J. Paul Goode | Rallying or Normalizing? War and Sanctions in Putin's Russia

The Moynihan Institute’s Study of Global Politics series presents J. Paul Goode from Carleton University.

Rallying or Normalizing? War and Sanctions in Putin's Russia

Abstract:

Much of the existing literature on the Western sanctions imposed on Russia assumes that they triggered a rally-around-the-flag effect in support of Russia’s government and its war in Ukraine, yet there is little actual research on the way sanctions are presented for public consumption in Russia. Drawing from a content analysis of Russian broadcast transcripts from the state-run First Channel throughout 2022-2025, this paper argues that the Kremlin seeks to normalize war and sanctions rather than rallying support. The analysis bridges between the existing research on rallying effects and autocratic legitimation, centering on the ways that normalizing sanctions works: by extending time horizons for evaluations of the performance of Russia's government in coping with sanctions, diminishing popular expectations for sanctions relief through nationalist portrayals of the West, and portraying Russia's targeting by Western sanctions as part of a common and enduring global malaise.

J. Paul Goode is a professor and McMillan Chair of Russian Studies at the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies. His current research broadly focuses on nationalism and authoritarianism in Russia and Eurasia. Professor Goode is editor-in-chief of Communist and Post-Communist Studies. He also serves on the editorial boards for Nationalities Papers, Russian Politics and Social Science Quarterly and the advisory board for Nations and Nationalism.

He is a longstanding member of the program committee and the advisory board for the Association for the Study of Nationalities. Previously he served as convenor of the research group on nationalism, populism, and radicalism at the University of Bath and was founding director of the Center for the Study of Nationalism and coordinator for Russian and East European studies at the University of Oklahoma. He also served on the international advisory board for the Department Development Partnership Program of European University at St. Petersburg.