Description
In the critical period for opposition movements from 2004 to 2012, when there was still some open space for political dissidence in Russia, some populist nativist social movements critical of the government managed to survive longer than others. This article argues that Russian populist nativists entered a noncompetitive informal coalition by deliberately adopting flexible organizational structures and by coordinating their mobilization and framing strategies to both support each other and to keep their distinctive profiles. As a result, they gained mobilization and survival advantages vis-à-vis their competitors and managed to exercise some influence on Russia's foreign policy towards Ukraine. Russian nativists made, thus, an innovation in the way that nativist movements organize by introducing themes that differ in content and not only in style. Additionally, the article shows that hybrid regimes can open new cooperation perspectives for populist nativist movements, not despite but because they close opportunity structures.
