Ideological Complementarity or Competition? The Kremlin, the Church, and the Monarchist Idea in Today's Russia

• Published in: Slavic review Vol. 79; no. 2; pp. 345 - 364
• Main Author: Laruelle, Marlene
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01-01-2020
• Subjects: 20th century; Case studies; Complementarity; Ecosystems; Entrepreneurs; Ideology; Monarchy; Nationalism; Politics; Power; Production; Public opinion; Society; Sympathy; Russia; Romanov; monarchism; memory; Orthodoxy; Russia; tsarism
• ISSN: 0037-6779; 2325-7784
• DOI: 10.1017/slr.2020.87

In 2018, Russia's last tsar, Nicholas II, was the most popular of all Russian historical figures of the twentieth century; the fame of White officers such as Alexander Kolchak and Anton Denikin was also on the rise. Obviously, broad sympathy for the last Romanov does not imply support for a potential restoration of the monarchy, yet the past few years have seen the activation of several monarchist lobbies, especially around the Russian Orthodox Church and in some well-connected Kremlin circles that seek the ideological hardening of the Putin regime. In this article, I use the case study of the monarchist idea to explore how the Kremlin manages the production of a large and diversified set of ideologies. I explore how the relationship between state authorities, ideological entrepreneurs, and some societal actors such as the Church is articulated along a continuum of permanent complementarity and competition in the production of ideologies.