2020/03/01 by David G. Lewis · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Annexation #Authoritarianism #Democracy #Foreign policy #Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics #International Relations and Foreign Policy #Interpretation (philosophy) #Law #Philosophy #Political Conflict and Governance #Political economy #Political science #Politics #Populism #Sociology #Sovereignty
paper · doi:10.3366/edinburgh/9781474454766.001.0001
openalex publication_date 2020/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/03
In this book, David Lewis offers an original interpretation of the Russian political system that developed under Vladimir Putin as a new form of authoritarianism. Lewis argues that the Putinist worldview challenged liberal beliefs about concepts such as sovereignty, the state, and democracy, and instead promoted a set of illiberal norms and ideas that contributed to a global backlash against liberal politics. The book uses the political thought of Carl Schmitt, the Nazi jurist and anti-liberal political theorist, to explore political developments in Russia in the first two decades of the 21 <sup>st</sup> century. Case-studies examine how ideas of sovereign decision-making and exceptionality undermined the rule of law in Russia, producing a system of politicised, selective justice. A striving for national unity degenerated into a search for external and internal enemies. Russia’s democratic institutions were gradually hollowed out as Russia developed a form of “illiberal democracy”. The second part of the book uses Schmitt’s theories of international relations to study Russian foreign policy, including a detailed case-study of the annexation of Crimea, a new interpretation of Russia’s search for a sphere of influence in the former Soviet space, and a study of messianic thinking in Russian policy in the Middle East. The book is a detailed study of contemporary Russian politics, but also draws parallels between developments in Russia and the global growth of right-wing populism and authoritarianism.