ABSTRACT
Russia's post-2012 cultural policy is often justly seen as having been based on reactionary foundations. International awareness of this arose from the case of Pussy Riot, which publicly illustrated how a criminal trial can rely on anti-feminism and accusations of disrespect for Russian Orthodox culture. This chapter describes the speeches and strategies of Medinskii, focusing on the political and social variables that constitute the context for his activities and for the whole new style of cultural management in Russia. The moralist turn, or the harsh governmental criticism of Westernized contemporary culture and decadent public values, cannot be explained if it is isolated from the recent political context, that is, from the wave of protest that began in December 2011. The chapter shows that the symbolic dimension of national policy and the way cultural policy in particular presents itself, is clearly populist and moralist. Two strong links can be identified between the neo-liberal and neo-traditionalist agendas for the new cultural management.
