Putin's Dark Ages: Political Neomedievalism and Re-Stalinization in Russia

Description

"This first in-depth comparison of Putin's neomedieval memory politics and re-Stalinization proposes new approaches to the study of the right-wing populist memory in Russia and beyond. Two decades before the war against Ukraine, a "special operation" was launched against the Russians' historical memory, to aggressively reshape the nation's understanding of its history and identity. The Kremlin's propaganda of World War II for the militarization of Russia is well documented, but the role of political neomedievalism - the glorification of Russian medieval society and its warlords - in rallying Russians to support Putinism had yet to be explored. The celebration of Ivan the Terrible, the sixteenth-century tsar, and the originator of large-scale state terror has become fused with the rehabilitation of Stalinism in the quest to reconstruct an empire. The post-Soviet case suggests that the worldwide obsession with "everything medieval" is not a purely aesthetic movement but may readily be weaponized against democracy. The book is intended for students, scholars, and non-specialists interested in understanding Russia's anti-modern politics and the ease with which post-Soviet society has accepted the terror that Russia has unleashed against Ukraine"--