Russia as an ‘Heartland’ of the Present: Populist Online Geopolitics and its Implications

Right-wing populism may be defined as a political style that posits the existence of a pure people versus evil ‘others’. Such others are defined in terms of cultural alterity and are seen as a disruptive factor that threatens the unity of the people, perceived as a homogeneous whole. Such Manichean populist narratives may be analyzed as a geopolitical discourse. Taggart elaborated on the concept of ‘heartland’, which is an imagined utopian space situated in the past where the homogeneous people used to live a good life. The heartland is a powerful political device often invoked by right-wing populists to aim at regaining the lost paradise, usually by promoting anti-immigration policies and by variously opposing cultural others. In my proposed paper presentation, I argue that such mythical heartlands are not only drawn from the past but also from actually-existing polities. Authoritarian Russia is often being presented like a heartland in right-wing populist discourse. In Italy, in particular, populists look at Russia as an example of realized utopia. Such discourse is then disseminated online on a variety of platforms. In this regard, I will analyze a number of Italian web pages using Critical Discourse Analysis to enquire about the characterization of this imagined heartland and its relevance for understanding right-wing populism. For instance, opposition to the so-called ‘globalism’ entails the construction of a new oppositional subject based on the rejection of multiculturalism and gender equality but, at the same time, it is not strictly defined in terms of national belonging. In turn, this makes it possible for Italian populist internet users to seemingly ‘pledge alliance’ to Putin and his government. I argue that a correct understanding of such heartlands contributes to illuminate the process of transnationalization of exclusionary narratives. In fact, a new transnational cleavage brought about globalization is progressively replacing the old nationalist paradigma by constructing homogeneity on a broader cultural and ideological belonging. Moreover, the pervasive use of internet media aids the formation of such post-national imagined communities.