Soviet Traditions in Service of Flexible Authoritarianism

Abstract

Abstract “Soviet Traditions in Service of Flexible Authoritarianism” discusses how familiar tropes, images, and cultural forms can tacitly legitimate flexible authoritarianism. Using the example of a Soviet blockbuster film, it develops the notion of a Soviet summer camp tradition that serves, consciously or not, as an organizational template for Russian government-sponsored youth-leadership summer camps. Through the example of Central Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk Region, the chapter shows how forms of Soviet youth participation, such as student brigades, were repurposed for flexible authoritarian ends. By tracing the birth of a new entrepreneurial youth politics in the early 2000s in a region far from Moscow, it provides an alternative to the standard academic account about the evolution of Putin-era state youth politics, which centers on Moscow’s initiation of the pro-government youth organization Nashi (“Those on Our Side”). The chapter illuminates how managers who became local politicians promoted neoliberal mindsets and work arrangements in their quest for regional economic development.