INKOVEMA Podcast „Well through time“
#88 – Power, power worship and submission
Putin's empire and its socio-psychological conditions of power and power worship.
In conversation with Dr Lena Kornyeyeva
Well through time. The podcast about mediation, conflict coaching and organisational consulting.
Dr Lena Kornyeyeva was born in Ukraine and holds a doctorate in psychology. One of her specialisms is the authoritarian personality. In her book „Putin's Empire: Neo-Stalinism at the Demand of the People“, which is based on her doctorate, she explored the phenomenon of „power worship“ (which she sees as the basis of the authoritarian personality) and pioneered the events „10 years ago“. In retrospect, she says in conversation, she would have liked to have been wrong.
Full Disclosure: Dr Lena Kornyeyeva and Dr Sascha Weigel have known each other since their doctoral studies in the noughties, when they were supervised and (third and second) assessed by Prof Dr Henning Schulze.
Contents:
Review excerpts for „Putin's empire. Neo-Stalinism at the demand of the people“
- The Ukrainian social psychologist expresses what Western observers usually avoid when talking about the dismantling of democracy in the Russian Federation: it is not Putin who is the problem, but the fact that the majority of his subjects behind him want a leader who rules with an iron hand. Kornyeyeva describes the reasons for the renaissance of Stalinism in Russia and for the longing of many Russians for an overlord. She recalls that until 20 years ago, Russians were kept artificially infantile because they were "supplied" with goods from above, any private initiative was punishable by law and state propaganda was omnipresent - as it is again today “ Barbara Kerneck in DER TAGESSPIEGEL
- The Ukrainian social psychologist Lena Kornyeyeva has presented an unsparing analysis in her book: Among other things, she attributes the popularity and stability of Putin's system of government to deeply rooted longings for authority in Russian society. HEINRICH-BÖLL-FOUNDATION
- The Ukrainian-born social psychologist, who conducts research at Jacobs University in Bremen, sees Russians as children who long for love and spankings from their parents. Kornyeyeva calls this "purely Russian ability to forgive, this willingness to justify the behaviour of ruthless state power" "power worship". Consequently, she calls Putin a dictator, but the people's sense of self has been so manipulated by modern political technologies that they are desperately "looking for someone to give them a feeling of security and safety".
What sounds at times like a typical Russian conspiracy theory, however, serves a broader approach to researching the background to Russian reality. Mathias Brüggmann in the HANDELSBLATT
Literature and references:
- Allensbach survey on the „peace with defence in Germany“
- Passivity concept (blog post)
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