Decoding Political Myths in Russia — Bo Petersson

Academic research on political myth remains relatively sparse, and the literature that does exist is scattered across several disciplines, despite the influential work of Roland Barthes in Mythologies and earlier semiological insights by Ferdinand de Saussure. This episode of The IR thinker examines what political myth means in theory and how it operates in practice, focusing in particular on its role in legitimising power in contemporary Russia and shaping narratives around Vladimir Putin, Russian society and the war in Ukraine.Bo PeterssonBo Petersson is Professor of Political Science at Malmö University in the Department of Global Political Studies. He is also Director of the Russia, Ukraine and the Caucasus Regional Research Centre in Malmö, and his work focuses on political myth, legitimacy and leadership in Russia and its neighbourhood.Publications:The Putin Predicament: Problems of Legitimacy and Succession in RussiaRising from the Ashes: The role of Chechnya in contemporary Russian politicsNationalism and greatness: Russia under the Putin presidenciesContent00:00 - Introduction01:50 - Definition of the Political Myth07:15 - Shortcomings of the Concept of Political Myth08:13 - Popularity of the Political Myth09:02 - Political Myth and Legitimizing the Power in Russia (Putin, Medvedev)17:24 - Is Putin Aware of the Political Myth Concept?19:11 - Putin vs. Medvedev20:46 - People Around, Institutions, Ministries24:28 - How Leaders Take Control Over the Political Myth26:50 - Stability, Ups and Downs of Putin vs. the Political Myth30:10 - The Political Myth and Russian Society - Unity vs. Polarisation33:17 - Putin and the War in Ukraine35:08 - Russians Living Abroad39:05 - Russian Identity and the Political Myth41:32 - Social Media and the Political Myth46:26 - The Political Myth as a Research Framework49:16 - Prof. Petersson Research Methods - Sources of Data50:52 - RUSSIA, UKRAINE AND THE CAUCASUS REGIONAL RESEARCHFollow & Further ResourcesSubstack: https://theirthinker.substack.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ir-thinker/X: https://x.com/irthinker_Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theirthinker/Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theirthinker.bsky.socialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/irthinkerfb Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.