Browsing by Subject "Great Power"

This paper discusses how narratives of Russian nationalism intersect with great power identity in modern Russia in the hopes of illustrating how these concepts are instrumentalized in politics. Russian national identity is a particularly fertile ground for this kind of research due to Russia's complex relationship with its imperial and Soviet pasts as well as its fall from a position as one of the world’s two superpowers. Thoughtful analysis of Russia’s national identity in modern times as well as its ambitions to pursue great power status are critical for understanding certain political trends and perspectives, especially in the context of Russia’s war in Ukraine. To answer questions about how the ideas of great power identity and nationalism relate, this paper employs a theoretical framework based on social constructionism, which allows for the analysis of nationalism and national identity through a narrative lens. This analysis primarily draws on the work of Benedict Anderson, but it also utilizes the works of Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann’s as well as Michael Billig. This method of analysis shows how great power identity is used by Russian politicians, especially Vladimir Putin, to both reinforce their own status and promote a narrative of Russian supremacy. By examining how this narrative operates at both a conceptual and practical level, this paper finds that a desire to restore great power status in modern Russia can serve as both a useful tool for political actors and a constraint on their actions. Both the legacy of the Great Patriotic War and present narratives surrounding Ukraine effectively exemplify this argument. This paper’s analysis helps to explain how narratives of great power status both incentivize and justify Russian aggression towards Ukraine, which helps to deepen the understanding of the conflict and its links to Russian national identity, though the concrete predictions of the future remain beyond reach. Any path toward the reestablishment or perpetuation of great power status is sure to be a thorny one, which Russia is a prime example of. This paper endeavors to explain how Russia continues to walk that path and why such an ambition remains appealing and useful despite its terrible cost.