Ideology and Meaning Making Under the Putin Regime

The Elliott School Book Launch Series, Illiberalism Studies Program, and Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies are pleased to present the book launch for Ideology and Meaning Making Under the Putin Regime.

About the Event

12PM - Opening Remarks

• Alyssa Ayres, Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs

12:05PM - Book Talk

• Marlene Laruelle, Research Professor of International Affairs and Political Science, Director of the Illiberalism Studies Program, Elliott School of International Affairs

12:15PM - Discussant Remarks

• Maria Snegovaya, Senior Fellow, Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program, CSIS
• Julian G. Waller, Research Analyst, Center for Naval Analyses, Professorial Lecturer, The George Washington University.

12:35PM - Q&A

This will be a hybrid event. Guests are welcome to join us at 1957 E St at the Elliott School of International Affairs or online via Zoom. Please register for more information on accessing the event online.

The event is open to the media and public and it will be recorded. Lunch will be provided.

About the Book

Much has been written to try to understand the ideological characteristics of the current Russian government, as well as what is happening inside the mind of Vladimir Putin. Refusing pundits' clichés that depict the Russian regime as either a cynical kleptocracy or the product of Putin's grand Machiavellian designs, Ideology and Meaning-Making under the Putin Regime offers a critical genealogy of ideology in Russia today. Marlene Laruelle provides an innovative, multi-method analysis of the Russian regime's ideological production process and the ways it is operationalized in both domestic and foreign policies. Ideology and Meaning-Making under the Putin Regime reclaims the study of ideology as an unavoidable component of the tools we use to render the world intelligible and represents a significant contribution to the scholarly debate on the interaction between ideas and policy decisions. By placing the current Russian regime into a broader context of different strains of strategic culture, ideological interest groups, and intellectual history, this book gives readers key insights into how the Russo-Ukrainian War became possible and the role ideology played in enabling it.

About the Speakers

Marlene Laruelle is Research Professor of International Affairs and Political Science and Director of the Illiberalism Studies Program at the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. Laruelle works on the rise of populist and illiberal movements in post-Soviet Eurasia, Europe and the US. She is the former Director of the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (IERES) and of the Central Asia Program (CAP).

Maria Snegovaya is a Senior Fellow for Russia and Eurasia with the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and an Adjunct Professor in Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service. She studies Russia’s domestic and foreign policy, as well as democratic backsliding in post-communist Europe and the tactics used by Russian actors and proxies who exploit these dynamics in the region. Her analysis has been published in multiple policy and peer-reviewed journals. Her research and commentary have appeared in a number of publications such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Economist, and Foreign Policy. Throughout her career she has collaborated with multiple U.S. research centers and think tanks such as Center for a New American Security and Center for European Policy Analysis. Snegovaya holds a PhD in political science from Columbia University.

Julian Waller is a Research Analyst in the Russia Studies Program at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA Corporation) and a Professorial Lecturer in Political Science at George Washington University. His research focuses on the politics of authoritarian rule, elite strategic decision-making, civil-military relations, political-military affairs, and ideological illiberalism in post-Soviet Eurasia, Europe, and elsewhere. His academic research has been published widely, including in Communist and Post-Communist Studies, the Journal of Advanced Military Studies, Political Studies Review, and Problems of Post-Communism, and he has written for policy-oriented publications including as Foreign Affairs, War on the Rocks, the National Interest, and American Affairs. He holds a Ph.D in Political Science from George Washington University (2022).