Authors

Mikhail Suslov¹;  ¹ University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Discussion

In this paper I discuss the evolution of Russian Messianism from its expansionist form to a more “introverted”, covenant type, which reflects on the new regime ideology, influenced by populism and isolationism. This new Messianism defines Russia’s place in the world as a global “provider of stability” (Sergei Lavrov), whose role is to “destroy the towers of Babel” (Egor Kholmogorov), that is to prevent global hegemons from making large-scale transformations of the world. This negatively defined Messianism imbricates with the isolationist agenda and with the identitarian-populistic fixation of the current political mainstream. Geopolitical discourses in Russia demonstrate three iterations of Messianism: first, they imply that Russia represents the alternative model of the international relations, which defies American hegemony and stands for a multipolar world. The second layer to this vision comes from the “conservative turn”, and it fixes up Russia’s global mission as a fortress of “spirituality” and traditional values in the sea of secularism, moral laxity, tolerance to the non-traditional sexual behavior and everything which is associated with the “Godless, degenerated West”. The third iteration is the idea about Russia’s “uniquely” harmonious heterogeneity, which provides an alternative to the liberal approach to multiculturalism.