The Formation Process of the “National Orthodoxy” Regime in Contemporary Russia: A Study of Global Sociology
Author: Miyakawa, Shinichi , hgwdp816@yahoo.co.jp
Department: Sociology
University: Soka University, Japan
Supervisor: Professor Tsuyoshi Nakano
Year of completion: 2012
Language of dissertation: Japanese
Keywords:
“National Orthodoxy”
, Russian Orthodox Chu
, national identity
, global sociology
Areas of Research:
Religion
, Racism, Nationalism and Ethnic Relations
, Local-Global Relations
Abstract
After dramatic domestic and foreign change were brought on by the demise Soviet Union, Russia has reappeared on the world’s stage. Although contemporary Russia does not have a firm unification principle, a “National Orthodoxy” regime is being formed. The “National Orthodoxy” corresponds to “the state religion” as the core element of national unification. Separate from “the private Orthodoxy” as a lived faith, “the public Orthodoxy” emerged as a principle to unify the people. The "National Orthodoxy” regime is the national ideology that the Russian Orthodox Church uses to unify the people of Russia and is a political religious system where national unification is realized through ideology. Under this regime, the value of the Orthodoxy applies to all Russian people. The Russian Orthodox Church promotes a harmonious agreement between the Russian state and society.
Globalization encourages diversification of a global society. Reconfiguration and reassertion of the national, ethnic, and regional identities are attributed to its progress. These movements become globally localized; in other words, there is “glocalization”. This paper adopts the methodical perception “to perform area studies with a sociological approach in linkage to glocalization.” In addition, glocalization is divided into two levels: “the state level”, a political and national scale and “the social level”, a non-political regional societal scale.
The Russian Orthodox Church has been revived in contemporary Russia, and the Russian Orthodox Nationalism is gaining power. While the movement from the bottom (the private side) mixes with the policy from the top (the government side), the "National Orthodoxy” regime formation process in Russia is promoted. In addition, the “centralization of the Orthodoxy” assumes that the Orthodoxy is a unification principle. At the same time, the “marginalization of the non-Orthodoxy” suppresses and removes religion except for Orthodoxy. In Russia, a dual structure exists in which the various schools of religion in the private sphere overlap with “the National Orthodoxy” in the public sphere.
In “the National Orthodoxy” regime formation process, various states, ethnic groups, and religious organizations participate globally. It is possible to construe this process as glocalization on the state and social level in Russia. The progress of glocalization in Russia is developing into “the National Orthodoxy” regime. The contemporary Russian national identity may be under reconstruction with the principle of unification known as the “the National Orthodoxy” regime at its core.
