The Image of the Jester in Contemporary Politics

Abstract

The paper specifies the concept of ‘political jester’, used to denote some political actors performing similar functions to medieval jesters; it explores a set of essential characteristics of medieval jesters and modern political jesters, as well as the perception of such political actors by the Russian public.The article consists of two sections: a theoretical and a practical one. The theoretical part covers modern political buffoonery as a kind of modified phenomenon; it highlights the main characteristics of political buffoonery, as well as the similarities and differences between the modern concept and the original image of a palace crony endowed with the ‘special right’ to tell the truth in the form of satire.The second section presents the results of the survey of Russian citizens covering the period of 2024, which enables the author to establish that political jesters have been popular, because their rhetoric is quite consistent with the demands and moods of the society.