Patriotism and Patriotic Education in Contemporary Russia

Abstract

This article examines Russian patriotism in the global context of patriotic education, civic education, and nation-building. It cites data from all-Russian surveys and World Values Survey Wave 6 2010–2014, as well as data from the content analysis of eight patriotic education documents from the United States, Singapore, China, and Russia. The uneven nature of Russians’ patriotic self-identity shows that external events play a large role in the formation of patriotism, while Russian society consolidates not through the cultivation of positive values, but on the basis of negative factors whose impact leads only to blind—and not to constructive—patriotism. This approach integrates citizens’ emotional relationship with their country and their state, civic, and national identities and emphasizes the importance of traditions and values by creating a construct of active and free social behavior without impinging on alternative values, traditions, and beliefs.

Keywords:

• patriotism
• patriotic education
• civic education
• nation-building
• state policy
• state program

Notes

1. This section uses the results of studies by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center, the Levada Center, and the Public Opinion Foundation from 2013–2015. These data are available through the following links (accessed August 18, 2015): http://www.levada.ru/17 - 03 - 2014/dolya-schitayushchikh-rossiyu-velikoi-derzhavoi-dostigla-maksimuma-za-15-let; http://www.levada.ru/18 - 11 - 2014/vospriyatie-rossiyanami-svoei-strany; http://www.levada.ru/29 - 04 - 2015/patriotizm-i-gosudarstvo; http://www.levada.ru/27 - 05 - 2014/podmena-ponyatii-patriotizm-v-rossii; http://www.levada.ru/20 - 11 - 2014/pochemu-rossiyane-gordyatsya-svoei-stranoi; http://www.levada.ru/print/11 - 12 - 2014/68-rossiyan-schitayut-rossiyu-velikoi-derzhavoi; http://www.levada.ru/print/29 - 11 - 2013/s-tochki-zreniya-ratsionalnogo-cheloveka-eto-shizofreniya; http://wciom.ru/index.php?id=236&uid=115282; http://wciom.ru/index.php?id=236&uid=114589; http://wciom.ru/index.php?id=236&uid=113315; http://wciom.ru/index.php?id=236&uid=114943; http://wciom.ru/index.php?id=236&uid=114640; http://fom.ru/Proshloe/11548.

2. State identity is viewed as the connection between the individual and the state, which is founded on cognitive and emotional attachments, symbolic structures, normative notions, and transparency in the relationship of rights and obligations between “the roles of citizen and government.”

3. These countries were selected because of the diversity of their foundations for forming state identification and patriotism: The United States makes active use of a developed system of civic education that has been in place for a long time; Singapore and China represent two different ways of how the concept of nation-building can be applied (introduced from the day of independence (Singapore) or built into an existing system of patriotic education (China)).

4. This section uses materials from K.V. Lekomtseva’s study “Improving the Framework of the Patriotic Education of Citizens of the Russian Federation,” NRU HSE, under the author’s supervision.

5. The author would like to thank her colleagues abroad who provided her with normative legal documents, links to relevant sites, and other valuable information related to the organization of patriotic education, nation-building, and civic education in the United States, Singapore, and China: G.P. Fairbrother (The Hong Kong Institute of Education, China); M. Barr (School of International Studies, Flinders University, Australia); D.C. Sneider (Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University, USA); G. Biesta (Education Council, the Netherlands); S. Lorentzen (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway); A. Osier (Buskerud and Vestfold University College, Norway/University of Leeds, UK); P. Scheepers (Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands); T. Blank (Bielefeld University, Germany); A. Meine (University of Freiburg, Germany); A. Koh (National Institute of Education, Singapore).