From global integration to sovereign education: Russia’s policy evolution (1992–2025)

This article examines the evolution of Russian school-level education policy from 1992 to 2025 through the lens of cosmopolitan nationalism. Drawing on documentary analysis and expert interviews, we demonstrate how Russia’s engagement with international educational frameworks and standards has transformed across four distinct periods. Using the cosmopolitan nationalism framework, we trace Russia’s journey from post-Soviet integration into the global educational space to its current ‘sovereign education’ model. Our findings reveal that Russia demonstrated unprecedented mobility across all cosmopolitan nationalism quadrants, from post-Soviet integration into global educational space to current ‘sovereign education’. The analysis identifies four distinct periods: ambiguous reforms (1992–2003), educational leadership ambitions (2003–2012), the establishment of ‘sovereign education’ (2012–2022), and patriotic recalibration (2022 onwards). Russia’s education policy evolution illustrates that states can rapidly shift between nationalist and cosmopolitan orientations in response to political transformation. This study contributes to understanding how nations can simultaneously pursue nationalist objectives utilising global educational frameworks, even during periods of international isolation.