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  • The Closing of the Russian Mind: How Putin's Ideology Took the Nation Hostage by Andrei Kolesnikov book cover
  • The Closing of the Russian Mind: How Putin's Ideology Took the Nation Hostage by Andrei Kolesnikov book cover
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The Closing of the Russian Mind: How Putin's Ideology Took the Nation Hostage

by Andrei Kolesnikov

Ideology and power in Putin’s Russia

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AlbakiReads Editorial

Ideology and power in Putin’s Russia

Andrei Kolesnikov examines how Russia’s political direction has changed in the context of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. He argues that Putin’s rule is driven not only by elite self-interest but by an increasingly radical ideology: a neo-imperial vision of Russia as a distinctive “state-civilization,” framed against the West and grounded in a selective account of history. The book traces how that outlook, in Kolesnikov’s analysis, supports greater social mobilization and more totalitarian methods. It also connects hostility to modernization with the country’s international isolation and economic stagnation, before considering moral regeneration and democracy as possible alternatives.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers seeking political analysis of Putin-era Russia and the ideological context of the invasion of Ukraine.
  • Readers interested in Russian nationalism, neo-imperialism, and the relationship between political ideology and state power.

Themes

Putin-era ideologyRussian neo-imperialismAuthoritarianism and totalitarian methodsHistory and national identityDemocracy and political renewal

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Book overview

Not so long ago, Russia under Putin appeared to be a corrupt state run by an elite mainly interested in their own privileges and wealth: authoritarian but not fundamentally expansionist.

The 2022 invasion of Ukraine made it clear that Putin is driven by far more than simply greed. Putin's Russia is, Andrei Kolesnikov argues, in the grip of intense ideological radicalization, seeking to mobilize its population in support of a form of chauvinistic neo-imperialism using increasingly totalitarian methods. This march towards "hybrid totalitarianism" is driven by a messianic view of Russia as a superior, "spiritual" form of "state-civilization" underpinned by its Orthodox faith and hatred of Western "decadence." Based upon a falsified version of history and a profound hostility to modernization, this ideology is making Russia an international pariah and condemning its citizens to endless war and economic stagnation. The only hope for redemption is a profound moral regeneration which redefines the nation's place in the world and embraces the spirit of democracy.

This incisive analysis of the ideological dynamics of late Putinism, written by a leading Russian scholar and journalist, is an indispensable guide to understanding the country's recent descent into war-mongering barbarism.

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