Mikhail Suslov - about Putinism

Historian, professor at the University of Copenhagen Mikhail Suslov in an interview with Kholod says :

“All existing names are not suitable to describe the ideology that we see now in Russia. I think this is something new.

<…> I describe the core of Putinism in three concepts, which may be a little difficult to perceive by ear, but I will try to reveal their meaning.

The first is identitarian conservatism. For the ideologists of Putinism, it is important to preserve not political forms, but the identity of the community. For the sake of preserving this identity, they can imagine any social changes, revolutions, reforms, and so on. What is this central identity for Putinism? This is a historical identity. “We” are those who defeated the Golden Horde, Napoleon, Hitler and so on. The thousand-year history of Russia becomes a marker of identification.

<…> The second component is what can be called right-wing populism. <…> Populism proclaims the immutability of the value core of the people. Roughly speaking, he says that the people are a certain personality. A person grows and changes, but his “I” remains unchanged. So populists say that a people can grow and develop, but it is always the same people. Because we know its identity, we know what this people wants.

<…> The third component is communitarianism. Its meaning can be described very simply: communitarians are at war with the liberal understanding of what a person is. For a liberal, the most important principle is the universalism of values. As written in the American Declaration of Independence, we hold it to be self-evident that all people have the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The communitarian offers a different philosophy. For him, a person is always a product of his cultural context. Roughly speaking, what is good for an American is bad for a Russian or Chinese. Moreover, they believe that Russians and Americans think differently. <…>.

Identitarian conservatism, right-wing populism, communitarianism. The combination of these three ideologies (or political philosophies) produces today's Putinism."