Anti-Westernism in the External Political Mentality of Present-Day Russians (According to Sociological Surveys)
How to Cite
Latov Y.V. 2017. Anti-Westernism in the External Political Mentality of Present-Day Russians (According to Sociological Surveys) — Sociologicheskaja nauka i social’naja praktika. Vol. 5. No. 4. P. 108-123. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19181/snsp.2017.5.4.5522
Abstract
The article considers increasing anti-Westernism, the negative attitude to Western countries, in the consciousness of the Russians in 2000-2010. Present-day understanding of relations between Russia and the West is first of all analyzed in the context of discussing the threats to safety of Russia. The author emphasizes that the start of the 2010s marked stepwise “de-liberalization” ofthe external political mentality, and today’s main leitmotiv of public consciousness in understanding the threats to the country’s national development is the confrontation between Russia and the West. To specify the objects and dynamics of anti-Westernism, the attitude of the Russians to different countries is further analyzed. It was found that western countries are evaluated in the public consciousness at the positive perception scale lower than almost all eastern countries (even lower than Japan which participates in sanctions against Russia). At the same time, we may observe considerable differentiation in the attitude of the Russians to western countries. Present-day Russian anti-Westernism is first of all anti-Americanism, negativism toward the USA. Even the closest US allies from EU countries (like Germany and Great Britain, for example) are evaluated in a more positive way. At the same time, the attitudes of Russian citizens do not have the image of the “evil country”: regardless of the history of past conflicts, the Russians are ready to give not too critical evaluations to any country which now keeps up non-hostile relations with the Russian Federation (like, for example, Georgia). Thus, though the Russian anti- Westernism is to a considerable degree conditioned by the “conflict of civilizations”, it largely depends on the political situation and may vary rather greatly.
Keywords:
Russia, public opinion, foreign policy mentality, security threats, anti-westernism, anti- americanism, «clash of civilizations»
References
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Kazun A. D. Effekt «rally around the flag». Kak i pochemu rastet podderzhka vlasti vo vremya tragedij i mezhdunarodnyh konfliktov? [«Rally Around the Flag» Effect. How and Why Support of the Authorities Grows During International Conflicts and Tragedies?]. Politicheskiye issledovaniya. 2017. No 1. P. 136—146 (In Russ.).
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Petuhov V. V., Sedova N. N. Vnutrennie ugrozy VS vneshnie ugrozy dlya Rossii: dinamika ob- shchestvennyh nastroenij. [The Internal Threats VS the External Threats to Russia: the Dynamics of Public Opinion]. Vlast'. 2015. No 6. P. 23—29 (In Russ.).
Popov N. P. Obshchestvennoe mnenie v Rossii i SSHA o rossijsko-amerikanskih otnosheniyah. [Public opinion on Russian-american relations in Russia and the USA]. Monitoring obshchestvennogo mneniya: ehkonomicheskie isocial’nyeperemeny. 2015. No 3. P. 55—67 (In Russ.).
Rossiiskoe obshchestvo i vyzovy vremeni. Kniga pervaya. [Russian Society and the Challanges of Time. Book 1.]. Ed. by M. K. Gorshkov, V. V. Petukhov. Moscow: Ves’ Mir publ., 2015. 336 p. (In Russ.).
Rossiiskoe obshchestvo i vyzovy vremeni. Kniga pyataya. [Russian Society and the Challanges of Time. Book 5.] Ed. by M. K. Gorshkov, V. V. Petukhov. Moscow: Ves’ Mir publ., 2017. 424 p. (In Russ.).
Huntington S. P. The clash of civilizations? Foreign Affairs. Vol. 72. № 3. (Summer, 1993). P. 22—49.
Merton R. K. Social theory and social structure. Glencoe: Free Press, 1957.
Citation Formats
Other cite formats:
Harvard
Latov, Y. V. (2017) ’Anti-Westernism in the External Political Mentality of Present-Day Russians (According to Sociological Surveys)’, Sociologicheskaja nauka i social’naja praktika, 5(4), pp. 108-123. doi: https://doi.org/10.19181/snsp.2017.5.4.5522.
Section
RUSSIAN SOCIETY TODAY
Publisher: Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FCTAS RAS)