Political Legitimacy and Traditional Values in Putin's Russia

Since Vladimir Putin’s return to the Russian presidency in 2012, protection and promotion of so-called ‘traditional values’ has played a prominent role in the Kremlin’s propaganda campaigns. From the large-scale demonstrations in 2011–2012 to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, conservative social values have been mobilised to justify the Kremlin’s policy choices. In the case of the invasion, for example, Putin argued that the allegedly ‘decadent’ western world was using Ukraine as a springboard to export its ‘pseudo-values’ into Russia. Drawing on a series of case studies spanning elite-level political rhetoric, the work of various ideological ‘values entrepreneurs’ such as the Russian Orthodox Church, and, not least, of grassroots sentiments, Political Legitimacy and Traditional Values in Putin''s Russia explores authoritarian regime legitimation in today’s Russia.