Dictatorship and Fear
Metastases of Violence in Putin’s Russia
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The war in Ukraine is also acting as a catalyst for violence within Russia. Private and state institutions are raising children and adolescents to be fearful and obedient; the dictatorship requires patriots willing to make sacrifices. The war is also altering the moral and social economy of violence. Traumatised veterans are effectively granted the right to commit domestic violence. Violence is becoming a social norm, accompanied by a normalisation of fear. People grow accustomed to fear, internalise it, and keep it within the family. The diffuse origins of this fear breed fatalism and passivity, paralysing the capacity for social action.
(Osteuropa 7/2026, pp. 85–93)