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All-Russian identity and consolidating values in the context of patriotic practice:
regional aspect

Gritsenko G.D.,

Federal Research Center Southern Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Rostov-on-Don, Russia, dissovet@rambler.ru

elibrary_id: 150574 | ORCID: 0000-0001-8281-7409 | RESEARCHER_ID: AAC-7640-2022

Article received: 2025.02.13 18:42. Accepted: 2025.12.17 18:42


DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2026.02.05
EDN: MWPSHK

Rubric: Theme of the issue: The Russian Metaverse: aspects of identity, civic consciousness, and patriotism

For citation:

Gritsenko G.D. All-Russian identity and consolidating values in the context of patriotic practice: regional aspect. – Polis. Political Studies. 2026. No. 2. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2026.02.05. EDN: MWPSHK (In Russ.)

The publication was prepared with the financial support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia (Agreement No. 075-15-2024-523 dated 04.24.2024 for the implementation of the major scientific projects in priority areas of scientific and technical development).

Abstract

The article reports the findings of a study conducted within the project “The Southern Vector of National Security in the Context of Geopolitical and Climatic Challenges”. The study seeks to identify the factors that most strongly shape the degree of regional consolidation in the North Caucasian Federal District during the special military operation. The research draws on a combination of methods: content analysis of regional media coverage of patriotic practices; discourse analysis of academic publications by North Caucasian scholars offering value-based interpretations of historical events; and event analysis of key socio-political and ethno-confessional developments in the region. Through methodological triangulation, the study reconstructs a hierarchy of factors underpinning solidarity within North Caucasian regional communities. The analysis demonstrates that regions displaying higher levels of social cohesion tend to be those in which consolidating discourses prevail across both media and scholarly-publicistic arenas. This dominance manifests itself in the breadth and social salience of patriotic practices, alongside the absence of persistent regional tensions. In these regions, either an all-Russian civic identity (as in Stavropol Krai and the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania) or a confessional identity (as in the Chechen Republic) assumes a leading integrative role. By contrast, in republics where traumatising discourses dominate the public and academic narratives, socio-political and ethno-confessional tensions recur with greater frequency, while patriotic themes occupy a marginal position in the informational space. In these cases, the structuring role falls to alternative identity frameworks: all-Russian civic identity (Karachay-Cherkess Republic), ethnic identity (the Republic of Ingushetia and the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic), or confessional identity (Republic of Dagestan). The study concludes that consolidating values articulated and reinforced within the informational and publicistic sphere constitute the principal driver of regional cohesion, with patriotism playing a central role. On this basis, the author argues that regional policy should prioritise the support of consolidating discourses while simultaneously reinforcing an inclusive all-Russian identity.

Keywords

North Caucasian Federal District, types of identity, consolidating values, patriotic practice.

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