The Russian nationalist-patriotic opposition and the war in Ukraine

Autor principal:
Sofia Tipaldou (Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona)
Programa:
Sesión 2
Día: martes, 14 de julio de 2015
Hora: 11:45 a 14:15
Lugar: Aula 19

Voices opposed to Russian military intervention in Ukraine, may be getting silenced, as the recent assassination of liberal opposition politician Boris Nemtsov shows, but still remain an alternative voice to Kremlin’s foreign policy. However paradoxical it may sound, similar voices to Nemtsov’s, critical to Russia’s stance in Ukraine are heard by opposition figures who are declared Russian nationalists, like famous blogger Alexei Navalny. Nevertheless, the part of the Russian opposition that is self-proclaimed as the “nationalist-patriotic opposition” is a pluralistic network of extra-parliamentarian nationalist organizations, mostly organized and mobilized through the internet that is still minimally controlled by the government. The aim of the present paper is to present the dominant positions towards the war in Ukraine of the organizations that constitute the nationalist extra-parliamentarian opposition in Russia. Policy-making in general, and foreign policy—one of the major issues for far right organizations— in particular, is a complex and multi-level process that involves the counteraction of different and often competing actors. The significance of researching how the nationalist-patriotic opposition in Russia stands towards the war in Ukraine will help us assess better the internal factors that shape foreign policy in post-communist societies. Furthermore, it will contribute to our understanding of the functioning of a world power with a semi-authoritarian regime that has the ability and will to use its military potential in order to pursue its national interests.

Palabras clave: Russia, Ukraine, conflict, nationalism, foreign policy, far right organizations