The RUCARR Thesis Award 2024 has been awarded to Johan Richter for his MA thesis entitled “Milbloggers, Telegram, and the Russo-Ukraine War: The Role of Non-State Actors in Shaping Strategic Narratives during Global Conflict”-
The Thesis Award was presented to Johan Richter by Prof. Mona Lilja, Head of Department, Global Political Studies, on October 22, 2024.
Excerpts from the statement by the jury:
Johan Richter’s thesis is an innovative study of Russian military bloggers
and their role in influencing and amplifying the Russian regime’s discourse on the war in Ukraine. The research design is elegant and sophisticated without being over-complicated. The amount of data he has used for this thesis, and the manner in which he handles the analysis and keeps the reader’s interest is impressive.
This is a thesis that contains high-quality original research and uses a systematic research framework. It is innovative and points the way forward to new possible lines of research in the study of authoritarian information spheres.