The Crisis of Russian National-state Identity in the Late 20th - Early 21st Centuries: Factors, Specifics, Representations

Abstract

The relevance of the study is related to the unfinished nature of the formation of the Russian national-state identity. The model of national-state identity that exists in modern Russia is fragmented and somewhat amorphous, largely inheriting the semantic and structural features that crystallized earlier - at the crisis (1992-2000) and post-crisis (2001-2008) stages of its formation. The new geopolitical challenges addressed to the Russian state and society in the early 2020th also testify to the need to reassess the recent, largely contradictory experience in the formation of national identification landmarks in post-Soviet Russia. The purpose of the article is to provide a scientific and political understanding of the factors and specifics of the formation of the national-state identity of Russia in the crisis and post-crisis stages (1992-2008). Theoretical and methodological foundations of the study are based on a combination of a political and psychological approach and modern social constructivist theories. The empirical base of the study is the results of sociological surveys conducted by leading Russian academic, research and analytical organizations, as well as data obtained during the implementation of a number of research projects of a political and psychological nature. It is recorded that the crisis of nationalstate identity in 1992-2000 was determined not only by institutional and value-ideological, but also by psycho-emotional factors, among which a special place is occupied by mass frustration and atomization of the social space of Russia. It is noted that the basic factor in the gradual overcoming of the crisis of the Russian national-state identity was the building of a personalist model of power, supported by a decrease in the severity of ideological and political conflicts. The two defining trends of the post-crisis stage in the development of the Russian national-state identity were the restoration in the political consciousness of society of stable ideas about Russia as a great power and the political consolidation of most of society based on «Putin’s consensuses».

Keywords

• national-state identity
• identity crisis
• post-crisis stage
• image of power
• image of «significant other»
• image of space