The Moralist International
Description
The Moralist International analyzes the role of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian state in the global culture wars over gender and reproductive rights and religious freedom. It shows how the Russian Orthodox Church in the past thirty years first acquired knowledge about the dynamics, issues, and strategies of Right- Wing Christian groups; how the Moscow Patriarchate has shaped its traditionalist agenda accordingly; and how the close alliance between church and state has turned Russia into a norm entrepreneur for international moral conservativism. Including detailed case studies of the World Congress of Families, anti-abortion activism, and the global homeschooling movement, the book identifies the key factors, causes, and actors of this process. Kristina Stoeckl and Dmitry Uzlaner then develop the concept of conservative aggiornamento to describe Russian traditionalism as the result of conservative religious modernization and the globalization of Christian social conservatism.
The Moralist International continues a line of research on the globalization of the culture wars that challenges the widespread perception that it is only progressive actors who use the international human rights regime to achieve their goals by demonstrating that conservative actors do the same. The book offers a new, original perspective that firmly embeds the conservative turn of post-Soviet Russia in the transnational dynamics of the global culture wars.
The Moralist International is available from the publisher on an open-access basis.
Product Details
| Publisher | Fordham University Press |
| Publish Date | December 20, 2022 |
| Pages | 208 |
| Language | English |
| Type |  Paperback / softback |
| EAN/UPC | 9781531502157 |
| Dimensions | 9.0 X 6.0 X 0.5 inches | 0.7 pounds |
About the Author
Reviews
In a study that is both illuminating and infuriating, Kristina Stoeckl and Dmitry Uzlaner show how Russia's Orthodox Church--historically, the heart of one of the world's great religious communions--has wholeheartedly committed itself to an intimate alliance with an evil state and its deeply reactionary social positions.-- "The Christian Century"
In their short but in-depth book, Stoeckl and Uzlaner offer an interpretation of Russia's powerful shift toward moral conservatism and "traditional values" under President Vladimir Putin. . . [T]hey demonstrate the importance of transnational influences in Russia's embrace of conservatism and explore Russia's place in the global culture wars.-- "Foreign Affairs"
Anyone interested in the complicated relationship between society, politics, and religion will find a concise, thought-provoking, timely discussion in this volume.-- "Choice Reviews"
The Moralist International tells the unique story of Russia's role in today's global culture wars. Moving away from media hype, Kristina Stoeckl and Dmitry Uzlaner rebuild the nuanced history of transnational links between Americans, Russians, and Europeans and their ideological underpinnings. This book sheds light on the driving role of the Russian Orthodox Church in leading the conservative struggle both at home and abroad. It is a must-read to understand one of the bedrocks of Russia's war in Ukraine.---Marlene Laruelle, Professor, Director of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at the George Washington University.
Stoeckl and Uzlaner make a major contribution to understanding how and why the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian state have made common cause with religious traditionalists in the West. The result has been significant expansion in today's globalized culture wars. Whether one believes that such cultural clashes contributed to the Ukraine war--or that NATO expansion played the major role--the interactions analyzed in The Moralist International are critical to understanding world politics today.---Clifford Bob, Duquesne University, author of The Global Right Wing and Rights as Weapons
This is the best study I know of the role of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church in the global culture wars. Now that Russian religious culture has become an instrumental weapon in a catastrophic war of aggression against Ukraine, it is of utmost importance that all publics understand the tragic sacrilegious dynamics of The Moralist International.---Jose Casanova, Emeritus Georgetown University
Earn by promoting books
