Equating the other with evil: what russkii mir and right-wing populism have in common

Authors

  • Marietta van der Tol Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29357/2789-1577.2022.20.2.2

Keywords:

russkii mir, Right-Wing Populism, Russian World ideology , absolute evil , Christian imagination

Abstract

This essay explores the concept of evil in right-wing populism and the ideology of the Russian World (russkii mir) ideology. At face value, right-wing ideology and the russki mir ideology may seem very different. They currently have different expressions in Ukraine, especially as the idea of the Russian World is used to window-dress Putin’s geo-political aggression. At the root however, right-wing populism and the Russian World ideology share something that is deeply problematic: namely, that these ideologies equate the other with evil.

This article has built on conversations at the conference “Christian Identity in National, Transnational and Local Space: Perspectives from Protestantism, Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism” held at the University of Oxford, 4-5 April 2022. This conference is part of the Protestant Political Thought project, sponsored by the Harold C. Smith Foundation.

Theology of the Other under Pressure of the Empire

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Published

2023-01-14

How to Cite

van der Tol, Marietta. 2023. “Equating the Other With Evil: What Russkii Mir and Right-Wing Populism Have in Common”. Theological Reflections: Eastern European Journal of Theology 20 (2):31-36. https://doi.org/10.29357/2789-1577.2022.20.2.2.

Issue

Vol. 20 No. 2 (2022): Theological Reflections: Eastern European Journal of Theology

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Marietta van der Tol

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