Putinism: The Ideology

by Anne Applebaum

Back during the Cold War, when the politics of the Kremlin were opaque, journalists and analysts often became obsessed with the personality of the leader of Russia, speculating about his taste in whiskey or suits, tracking his wife’s fashion sense or lack of it, hoping that would give them some clue about his policies. Times have changed, but the personality and beliefs of Vladimir Putin, the current Russian president, still matter just as much as those of his predecessors - if not more. In a state where authority is still vested in personalities, not in institutions, the Russian president’s vision of his country, his understanding of its history, his training as a KGB officer and his personal experience of life in the Soviet Union now have an incalculable impact on Russian political life.

Genres: Politics, Russia, Nonfiction, History

14 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 10, 2013

About the author

Anne Elizabeth Applebaum is a Polish-American journalist and writer. She has written extensively about Marxism–Leninism and the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. She has worked at The Economist and The Spectator, and was a member of the editorial board of The Washington Post.

Reviews

[Amanda Alexandre · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a writer, I have to respect that Applebaum made this ebook no longer than it should be. Her mission was to explain Putin's ideological structure. She accomplished that in 16 pages, so the ebook has 16 pages and nothing else.

As someone who knows Russia and discreetly inserts herself as part of Putin's new opposition in the last pages, she does a good job in showing a side of Putin westerners don't see: how he shakes hands with Trump, only to compare America to the German Nazi by his back. I always snorted when extreme leftists complimented the USSR here in Brazil. Their arguments were: people speak fondly of the communist rule. Well, one of the reasons they do so is because they were brainwashed, not just by their former dictators, but also by Putin himself.

That's the comical duplicity of Putin: he needed a scapegoat for the economic unrest caused by the pro-USSR accomodations, and he used capitalism for that. Which shows that Putin two-faced politics and propaganda doesn't fit entirely in our binary political beliefs. His "managed democracy" and "managed capitalism" is far from getting the approval of any modern western militant - yet the ways we find to fit Russia in our political narratives are hilarious, at the light of everything Anne Applebaum wrote in this ebook.

A good, objective take on Putin's brainwashing machine. A fast introduction for someone who wants to understand the political scenery in Russia.

[Juraj · Rating 4 out of 5]

This essay has become a bit outdated in the past two months for obvious reasons. Now everybody in the west says the same as Applebaum did in 2013. But for many this wasn't as obvious before.

The conclusion seems a bit outdated since Putin is in Russia seemingly (emphasis on seemingly) more powerful now than ever but in my very humble non-expert opinion he invaded Ukraine because he was losing the power and indeed was terrified that "western ideas" will take his allies and then topple his regime.

However the sanctions helped him to solidify his power and in combination with the insane amount of propaganda from Russian media made most of the Russian people come to his side. It's madness of crowds not dissimilar to 1930's Europe.