Refracting Europe: Biopolitical Conservatism and Art Protest in Putin’s Russia

Abstract

Russia’s voluntary reconsideration of its European identity is an interesting phenomenon that deserves greater academic attention. The EU’s largest neighbour, which had once invested a great deal of effort in closer integration with Europe, nowadays pursues an anti-Western policy of self-sufficiency and distancing from its European partners, a policy many experts deem irrational and detrimental to Russia itself. This chapter tackles a twofold puzzle: how to explain the unexpected U-turn in Russian policies away from the Europeanization track, and what academic categories best fit the task of unpacking the multiple facets of the new animosity in Russia-EU relations?