Building cultures of uncertainty, fear, and irrational response: Russian strategic narratives and alternative right movements in Europe

In recent years the Russian Federation has influenced the media space in Europe by using various alternative right movements in Europe for contesting liberal democratic values and building an alternative contra-culture, which bases on traditionalist, religious and conservative values. In his speech of September 2013, President Vladimir Putin said: Today we need new strategies to preserve our identity in a rapidly changing world, a world that has become more open, transparent and interdependent... For us, questions about who we are and who we want to be are increasingly prominent in our society... It is evident that it is impossible to move forward without spiritual, cultural and national self-determination... We can see how many of the EuroAtlantic countries are actually rejecting their roots, including the Christian values that constitute the basis of Western civilisation. They are denying moral principles and all traditional identities: national, cultural, religious and even sexual (Laruelle 2013). Alternative right (new right; neo-nationalist) movements in Europe may manifest opposite political positions. Some of them promote close cooperation with Putin’s Russia, but there are others, which prefer to stay neutral or even are claiming for anti-Russian agenda. Nevertheless, what is common to all of them, they are all promoting similar cultural patterns in their ideological agenda, which closely follow strategic narratives disseminated by so-called „Putin’s world“. The central idea of this contra-culture refers to a weak, discordant and declining Europe, which to some extent attempts to justify a famous Robert Kagan’s remark from his book „Paradise and Power“ (2003) which claims that Americans are from Mars and Europeans from Venus. There are three separate cultures, which are strongly affiliated with a new contra-culture: cultures of uncertainty, fear, and irrational response (Shiraev&Mölder 2020). A culture of uncertainty is a prevailing state of ambiguity, confusion, and doubt, which leads to helplessness and irritation. Helplessness is tied to the breach of trust between the government and the governed. By this culture, populist leaders thrive and win elections. Being uncertain and realizing nobody is helping them, people tend to turn to random media narratives, often false ones, conspiracy theories or to the echo chambers of social networks. Helplessness further contributes to alarm, anxiety, and fears. If fear becomes part of society’s daily life, this gives birth to a culture of fear. Frightened individuals are more vulnerable to manipulation. Zbigniew Brzezinski (2007) once argued that the culture of fear "obscures reason, intensifies emotions and makes it easier for demagogic politicians to mobilize the public on behalf of the policies they want to pursue”. Adversarial international actors today manipulate information to cultivate a culture of fear in other countries to purse specific purposes. Long-lasting uncertainty and fear cause irrational demands. Officials—being under pressure of fear and uncertainty—make policy mistakes, which further lead to irrational reactions of the people. Ridiculous ideas often find support among emotionally charged audiences.