Who Doesn't Love Stability?

Containing the Russian Public after the Orange Revolution

Author(s): Jonas Grätz
Editor(s): Stephen Aris, Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perovic, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 75
Pages: 14-16
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen; Institute of History, University of Basel
Publication Year: 2010

Drawing on an original analysis of the Russian media discourse about the Orange Revolution, this essay examines the impact of the revolutionary events on Russian elite strategies and the framing of the public discourse. It argues that the revolution was a key event both for the political elite and for public discourse. The discourse bifurcated between, primarily, a geopolitical frame that served to attract public support for the elite's goals in Ukraine, and to a lesser extent a liberal-democratic frame, that could provide the Russian public a chance to reflect on Russia's political system. However, since the elite could successfully redesign its system of rule, it removed the Orange Revolution as a possible moment of integration from the public

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