Theory behind Russian Quest for Totalitarianism. Analysis of Discursive Swing in Putin's Speeches
Journal: Communist and Post-Communist Studies
Year: 2020

Before 2014 Putin used semantic structures characteristic of authoritarianism and façade democracy to shape Russian political discourse. After the annexation of Crimea, we identify the decrease of authoritarian discursive elements, the occurrence of references to democratic values, and the prevalence of totalitarian discursive elements. This quantitative alteration co-occurred with a qualitative change of the intensity of totalitarian gnosis that increased from the low to the moderate extent. Th