Jules Sergei Fediunin

• Fediunin, Jules Sergei (2025). (In)secure Russianness: Identity narratives of Russian ethnonationalist intellectuals prior to and during the war in Ukraine (2010-2024). Connexe. ISSN 2406-5749. 11(1), p. 164–189. doi: 10.5077/journals/connexe.2025.e2414. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article explores the identity narratives developed by Russian ethnonationalist intellectuals on the eve of and during the war in Ukraine, which effectively began in 2014 and was resumed by the Kremlin in 2022. Drawing on literatures in nationalism studies and critical security studies, the article shifts the focus from state-centric approaches to the examination of a marginalised group of non-state actors pursuing the goal of a “Russia for ethnic Russians” [Россия для русских]. These actors are considered ideological entrepreneurs, whose writings have contributed to transforming “Russianness” [русскость], including its meaning and boundaries, into a field of symbolic struggle. Ethnonationalists’ identity narratives, marked by a pronounced sense of victimhood, did not allow for the establishment of a stable national self-identity prior to Russia’s war against Ukraine. The war has deeply affected these narratives, but its effects have proved to be quite different. Unlike the 2014 Ukraine crisis and the Donbas war, which reinforced feelings of identity uncertainty, the full-scale invasion of Ukraine has become a source of ontological security in the ethnonationalist imaginary. Since 2022, the ethnonationalism that seeks to build a homogeneous nation has largely merged with Putinism. However, doubts over the outcome of the war in Ukraine and persistent ethnic tensions within Russian society could trigger renewed identity insecurity among Russian ethnonationalists and cause them to break with the Kremlin’s line once again.

• Fediunin, Jules Sergei (2024). De la "profondeur" de l’État et du peuple : usages d’une métaphore spatiale dans le discours politique russe, La métaphore en politique. Le bord de l'eau. ISSN 9782385190538. Full text in Research Archive
• Fediunin, Jules Sergei (2024). Construire la nation avec les sciences sociales : le "projet russien" et ses protagonistes. Sociétés (Paris). ISSN 0765-3697. p. 69–111. doi: 10.46298/societes-plurielles.2024.14683. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  L’article interroge le concept de nation civique, appelée nation russienne (rossijskaâ naciâ ), et ses ressorts intellectuels dans la Russie postsoviétique. Après une étude des carrières croisées des principaux théoriciens et promoteurs de ce concept, l’article analyse les façons dont l’expertise en sciences sociales a été délibérément mise au service d’une cause politique : la construction nationale. Sont enfin démontrées l’absence de consensus autour de ce projet et l’hésitation du régime de Poutine à l’imposer This article examines the idea of the civic nation, known as rossiiskii project, and its intellectual roots in post-Soviet Russia. After exploring the intertwined careers of its leading theorists and promoters, the article analyzes the ways in which social science expertise has been deliberately placed at the service of a political cause, i.e., Russian nation-building. Finally, the article shows the lack of consensus around this project, as well as the reluctance of the Putin regime to impose it.

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• Fediunin, Jules Sergei (2024). Les Nationalismes russes. Gouverner, mobiliser, contester dans la Russie en guerre. Calmann-Lévy. ISBN 9782702189085. 368 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Fediunin, Jules Sergei (2024). La métaphore en politique. Le bord de l'eau. ISBN 9782385190538. Full text in Research Archive

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• Fediunin, Jules Sergei (2025). Katie L. Stewart. Legitimating Nationalism: Political Identity in Russia's Ethnic Republics. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2024. xvii + 293 pp. ISBN 9780299347703. Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research. ISSN 2076-8214. 17(1), p. 266–269. doi: 10.53483/2078-1938-2025-17-1-266-269. Full text in Research Archive
• Pileberg, Silje & Fediunin, Jules Sergei (2025). Putin’s dream of the perfect family. [Journal]. University of Oslo. doi: https:/www.uio.no/english/research/research-news/articles/2025/putins-dream-of-the-perfect-family.html. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  President Vladimir Putin’s family ideal is a heterosexual couple with two or three children. This is no coincidence, according to researcher Jules Sergei Fediunin.

• Fediunin, Jules Sergei (2024). Putin alarmert – nevner Norge som eksempel. [Journal]. Internet. Full text in Research Archive

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