Overview

This book studies the cultural, societal, and ideological factors absent from popular discourse on Vladimir Putin’s Russia, contesting the misleading mainstream assumption that Putin is the all-powerful sovereign of Russia. In carefully examining the ideological underpinnings of Putinism—its tsarist and Soviet elements, its intellectual origins, its culturally reproductive nature, and its imperialist foreign policy—the authors reveal that an indoctrinating ideology and a willing population are simultaneously the most crucial yet overlooked keys to analyzing Putin’s totalitarian democracy. Because Putinism is part of a global wave of extreme political movements, the book also reaffirms the need to understand—but not accept—how and why nation-states and masses turn to nationalism, authoritarianism, or totalitarianism in modern times.

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9783030205782

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Reviews

Sameness and difference also emerge when we compare these (or any) two books. Thus, both offer thought-provoking responses to the dilemmas outlined. ... Putin's Totalitarian Democracy (PTD) is a polemic that breaches scholarly etiquette. Plots against Russia (PAR), via an emphasis on popular culture and discourse, applies theoretical paradigms that originate in the psychoanalytical branch of cultural studies to topics usually covered within political communication, serving as a fine exemplar of the incipient discipline of critical geopolitics. (Stephen Hutchings, Journal of Modern History, Vol. 94 (3), September, 2022)

Author Information

Kate C. Langdon is an Erasmus Mundus scholar. She studied at Vassar College in New York and Charles University in Prague. Vladimir Tismaneanu is Professor in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, USA.

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