The rhetoric of Anatoly Sobchak: Rule of law vs nomenklatura?

Abstract

This essay is a preliminary examination, based on Solomon's textual interaction approach, of Anatoly Sobchak's rhetoric in his book For a New Russia. It argues that Sobchak's call for a rule of law in opposition to nomenklatura is a code for Russian nationalism. He uses the democratic strategy and reformist language as a means to obtain a traditional Russian end of power. This process is illustrated in his political campaign to get elected, in his exposure of corruption in the Congress, and in his support of Yeltsin's overthrow of the Moscow coup. His text, made to interact with the texts of other readers, discloses an interpretation of Sobchak that does not appear on the surface.