Orthodox Taliban: Fundamentalism and Nationalism in the Ideology and Practice of the Orthodox Political Movements in Contemporary Russia

Politicized fundamentalists profess their own version of Orthodox Christianity, often differing from the official one. They incorporate into it elements of secular ideologies, such as communism; introduce new rituals, worship non-recognized saints (Ivan the Terrible, Joseph Stalin, etc.). Fundamentalist theological and ritualistic deviations are mostly caused by nationalism, being extremely important for the fundamentalist doctrine. Fundamentalists see Russia and the Russian people as the last bastion of Christianity in the apostate world. In the sphere of politics, fundamentalists not simply create encapsulated "enclaves of piety", but aim at imposing their ideology and behavioral practices on the whole society. This is why they participate in the political struggle, sometimes residing to violence. Fundamentalist influence on the "big society" grows thanks to their social activism, particularly in the field of military clubs and summer camps for the youth. Although fundamentalists will most likely fail to influence the “big society” significantly, they have formed a powerful interest group within both Church and society.

Anastasia V. Mitrofanova is the Director of the Center for Euroatlantic Studies and Professor at the Diplomatic Academy of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Russian Federation, Professor at the Russian State Humanitarian University. She received her MA (1994) and PhD (1998) in Political Science from the Moscow State University, her Dr.habilitat degree – from the Diplomatic Academy (2005). She was a Visiting Fellow at the Yale University Center for International and Area Studies (1997); a Fellow at the College of Security Studies of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (2000, the U.S.A.); a Visiting Professor at Kutztown University (2004, the USA.); Visiting Fellow at the University of Helsinki (2008, Finland); Visiting Professor at the Central European University (2010, Hungary). In 2002 – 2004 she was awarded an Individual Grant from the Research and Writhing Initiative of the Program on Global Security and Sustainability of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Her research interests include: religious politicization, Orthodox Christianity and politics, nationalism, right- and left-wing radicalism, religiopolitical movements, political violence. Main publications: Politizatsiia ‘pravoslavnogo mira’ (Moskva: Nauka, 2004); The Politicization of Russian Orthodoxy: Actors and Ideas (Stuttgart: Ibidem-Verlag, 2005).

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