| 1. |
- Höjdestrand, Tova
(author)
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Black Russian : Moralkonservativa mardrömmar om totalitär neoliberalism
- 2018
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In: Tidsskriftet Antropologi. - 0906-3021. ; :78, s. 33-55
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Sexual perversion, broken families, and a totalitarian state safeguarding “children’s rights” by a ruthless persecution of parents – these are central tropes in an increasingly conspicuous neoconservative nationalist discourse in Russia. An obscure global elite is assumed to have realized this nightmare in the West already, and is now plotting to usurp Russia into the One World Government of the New World Order. The narrative was at first articulated by a small clique of Russian Orthodox ultranationalists in the 1990s, but has since then been elaborated further by the “Parents’ Movement”, a conservative mobilization that appeared in the mid-2000s against a comprehensive social policy reform. The movement is supported by a number of influential conservative politicians but its frivolous attitude to facts prevents it from becoming a substantial political force. Nonetheless, the dystopia as such expresses a justifiable critique against neoliberal governmentality, and its mobilizing capacity contributes to the shaping of a libertarian, egalitarian and autonomous political subjectivity.
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| 2. |
- Höjdestrand, Tova
(author)
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Fatherland, Faith and Family Policy: Parental Mobilization against Children’s Rights in Contemporary Russia
- 2015
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Policies related to family, children, and birthrates have since the mid-2000s become increasingly central to the general ideological shift toward nationalism and conservative values in Russia. A symptom of, and a response to, this development is the so-called Parents’ Movement; a rapidly proliferating grassroots mobilization in the defense of presumably traditional Russian family values against allegedly Western forms of moral degeneration. The catalyst and main target of the Movement is a current reform of the state structures of child protection in line with the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. The parental opponents claim the reforms to be a conspiratorial Western attack against Russian “tradition” and its presumed core, the family. Nonetheless the popular appeal of the Parent’s Movement also stems from a proliferated distrust in the Russian state administration, which is expected to intentionally exploit the CRC to increase corruption and authority abuse. The recent success of the Parents' Movement, this paper argues, resides in a simultaneous distrust in “Western” models of governance as well as in the Russian state bureaucracy. (Mis)representations of Western systems of child protection are used to draw up apocalyptic scenarios of a domestic future, and as the critique against Russian authorities are expressed in anti-Western terms an explicit challenge of an increasingly repressive regime is avoided.
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| 3. |
- Höjdestrand, Tova
(author)
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Nationalism and Civicness in Contemporary Russia: : Grassroots Mobilization in Defense of Traditional Family Values
- 2016
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The so-called Parents' Movement is a Russian conservative grassroots mobilization against a presumed Western cultural attack on Russian tradition and sovereignty. The primary target is an ongoing legal implementation of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, which is conceived of as a Western feint contrived by hostile global agencies and a Russian fifth column of treacherous NGOs and state administrators. This article elucidates how the Parents' Movement navigates between seemingly incompatible ideals to construct itself as an authentic “voice of the people. The notion of civil society is vital in this pursuit, although Western conceptions of liberal democracy are rejected in favor of President Putin’s vision of a patriotic civil society loyal to common national goals. The movement is harshly critical to many government policies, however, and rejects the state administration as well as other elites as corrupt and morally polluting. At the same time, it has to negotiate the fact that attempts to influence the despised political elite also imply the risk of becoming usurped by it. Since the movement’s campaigns to a large extent take place on-line, this study is based on Internet sources as well as interviews with activists. Exploring how concepts such as civil society and civic activism are translated and operationalized into the contemporary Russian sociopolitical context, it contributes to the understanding of contemporary popular nationalisms and how these are shaped by a simultaneous negotiation of local tradition and global discursive flows.
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| 4. |
- Höjdestrand, Tova, et al.
(author)
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Nationalism and Civicness in Contemporary Russia: : Grassroots Mobilization in Defense of Traditional Family Values
- 2017
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In: Rebellious Parents : Parental Movements in Central-Eastern Europe and Russia - Parental Movements in Central-Eastern Europe and Russia. - 9780253026675 - 9780253026262 - 9780253026736 ; , s. 31-60
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The so-called Parents' Movement is a Russian conservative grassroots mobilization against a presumed Western cultural attack on Russian tradition and sovereignty. The primary target is an ongoing legal implementation of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, which is conceived of as a Western feint contrived by hostile global agencies and a Russian fifth column of treacherous NGOs and state administrators. This article elucidates how the Parents' Movement navigates between seemingly incompatible ideals to construct itself as an authentic “voice of the people. The notion of civil society is vital in this pursuit, although Western conceptions of liberal democracy are rejected in favor of President Putin’s vision of a patriotic civil society loyal to common national goals. The movement is harshly critical to many government policies, however, and rejects the state administration as well as other elites as corrupt and morally polluting. At the same time, it has to negotiate the fact that attempts to influence the despised political elite also imply the risk of becoming usurped by it. Since the movement’s campaigns to a large extent take place on-line, this study is based on Internet sources as well as interviews with activists. Exploring how concepts such as civil society and civic activism are translated and operationalized into the contemporary Russian sociopolitical context, it contributes to the understanding of contemporary popular nationalisms and how these are shaped by a simultaneous negotiation of local tradition and global discursive flows.
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| 5. |
- Höjdestrand, Tova
(author)
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Social Welfare or Moral Warfare? : Popular Resistance against Children’s Rights and Juvenile Justice in Contemporary Russia
- 2016
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In: International Journal of Children's Rights. - : Brill. - 1571-8182 .- 0927-5568. ; 24:4, s. 826-850
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Since the mid-2000s, Russia has increased its efforts to strengthen the legal rights of children and to improve the systems of social assistance to vulnerable families in in line with the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. The reform drive has met fierce resistance by a grassroots mobilization in defence of ‘traditional Russian family values’. Child rights are conceived of as weapons in a Western moral war against Russia, but simultaneously, the popular appeal of the campaign stems from a profound distrust in Russian state administrators, who purportedly use the CRC for personal gain. This paper suggests that this disbelief makes the protesters locate notions of citizenship primarily to the intimate social sphere, prioritizing ‘parental rights’ rather than ‘civil rights’ defined by the state-citizen relationship. It is also suggested that the confidence of citizens in their own state administration must be considered if the Convention is to be successfully implemented.
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