Migration in the Discourse of the 2013 Election Campaign: Populism or Ideological Transformation?

The article examines the campaign for the election of the mayor of Moscow in 2013 from the point of view of the use by its participants in the course of the election race of the techniques and methods of populist discourse. As a research method, the authors use discursive approach of E. Laclau aimed at identifying the basic indicators of populist rhetoric, including the antagonistic opposition of «we» and «others», as well as identifying the qualitative characteristics of the populist narrative. The analysis of these materials allows making conclusions about the strengthening the populist rhetoric in the Russian political discourse against the background of a drop in the electoral results of candidates representing traditional Russian parties and ideological platforms. At the same time, the authors indicate that this trend is due to the shift of the ideological spectrum on the Russian political scene. The paper concludes that the extension of the capital urban area, in contrast to the national context, did not allow switching to ideological rhetoric completely. As a result of this, both the main competitors Sobyanin and Navalny actually relied on the electoral potential of both the current government and the powerful protest movement against the background of the dissatisfaction of the metropolitan voter with the peculiarities of the political system of the Russian Federation.