out.
44.99 In Stock
The Red Mirror: Putin's Leadership and Russia's Insecure Identity

The Red Mirror: Putin's Leadership and Russia's Insecure Identity

The Red Mirror: Putin's Leadership and Russia's Insecure Identity

The Red Mirror: Putin's Leadership and Russia's Insecure Identity

Audio CD

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Overview

What explains Putin's enduring popularity in Russia?

In The Red Mirror, Gulnaz Sharafutdinova uses social identity theory to explain Putin's leadership. The main source of Putin's political influence, she finds, lies in how he articulates the shared collective perspective that unites many Russian citizens. Under his tenure, the Kremlin's media machine has tapped into powerful group emotions of shame and humiliation—derived from the Soviet transition in the 1990s—and has politicized national identity to transform these emotions into pride and patriotism. Culminating with the annexation of Crimea in 2014, this strategy of national identity politics is still the essence of Putin's leadership in Russia. But victimhood-based consolidation is also leading the country down the path of political confrontation and economic stagnation. To enable a cultural, social, and political revival in Russia, Sharafutdinova argues, political elites must instead focus on more constructively conceived ideas about the country's future.

Integrating methods from history, political science, and social psychology, The Red Mirror offers the clearest picture yet of how the nation's majoritarian identity politics are playing out.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781665189378
Publisher: HighBridge Company
Publication date: 04/06/2021
Product dimensions: 5.20(w) x 5.70(h) x (d)

About the Author

Gulnaz Sharafutdinova is Reader in Russian Politics at King's College London. She is the author of Political Consequences of Crony Capitalism Inside Russia and coeditor of Soviet Society in the Era of Late Socialism, 1964-1985.

Michael Page has been recording audiobooks since 1984 and has over two hundred titles to his credit. He has won numerous Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. As a professional actor, he has performed regularly since 1998 with the Peterborough Players in Peterborough, New Hampshire. He is a professor of theater at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Table of Contents

Preface

PART I
1. The Return of the 'Soviet' or the 'National' in Putin's Russia?
2. The White Knight and the Red Queen: Blinded by Love

PART II Of History and Identity: Recent and Very Recent
3. Shared Mental Models of the Late Soviet Period
4. The New Russian Identity and the Burden of the Soviet Past

PART III Of Leaders and Opinion-Makers: Top-Down Political Construction
5. Constructing The Collective Trauma of the 1990
6. MMM for VVP: Building the Modern Media Machine
7. Le Cirque Politique a la Russe: Political Talk Shows and Public Opinion Leaders in Russia

Conclusion
8. Searching for a New Mirror: On Human and Collective Dignity in Russia

Epilogue
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