Vladimir Putin's Governance After the Russo-Ukrainian War: Practice of "Fortress State" and "State-Civilization" Discourse

This study analyzes Russian President Vladimir Putin's governance during the Russo-Ukrainian War from the perspective of implementing the discourses of "fortress state" and "state-civilization," emphasizing internal conservatism and external exceptionalism. Approximately four years after the outbreak of the Ukrainian War, it is worth noting the internal changes in Russia, where President Putin's wartime governance is shifting from a short-term, tactical response at the regime level to a long-term, strategic line at the national level. President Putin's wartime governance goals and strategies can be understood as a process of building a “fortress state” and “state-civilization” based on Russia's independent values and sphere of influence, predicated on a state of flexible conflict and tension with the West. This is particularly evident in Russia's wartime internal strategy — military-security and economic-industrial policies — and its external strategy — foreign policy concept and contacts — since the Ukrainian War. President Putin's wartime governance, which pursues both "national fortification" to minimize contact with the West and "civilizational solidarity" to maximize contact with non-Western nations, is expected to be sustained for the long term based on Russia's capabilities and will as a self-sufficient nation-state.