The New Third Rome ─ Readings of a Russian Nationalist Myth

Drawing on theories of political myth and concepts of nationalism, Jardar Ostbo analyzes the content and ideological function of the myth of Russia as a Third Rome. Through case studies of four prominent nationalist intellectuals, Ostbo shows how this messianic myth was used to reinvent Russia and its allegedly rightful place in the world after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Though it exists in many radically different versions, the Third Rome myth in general embodies particularism and rabid anti-Westernism. At best, it portrays Russia as an essentially isolationist country. At worst, it casts the country as superior to all other nations, divinely elected to rule the world.

Jardar Ostbo is a postdoctoral fellow with the Norwegian Research Council project New Political Groups and the Russian state. He studied East European affairs, the history of ideas, and Slavic languages at the Universities of Oslo and Bergen and worked as a political analyst in the Norwegian army.

Pal Kolsto is professor of Russian area studies at the University of Oslo.