Global Security and Intelligence Studies Volume 5, Number 1, Spring / Summer 2020 | Page 88

Global Security and Intelligence Studies
ous nationalism. To date, Putin has established
himself as a faithful and dedicated
guardian of the proud and tested
Russian identity he attempts to personify.
Putin and his political apparatus, led
the struggles against any possibility of a
recurring humiliation or future squandering
of prestige. The Russian leader’s
political and propaganda systems ensured
the vitality of the long-standing
political myth and paranoia of foreign
encirclement. Throughout history, Russians
have associated closely with “the
conspiratorial foe, the valiant leader, in
the perseverance of the people [these
common characteristics] ... bring forth
the supreme qualities of the people,
[and] are in line with the characteristics
often attributed to a charismatic leader”
(Petersson 2017).
Putin’s identity fits squarely
within the optimal Russian historical
and social identity. The population has
been yearning for a resolute figure as
dedicated as Stalin and Lenin, but with
compassion and the promise of something
better to come. The Russian president
is a “mirror in which everyone,
communist or democrat, sees what he
wants to see and what he hopes for ...
Putin was described as intelligent, competent,
physically and psychologically
healthy, [as] a man who kept to himself,
and who was honest and respected
abroad. Supporters drew attention
to his toughness … strong-willed and
decisive” (McAllister and White 2003,
385). It is these identity traits that Putin
has relied on to contentiously engineer
himself as a powerful, safe, and proud
figurehead.
Throughout his presidencies,
Putin has been highly skilled at
capitalizing on a small number
of overarching political myths,
which have tended to dominate
the contemporary Russian mythscape.
First, there are Russia’s
aspirations to be recognized as a
great power always and unconditionally.
As manifested over the
centuries, from Peter the Great
to Stalin and up to Putin, this
belief seems to function as the
basic pillar of Russian national
identity. The idea of the country
[as] being predestined to be a
great power, one that will act and
be treated with proper respect,
seems to be a dominant political
myth upon which Russians’ ‘weness’
largely relies. (Petersson
2017)
With the consolidation and promotion
of a specific Russian identity, reinforced
throughout the world by various
influence mediums and propaganda
methods, “Putin was able to reconcile
policies and groups that in an earlier era
would have been in conflict, notably the
working class and the aspirational middle-class”
(Sakwa 2008, 882). By deliberately
remaining uncommitted to a static
ideology, Putin’s leadership represents
“a distinctive type of neo-authoritarianism
stabilization that did not repudiate
the democratic principles of the constitutional
order in which it existed, but
which did not allow the full potential of
the democratic order to emerge” (Sakwa
2008, 882). This endorsed and propagated
concept of sovereign democracy is a
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