{"title":"Dictator’s Instagram: personal and political narratives in a Chechen leader’s social network","authors":"E. Rodina, Dmitriy Dligach","doi":"10.1080/23761199.2019.1567145","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to explore how social networks, Instagram in particular, can be utilized by an autocrat in order to construct and promote the image of a charismatic leader. To do so, we conduct a topic modelling of 6854 Instagram posts made by Ramzan Kadyrov, the dictatorial head of the autonomous Chechen Republic in the Russian Federation. We then analyze the verbal framing of 24 dominant topics. The study concludes that the main rhetorical device that Kadyrov employs is a merging of personal and political themes throughout his posts. He personalizes political discussion by discussing public interest topics through the prism of his own personal life, and inserts political discourse into personal, intimate posts about his family, pastimes, and friends. The study shows that this tactic, often understood by media researchers as an oppositional device for harnessing popular support against an autocratic state, can be just as successfully employed by an autocratic leader. Kadyrov, who in his Instagram combines the tactics of a populist politician and an internet celebrity, has shaped a personality that can be best described as a “flirting populist” (Vezjak, Boris. 2018. “Dobro zmaguje: predsednik kot krščanski populist.” In Media Res (personal blog), https://vezjak.com/2018/01/02/dobro-zmaguje-predsednik-kot-krscanski-populist/), which, as we suggest, is a new, online technology-enhanced type of a political figure.","PeriodicalId":37506,"journal":{"name":"Caucasus Survey","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2019-01-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23761199.2019.1567145","citationCount":"14","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Caucasus Survey","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23761199.2019.1567145","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"AREA STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 14
Abstract
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to explore how social networks, Instagram in particular, can be utilized by an autocrat in order to construct and promote the image of a charismatic leader. To do so, we conduct a topic modelling of 6854 Instagram posts made by Ramzan Kadyrov, the dictatorial head of the autonomous Chechen Republic in the Russian Federation. We then analyze the verbal framing of 24 dominant topics. The study concludes that the main rhetorical device that Kadyrov employs is a merging of personal and political themes throughout his posts. He personalizes political discussion by discussing public interest topics through the prism of his own personal life, and inserts political discourse into personal, intimate posts about his family, pastimes, and friends. The study shows that this tactic, often understood by media researchers as an oppositional device for harnessing popular support against an autocratic state, can be just as successfully employed by an autocratic leader. Kadyrov, who in his Instagram combines the tactics of a populist politician and an internet celebrity, has shaped a personality that can be best described as a “flirting populist” (Vezjak, Boris. 2018. “Dobro zmaguje: predsednik kot krščanski populist.” In Media Res (personal blog), https://vezjak.com/2018/01/02/dobro-zmaguje-predsednik-kot-krscanski-populist/), which, as we suggest, is a new, online technology-enhanced type of a political figure.
期刊介绍:
Caucasus Survey is a new peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary and independent journal, concerned with the study of the Caucasus – the independent republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, de facto entities in the area and the North Caucasian republics and regions of the Russian Federation. Also covered are issues relating to the Republic of Kalmykia, Crimea, the Cossacks, Nogays, and Caucasian diasporas. Caucasus Survey aims to advance an area studies tradition in the humanities and social sciences about and from the Caucasus, connecting this tradition with core disciplinary concerns in the fields of history, political science, sociology, anthropology, cultural and religious studies, economics, political geography and demography, security, war and peace studies, and social psychology. Research enhancing understanding of the region’s conflicts and relations between the Russian Federation and the Caucasus, internationally and domestically with regard to the North Caucasus, features high in our concerns.