Particularism and Universalism in Russian Post-Soviet Foreign Policy: Russia’s Discourse on Humanitarian Cooperation in the CIS
17 Pages Posted: 29 Dec 2015
Date Written: December 29, 2015
Abstract
This article offers a discussion of Russia’s post-Soviet search for international legitimacy, informed by the notions of social antagonism and hegemony elaborated by E. Laclau and C. Mouffe. It is argued that discourse on humanitarian cooperation in the CIS is at the heart of Russia’s current attempts to gain international legitimacy: it addresses the demands of identity construction antagonistically opposed to the European ‘other’ and simultaneously inscribes Russian identity within a counter-hegemonic normative discourse.
Keywords: political legitimacy, identity, discourse analysis, hegemony, social antagonism, Russian post-Soviet foreign policy
JEL Classification: Z00
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation