This chapter focuses on the dynamics of the historical role and ideational content of Russian nationalism from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the present. It discusses the under-studied question of the mutual relationship between two manifestations of Russian nationalism: state nationalism and grassroots nationalism. The latter variety has appeared in Russia as a carrier of ideas of civic and popular sovereignty, drawing on the ideologues of the French Revolution. I argue that, throughout history, Russian state authorities have attempted to neutralise civic nationalism by substituting it with something ostensibly similar but actually very different: a paternalistic idea of ‘official nationality’ in the form of ‘imperial nationalism’.

This political technology has been employed repeatedly in Russian history, as seen also during the recent events since 2014. On the other hand, although grassroots Russian nationalism has always had a primarily anti-liberal tendency, this has come to the fore only when a political liberalisation could be observed – during the liberal ‘thaws’. When periods of authoritarian reaction returned, Russian nationalism as a societal phenomenon faded away, squeezed out by the ideology of the state.

Russian nationalism: From the Decembrists to ‘the Black Hundreds’

Elsewhere I have discussed the evolution of the idea of the ‘nation’ in the Russian context and the related changes in the ideology of Russian nationalism during ‘the long nineteenth century’, from 1790 through 1917 (Pain 2015a; 2016b). Several historical stages in this process stand out.

The first stage, 1790–1833, saw the emergence in Russia of a civic conception of the ‘nation’ as the banner of popular sovereignty, political representation and constitutional order. This interpretation of the nation appeared long before official state nationalism and the ethnic interpretation of nation, and remained dominant in Russia for several decades. This idea was variously defended by the Decembrists – the revolutionaries among the nobility, who in December 1825 demanded the limitation of autocracy in Russia, either through the establishment of a constitutional monarchy, or by the introduction of a republican system. Some experts see the Decembrists as the first representatives of a nationalist ideology in Russia (see Sergeev 2010).