Russia’s Illiberal Conservatism

Abstract In recent years, illiberalism as a counter-hegemonic movement against contemporary Western liberalism and global capitalism has developed into a right-wing, national-conservative project which, once again in history, stands in opposition to liberalism and communism. Russia’s illiberal conservatives constitute a more radical part of this larger movement. This chapter analyzes two major ideological strands of Russia’s illiberal conservatism: (1) a conservative-revolutionary strand that views Russia as an empire with a unique civilization, and (2) an evolutionary nationalist conservatism aiming at construction of a nation-state. Proponents of the first strand aggressively oppose the West, while supporters of the second have hoped for a transformation of Putin’s regime without completely breaking with the West. Both strands position themselves in relation to contemporary Western liberalism and its perceived crisis. While both embraced the annexation of Crimea and the “Russian Spring” in Donbas, they have responded differently to the 2022 war in Ukraine, which has finally ended the evolutionary nationalist project.