Putin’s Policy of Nationalism
Why does President Putin need to use nationalism as a diversionary tactic? This next section will explain the current domestic issues in Russia as well as the methods Putin is using in order to develop a nationalist discourse in the country.
When the Soviet Union fell, Russia experienced many economic, social, and political challenges in its transition to democracy. Unfortunately, it left many feeling a lack of national pride and economic suffering. When Vladimir Putin came into power in 2000, he immediately created many reforms that were designed to foster nationalism and boost national pride, including placing restrictions on the Russian media and through the use of diversionary war. Russia is currently experiencing …show more content…
Some republics were had a higher number of citizens that were pro-secessionist than others, depending on the strength of ethnonationalist movements in the region. In the end, these regions remained part of the Russian Federation and the levels of ethnonationalist sentiments in the republics relaxed (Giuliano 2006). Perhaps this is one of the reasons President Putin encouraged political nationalism in Russia. At the time, the Russian Federation was fracturing among the republics and the central government, and Putin was attempting to replace ethnonationalism for Russian nationalism. However, this does not mean it has completely gone away, which I will mention …show more content…
Coincidentally, this also aligned with Vladimir Putin’s first term as president. The Russian economy is heavily influenced by the price of oil. This is a situation economists refer to as the “resource curse.” The resource curse is explained as “the tendency of easy resource wealth to prop up inefficient industry, squeeze out manufacturing, and fuel corruption” (Ip 2015). Although Russia does have other major economic resources, such as lumber, steel, and aluminum, 18.2% of the GDP is accounted for from Russian oil and gas, making it the third-most dependent in the world (Ip 2015). In early 2015, the Saudi government announced that it was not going to cut back on its oil production. In addition, the U.S. became the world’s largest oil producer and began to export liquified natural gas (Kantchev and Malek 2016). These developments have led to a global oil glut and more competition to the Russian fossil fuel market. This resulted in simple economics: high supply, low prices. Russia thrives when oil prices are high; from 1999 to 2008 it had an average of 7% annual economic growth (Ip 2015). The 2008-09 Recession also left its mark on the economy, resulting in an 8% drop in the economy (Central Intelligence Agency 2016). The combination of low global oil prices and economic sanctions led to the Russian economy to shrink 4% in 2015, and it is expected to continue falling in 2016 (Central Intelligence Agency
Why does President Putin need to use nationalism as a diversionary tactic? This next section will explain the current domestic issues in Russia as well as the methods Putin is using in order to develop a nationalist discourse in the country.
When the Soviet Union fell, Russia experienced many economic, social, and political challenges in its transition to democracy. Unfortunately, it left many feeling a lack of national pride and economic suffering. When Vladimir Putin came into power in 2000, he immediately created many reforms that were designed to foster nationalism and boost national pride, including placing restrictions on the Russian media and through the use of diversionary war. Russia is currently experiencing …show more content…
Some republics were had a higher number of citizens that were pro-secessionist than others, depending on the strength of ethnonationalist movements in the region. In the end, these regions remained part of the Russian Federation and the levels of ethnonationalist sentiments in the republics relaxed (Giuliano 2006). Perhaps this is one of the reasons President Putin encouraged political nationalism in Russia. At the time, the Russian Federation was fracturing among the republics and the central government, and Putin was attempting to replace ethnonationalism for Russian nationalism. However, this does not mean it has completely gone away, which I will mention …show more content…
Coincidentally, this also aligned with Vladimir Putin’s first term as president. The Russian economy is heavily influenced by the price of oil. This is a situation economists refer to as the “resource curse.” The resource curse is explained as “the tendency of easy resource wealth to prop up inefficient industry, squeeze out manufacturing, and fuel corruption” (Ip 2015). Although Russia does have other major economic resources, such as lumber, steel, and aluminum, 18.2% of the GDP is accounted for from Russian oil and gas, making it the third-most dependent in the world (Ip 2015). In early 2015, the Saudi government announced that it was not going to cut back on its oil production. In addition, the U.S. became the world’s largest oil producer and began to export liquified natural gas (Kantchev and Malek 2016). These developments have led to a global oil glut and more competition to the Russian fossil fuel market. This resulted in simple economics: high supply, low prices. Russia thrives when oil prices are high; from 1999 to 2008 it had an average of 7% annual economic growth (Ip 2015). The 2008-09 Recession also left its mark on the economy, resulting in an 8% drop in the economy (Central Intelligence Agency 2016). The combination of low global oil prices and economic sanctions led to the Russian economy to shrink 4% in 2015, and it is expected to continue falling in 2016 (Central Intelligence Agency