Unconventional populism in Russia

The presentation is based on my Master Thesis for the course of Political Marketing at Rome Business School (2018/19).

Putin's populism vs. populism of Russian opposition: how do they match, what is difference? Can we accept usage of populist techniques against authoritarianism ?

Transcript

1. Unconventional Populism in Russia Based on Master Thesis for the course of Political marketing At Rome Business School (2018/19) By Denis Bilunov (facebook.com/bilunov)
2. Introduction Unlike Putin, his rivals of younger generation of protesters are eager to be populists. Deployment of populist techniques against authoritarianism can be described as “unconventional populism”
3. Literature Overview Cas Mudde's common definition of populism will be used as main reference. As a thin-centered ideology, populism is therefore attached to a thick-ideology by populist politicians.
4. Evolution of Putin's populism
5. Early years of Putin's Rule  Chechen War winner  Battle with oligarchy
7. Populism of late Putin's Rule  THE CRUSADE AGAINST WORLD ELITE from personal Putin's frustrations to fears of «color revolutions»  ANNEXATION OF CRIMEA AND «RUSSIAN WORLD» Neo-imperial hysteria, polarization of civil society  NEPOTISM AND «NEW NOBILITY» Formation of new elites: «siloviki» and «lower classes»  NEW ANTI-ELITIST DEMAND The pension reform and its implications for people's perception of Putin
8. Unconventional populism of Russian opposition
9. Alexey Navalny's Populism  Vague ideology, tends to get out from «liberal ghetto»  Addresses directly to «the people», structures don't play significant role  Language of political communication is based on memes: «crooks and thieves», «the beautiful future Russia»  «Smart vote»: in line with the recent popular tendency
10. Mikhail Svetov's Populism  Openly populist, claims that «there is nothing wrong about populism»  Extensively uses his own populist narrative («nomenklatura», «lustrations») and typical populist language of political communication  Firmly sticked to libertarian ideology
11. Conclusion  Vladimir Putin's early populism met expectations of people but then mutated in a weird form of external anti-elitism.  Formation of new Putinian elite in Russia made his populism obsolete and left space for the opposition to exploit the rising anti-elitist demand.  Alexey Navalny and Mikhail Svetov are interesting examples of deployment of populist techniques in a fight against authoritarianism.  Since these cases can hardly fit the existing academic definitions, I suggest that we call them «Unconventional Populism»