Putin, Putiniana and the Question of a Post-Soviet Cult of Personality

Since becoming president of the Russian Federation in 1999, Vladimir Putin has inspired expressions of adulation the likes of which Russia has not seen since the days of Stalin. Tributes to his achievements and personal attributes have flooded every possible media platform; his image graces a startling array of consumer products. As a result, it has become commonplace to speak of the emergence of a new 'cult of personality' and thereby suggest that the contemporary Putin craze functions much like earlier Soviet-era leader cults. However, careful examination of the full range of Putiniana available in the Russian market-place and on the internet proves that, in spite of its superficial resemblance to earlier Soviet-era leader cults, the Putin phenomenon represents the product of distinctly post-modern social and communicative relations. Characterized by rhetorical and philosophical indeterminacy, it offers ordinary Russian citizens a degree of agency without precedent in the Soviet period.