Anti-migrant, but not nationalist: Pursuing statist legitimacy through immigration discourse and policy (original) (raw)

Edinburgh University Press, 2018

Abstract

Despite increasingly securitized anti-migrant policies in Russia, President Vladimir Putin has been extremely cautious in his rhetoric about international migrants, avoiding overtly ethno-nationalist frames. By repeatedly emphasizing the role of migrants in development and their potential for integration, Putin has charted out a statist agenda, outlining how immigration can contribute to the state’s goals. This chapter analyses a series of Putin’s speeches, asking whether he employs the rhetoric of three common migration myths: ‘migrants take our jobs’; ‘migrants are culturally incompatible with the host society’; and ‘migrants represent a security threat’. While these myths are partially consistent with public opinion, they are not actively employed by the Kremlin. These findings temper the notion of an ‘ethnic turn’ in Russian politics and are especially surprising, given the current populist swing experienced throughout much of the Western world.

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