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Papers by Bojidar Kolov

Research paper thumbnail of The Religious Component in Contemporary Russian Imperialism

Religions, 2024

Ever since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, various voices in the Russian public sphere have ... more Ever since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, various voices in the Russian public sphere have been trying to make sense of Russia’s new place in the world, its geopolitical horizons, and the identity of its people. One of the dominant trends that have emerged is Orthodox imperialism, which combines religious symbols and narratives with a geopolitical vision of Russian expansion and “reunification”. This article provides an overview of the Russian Orthodox imperialist voices, analysing the political norms and identities they have enabled. Our investigation shows that by advancing a programme that combines geopolitical restoration and eschatological religious mission, Orthodox imperialism offers an ideological solution to the problem of Russia’s lost great-power status. This solution, however, does not envisage a bright future for Russia or the world. On the contrary, it remains firmly fixated on the past, foretelling of an apocalyptic disaster if Moscow does not regain its former imperial glory and exercise its divine role as a “restrainer” to any global domination.

Research paper thumbnail of Ecclesiastical populism in contemporary Russia? 'The people' in the political discourse of the Orthodox Church

Politics, Religion & Ideology , 2024

The image of 'the people' has occupied a central place in the discourse of the contemporary Russi... more The image of 'the people' has occupied a central place in the discourse of the contemporary Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) for many years. However, the ROC's ecclesiastical 'populism' has not been systematically analyzed. The study at hand aims to fill this gap by examining the representations of 'the people' articulated at the Bishops' Council of the ROC in the last three decades. Following and modifying Ernesto Laclau and his followers' approach to studying populism, the analysis of the Council's documents shows that the official Church plays a dual language game, simultaneously constructing a hegemonic order in Russia and its alleged 'civilizational space' and promoting a seemingly counter-hegemonic project in global politics. However, the role of 'the people' in this setting is far from Laclau's conception of radical popular agency. Instead, the Bishops' Council calls for the preservation of traditional identities and local hierarchies in order to ensure Russia's continuity and greatness. Thus, the official Church has been contributing to the elitist, statist, and great-power nationalist hegemony in Russia.

Research paper thumbnail of Main Cathedral of Mutual Legitimation: The Church of the Russian Armed Forces as a Site of Making Power Meaningful

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

Thesis Chapters by Bojidar Kolov

Research paper thumbnail of (Re)Constructing Sacred Statehood: The Orthodox Church and Great Power in Contemporary Russia

The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) enjoys high visibility in contemporary Russia and is among the ... more The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) enjoys high visibility in contemporary Russia and is among the most trusted institutions in the country. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the ROC emerged as a prominent political actor voicing opinions on domestic, international and global issues. Since 2012, when Vladimir Putin began his third presidential term, the Moscow Patriarchate and the Kremlin have been cooperating ever more closely. Against this background, the study examines what kind of political order the Russian Church advances, how this is done, and why. Relying on poststructuralist, post-secular and postcolonial theory and employing discourse analysis as the primary method, the study offers a characterisation of the ROC’s political attitude and discerns what made this attitude possible. The analysis shows that from the early 1990s, the current ecclesiastical leadership gradually developed a great-power nationalist outlook. The post-Soviet ROC re-constructed the image of Russia as a Great Orthodox Power, borrowing creatively from the ideological legacies of the past, suspending some of its former narratives and adopting new ones. Thus, driven by a fantasmatic ideal of complete and harmonious unity of Church, State, people, and ‘civilisational space’, the official ROC has been actively involved in the emergence and consolidation of the dominant order in Russia. The latter foregrounds the centrality of the State as an agent of Russia’s historical continuity, civilisational unity and special mission in the world. The ROC plays a simultaneously hegemonic and subaltern role in this order. Insofar as the Church performs the function of a ‘unifying force’ bearing the memory and values of ‘historical Russia’, its position is hegemonic; as the Patriarchate cannot speak about politics in any other language except the state-centric one, its identity is subaltern. Finally, the only role that the ROC’s official discourse assigns to ‘the people’ is to serve, protect and be loyal to the reified ‘Fatherland’.

Research paper thumbnail of The Religious Component in Contemporary Russian Imperialism

Religions, 2024

Ever since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, various voices in the Russian public sphere have ... more Ever since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, various voices in the Russian public sphere have been trying to make sense of Russia’s new place in the world, its geopolitical horizons, and the identity of its people. One of the dominant trends that have emerged is Orthodox imperialism, which combines religious symbols and narratives with a geopolitical vision of Russian expansion and “reunification”. This article provides an overview of the Russian Orthodox imperialist voices, analysing the political norms and identities they have enabled. Our investigation shows that by advancing a programme that combines geopolitical restoration and eschatological religious mission, Orthodox imperialism offers an ideological solution to the problem of Russia’s lost great-power status. This solution, however, does not envisage a bright future for Russia or the world. On the contrary, it remains firmly fixated on the past, foretelling of an apocalyptic disaster if Moscow does not regain its former imperial glory and exercise its divine role as a “restrainer” to any global domination.

Research paper thumbnail of Ecclesiastical populism in contemporary Russia? 'The people' in the political discourse of the Orthodox Church

Politics, Religion & Ideology , 2024

The image of 'the people' has occupied a central place in the discourse of the contemporary Russi... more The image of 'the people' has occupied a central place in the discourse of the contemporary Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) for many years. However, the ROC's ecclesiastical 'populism' has not been systematically analyzed. The study at hand aims to fill this gap by examining the representations of 'the people' articulated at the Bishops' Council of the ROC in the last three decades. Following and modifying Ernesto Laclau and his followers' approach to studying populism, the analysis of the Council's documents shows that the official Church plays a dual language game, simultaneously constructing a hegemonic order in Russia and its alleged 'civilizational space' and promoting a seemingly counter-hegemonic project in global politics. However, the role of 'the people' in this setting is far from Laclau's conception of radical popular agency. Instead, the Bishops' Council calls for the preservation of traditional identities and local hierarchies in order to ensure Russia's continuity and greatness. Thus, the official Church has been contributing to the elitist, statist, and great-power nationalist hegemony in Russia.

Research paper thumbnail of Main Cathedral of Mutual Legitimation: The Church of the Russian Armed Forces as a Site of Making Power Meaningful

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

Research paper thumbnail of (Re)Constructing Sacred Statehood: The Orthodox Church and Great Power in Contemporary Russia

The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) enjoys high visibility in contemporary Russia and is among the ... more The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) enjoys high visibility in contemporary Russia and is among the most trusted institutions in the country. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the ROC emerged as a prominent political actor voicing opinions on domestic, international and global issues. Since 2012, when Vladimir Putin began his third presidential term, the Moscow Patriarchate and the Kremlin have been cooperating ever more closely. Against this background, the study examines what kind of political order the Russian Church advances, how this is done, and why. Relying on poststructuralist, post-secular and postcolonial theory and employing discourse analysis as the primary method, the study offers a characterisation of the ROC’s political attitude and discerns what made this attitude possible. The analysis shows that from the early 1990s, the current ecclesiastical leadership gradually developed a great-power nationalist outlook. The post-Soviet ROC re-constructed the image of Russia as a Great Orthodox Power, borrowing creatively from the ideological legacies of the past, suspending some of its former narratives and adopting new ones. Thus, driven by a fantasmatic ideal of complete and harmonious unity of Church, State, people, and ‘civilisational space’, the official ROC has been actively involved in the emergence and consolidation of the dominant order in Russia. The latter foregrounds the centrality of the State as an agent of Russia’s historical continuity, civilisational unity and special mission in the world. The ROC plays a simultaneously hegemonic and subaltern role in this order. Insofar as the Church performs the function of a ‘unifying force’ bearing the memory and values of ‘historical Russia’, its position is hegemonic; as the Patriarchate cannot speak about politics in any other language except the state-centric one, its identity is subaltern. Finally, the only role that the ROC’s official discourse assigns to ‘the people’ is to serve, protect and be loyal to the reified ‘Fatherland’.