RACISM AND EUROPEAN IDEA: ANTAGONISM OF VALUES AND ASYMMETRY OF NARRATIVES

Abstract

A comparative analysis of the ideology of racism and the European idea in the context of value orientations has been carried out. The basic documents on the basis of which the ideologemes of racism and the main principles of the European idea are formed have been analyzed. The dynamics of the confrontation of the ideology of racism and the European idea have been studied.The fundamental asymmetry in the formation of narratives regarding the dialogue between the European and Euro-Atlantic community on the one hand and Russia on the other has been clarified. The Russian Federation, relying on the ideologemes of Eurasianism and anti-Westernism, which over time were increasingly projected onto the state ideology, has been forming the image of the West as a structural adversary since the late 1990s. In turn, the European Union and NATO have been consistently building institutional mechanisms of partnership for almost two decades. Only Russia’s open armed aggression has become a factor that has caused a fundamental change in the political assessments of the West. This proves the one-sidedness of the opposition: Russia was the initiator of the confrontational narrative, while Europe has long adhered to an integrative and constructive approach.It is stated that racism as an ideology is not only a local phenomenon of Russian politics, but also a global challenge to the modern system of international relations. Its essence lies in the deliberate construction of the dichotomy “Russia/West”, which turns civilizational diversity into an arena of confrontation and justifies violent expansion. Such a model of thinking does not provide for the possibility of dialogue, since it is based on the fundamental denial of equality and universality of legal and moral norms. It strives not for coexistence, but for the displacement of alternative value systems, giving aggression the status of a self-proclaimed “historical mission”.This is the key difference from the European project, which institutionalizes freedom of choice, pluralism and the rule of law as the basis of coexistence. Therefore, the confrontation between racism and the European idea cannot be viewed only as a political dispute or competition of development models; it is a manifestation of a deep civilizational gap between the aggressive ideology of exceptionalism and the normative order of universal values.