Vladimir Putin on Social Justice: Evolution of Philosophical Foundations and Political Discourse of Speeches (2020–2024)

Abstract

Based on the historical and philosophical tradition (Aristotle, J.-J. Rousseau, J. Rawls) and contemporary ap-proaches, the article analizes the evolution of the “social justice” concept content in Vladimir Putin’s political discourse in 2020–2024. The President’s addresses to the Federal Assembly and the politician’s public speeches serve as a material for the studying within this period. The aim is to identify the philosophical suppo-sitions of the President’s conception, trace the dynamics of rhetorical emphasis, and determine, which ele-ments of classical theories (distributive justice, the difference principle, equality of launch opportunities) are synthesized in his political discourse. The authors employ dynamic analysis of the politician’s speeches and their discourse analysis, i. e. semantic dominant ideas, as a working method. The institutional approach did not become needful in this work as the examining the implementation practices requires a separate study. The research reveals a shift from a paternalistic “protection” model toward the “equality of opportunity” rhetoric, demonstrating that the President’s philosophical eclecticism resigns the goal of maintaining the social stability.