Strategic Faith in Russia: Cultural DNA and Managed Pluralism

Katya Drozdova

The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 2021, vol. 19, issue 2, 88-101

Abstract: Russia’s multi-faith society has formed over 1,000 years of geopolitical and cultural evolution. This heritage is key to understanding modern Russia and assessing prospects for “covenantal pluralism.” The Russian government has always managed religious diversity strategically—for national security, domestic stability, and international relations. Covenantal pluralism envisions more—a mutually-reinforcing combination of state-protected equality and societal cross-faith support. This article explains religious plurality as part of Russia’s cultural DNA and analyzes the ensuing contemporary state and societal dynamics of religious freedoms, including in cases of Russian relations with Crimea, Constantinople, Turkey, the U.S., and France, as well as legislation, attitudes, and cyber security. Strategic uses of religion and cultural narratives leverage the dual meaning of “faith in Russia”—religious and patriotic.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/15570274.2021.1917116 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rfiaxx:v:19:y:2021:i:2:p:88-101

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rfia20

DOI: 10.1080/15570274.2021.1917116

Access Statistics for this article

The Review of Faith & International Affairs is currently edited by Dennis R. Hoover

More articles in The Review of Faith & International Affairs from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().