Author: imkava

Book presentation with Tinatin Japaridze – Stalin’s Millennials, April 5

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Stalin’s Millennials: Nostalgia, Trauma, and Nationalism

Welcome to the book presentation with Tinatin Japaridze on her debut monograph Stalin’s Millennials: Nostalgia, Trauma, and Nationalism
When: April 5, 3.15-5.00 pm CET
Where: Zoom https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/61617665776

Abstract

In her monograph Tinatin Japaridze examines Joseph Stalin’s increasing popularity in the post-Soviet space, and analyzes how his image, and the nostalgia it evokes, is manipulated and exploited for political gain. The author argues that, in addition to the evil dictator and the Georgian comrade, there is a third portrayal of Stalin—the one projected by the generation that saw the tail end of the USSR, the post-Soviet millennials. This book is not a biography of one of the most controversial historical figures of the past century. Rather, through a combination of sociopolitical commentary and autobiographical elements that are uncommon in monographs of this kind, the attempt is to explore how Joseph Stalin’s complex legacies and the conflicting cult of his irreconcilable tripartite of personalities still loom over the region as a whole, including Russia and, perhaps to an even deeper extent, Koba’s native land—now the independent Republic of Georgia, caught between its unreconciled Soviet past and the potential future within the European Union.

Bio

Tinatin Japaridze is currently the Director of Policy and Strategy at The Critical Mass, whose mission is to transcend existing global security assistance silos by supporting a critical mass of professionals with the capabilities and sustainment architecture needed to meet and defeat persistent and emerging threats and vulnerabilities. Prior to this position, Japaridze worked for the City of New York, first as the Field and Digital Community Engagement Specialist at the NYC Census, a Mayoral initiative, and later as the Press Secretary for New York’s COVID-19 Response at NYC Health & Hospitals. Previously, she was the United Nations Bureau Chief for Eastern European media outlets and U.N. Radio host and producer of her own radio show on current affairs and security in the international arena. In 2019, she became a Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs Student Ambassador on Cyber Ethics and Digital Leadership. A graduate of the Harriman Institute at Columbia University, Tinatin was a University Consortium fellow. She worked as a “Go Big” Officer at the European Leadership Network (ELN), crafting a digital campaign to extend the New START between Russia and the US, and in 2021, Japaridze became a member of the ELN’s Younger Generation Leaders Network. In her previous musical career, Tinatin co-wrote and performed an award-winning United Nations anthem based on the UN Charter, “We the Peoples,” and her song, “Is It True?” was the silver-prize winner at the Eurovision Song Contest representing Iceland in 2009

Ukraine-Russia Roundtable – February 11

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RUCARR is happy to announce that on Friday the 11th of February at 1315 a roundtable discussion regarding the evolving Russia-Ukraine situation will be held. Three expert panelist will be involved giving their views on what is occurring and then taking questions from the audience.

The Panelists involved are Professor Derek Hutcheson, Dr. Sarah Whitmore, and Dr. Kateryna Zarembo. Chair: Nick Baigent, RUCARR.
The event will be held online and can be accessed on zoom at the following link:

Dr Sarah Whitmore is a reader in Political Science at Oxford Brookes University. Dr Whitmore’s research focuses upon post-Soviet politics and she is interested in the evolution of formal institutions, their significance in structuring and reproducing power in post-Soviet states, their relationship with informal practices and the implications this has for the political system. Her empirical focus is predominantly on Ukraine and Russia. Her current British Academy funded research project together with Professor Bettina Renz at the University of Nottingham is investigating the importance of the political and strategic context for military reform in Ukraine.

 

Kateryna Zarembo is a Kyiv-based policy analyst and university lecturer. Her area of expertise is foreign and security policy as well as civil society studies, with a focus on Ukraine. She is an associate fellow at the New Europe Center (Kyiv, Ukraine). She also teaches at the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”.

 

Prof. Derek Hutcheson is a Professor of Political Science in the Department of Global Political Studies (GPS) and vice dean of the Faculty of Culture and Society (KS) at Malmö University, Sweden. He has an extensive background working on issues around Russian and post-Soviet politics, as well as comparative research on transnational citizenship, electoral rights, and local democracy.

 

Seminar Febr 8: Protecting children in the name of ‘traditional values’ in Russia and Germany

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Welcome to the seminar on February 8 with Dr. Maria Brock, Postdoc at Malmö University: Protecting children in the name of ‘traditional values’ in Russia and Germany.
When: February 8, 3.15-5.00 pm (CET)
Where: Sign up here for zoom link

Abstract

The recent rise of illiberal, conservative and right-wing populist movements poses an acute threat to democracy and equality in Europe. One pervasive but underresearched strand of these movements advocates ‘traditional family values’, in particular conservative sexual and gender politics, in the name of protecting children. With my project, l plan to fill this research gap through interdisciplinary research examining the discursive construction of the child as the ultimate site of vulnerability and risk, and hence in need of protection and policy intervention. The research is characterised by a significant comparative dimension, analysing discourses by conservative, ‘pro-traditional family values’ actors, from politicians to activists, in Germany and Russia. In my presentation for RUCARR, I will focus on Russian actors’ ‘traditional values’ discourse and -policies as they pertain to children.

Bio

With a Phd in Psychosocial Studies from Birkbeck (University of London), and a background in Russian Studies, much of my research is preoccupied with the discursive and psychosocial dynamics of transitional and post-transitional societies, often focusing on Russia. Another, connected strand of my work examines misogynist, anti-feminist and anti-LGBTQ violence. Previous and upcoming publications have for example looked at the material and psychic remains of socialism, Camp and post-Soviet pop, Pussy Riot and negative societal mobilisation, the vicissitudes of queer (in)visibility in Russia, and networked misogyny and right-wing extremism (with our own Tina Askanius).

 

Seminar with Dr. Kamal Aliyev, February 1

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The role of Azerbaijan in the Non-Aligned Movement through the lens of international law and security

Welcome to the Spring semester’s first seminar with Kamal Makili-Aliyev, LL.D. Senior Lecturer at the Dept. of Global Political Studies, Malmö University: The role of Azerbaijan in the non-aligned movement through the lens of international law and security.

When: February 1, 3.15-17.00
Zoom: sign-up here for zoom link

Abstract

This research paper is an attempt to explain the role of Azerbaijan in the Non-Aligned Movement through a rarely used perspective or lens of international law and international security. In a scholarly discourse on Azerbaijan’s ascension to the full membership in the Non-Aligned Movement, there are two distinct camps that argue either from the perspective of the non-relevance of the Non-Aligned Movement in the contemporary international community and subsequent low significance of Azerbaijan’s move or from the perspective of the theory of international relations and present it as a foreign policy adjustment or a continued strategy. This study departs from the continued (albeit adjusted) relevance of the Non-Aligned Movement as a subject of international law and seeks to complement the existing theories proposed by the international relations scholars with an alternative view based on Azerbaijan’s paradigmatic perceptions of international law and international security. By taking an alternative viewpoint, this paper utilizes a multidisciplinary angle to tackle so far only narrowly researched topic.
 

Seminar with Victor Kipiani: Georgia’s 30 years from regaining the independence

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February 15: Georgia’s 30 years from regaining the independence: accomplishments, challenges and opportunities

RUCARR seminar with Victor Kipiani, chairman of the think tank Geocase: Georgia’s 30 years from regaining the independence: accomplishments, challenges and opportunities. Welcome!

When: February 15, 3.15-5.00 (CET)
Where: Sign up here for zoom link


Short bio

Victor Kipiani is the Chair of a Georgian think tank organization Geocase. His interests include international relations, security, governance, implications of the global order for Georgia and for its neighborhood and macro economy. Victor Kipiani is the author of various articles and surveys on Georgian legal system and related matters in domestic and foreign periodicals.  He is also a frequent commentator on recent political developments in Georgia as well as on various global geopolitical trends and events. Victor Kipiani is a member of Georgian Bar Association, a member of International Advisory Board for the Association of International Politics and Security Studies, a board member of the Independent Directors’ Association, and an advisory council member at the Service for Accounting, Reporting and Auditing Supervision Service.

Prof Bo Petersson föreläser om Navalnyj på konferens om mänskliga rättigheter, 15 dec

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Varför utgör Navalnyj  en sådan utmaning mot Putin och det etablissemang han leder?

15 dec 10.05-10.20 inledningstalar Prof. Bo Petersson (RUCARR, Malmö universitet) om ”Varför Navalnyj utgör en sådan utmaning mot Putin och det etablissemang han leder” vid Sydöstra Skånes Mänskliga Rättigheterskonferens, Simrishamns Rådhus.

Läs mer om evenemanget här

Följ evenemanget online, som livestreamas här.

 

 

Seminar “Communist state administrative structures” with Astrid Hedin – Dec 14

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Seminar with Dr. Astrid Hedin, Associate Professor, Visiting scholar at Harvard Univ. Davis Center: Communist state administrative structures. Welcome!

When? December 14, 4.15-5.30 pm
Where: Zoom link

Abstract

Despite the common progeny of communist regimes across the world, research has often treated each communist regime as sui generis, as a class by itself. At the same time, area studies tend to assume that readers are already familiar with the basic structures and core administrative traits of communist regimes. 

This article seeks to acquaint a broader set of researchers with communist state administration as a “family” or type (cf. Wollman, 2021). In focus are the core political-institutional features and administrative traditions of the communist state; the historical doctrines, terminology, and actual practices under communism. Administrative structures are described from a broad institutionalist perspective, guided by classic questions concerning principles of hierarchy, autonomy, and complexity, as well as historical praxis and norms, emergent standard operating procedures, and informal rules and relations. 

Popular understanding often envisages communist-type administration as hierarchical commands from the top, which can be quietly resisted and circumvented by a purportedly nonpolitical bureaucracy and everyday life. In contrast, empirical studies of both historical communist regimes and 21st-century China draw up a picture of political control more as a tangled and overlapping grid, trellis, espalier, or net.  

A concluding section comments on the historical difficulties of doing research on communist administration and suggests some prospects for the field’s change and development

 

Whose Culture War is it? Seminar with Rico Isaacs on Dec 7

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Dr Rico Isaacs, Associate Professor in Politics, University of Lincoln:
Whose Culture War is it? The Istanbul Convention and the Politics of Gender, Tradition & Morality in Latvia

PhD Candidate Isobel Squire, Dept. of Global Political Studies (GPS) will introduce the speaker.
 
Meeting ID: 650 6223 9038
Passcode: 516968
 
December 7, 3-5 pm (zoom)
This paper explores the concept of culture wars through a thematic analysis of an on-going discussion of the ratification of the Istanbul Convention in Latvia. The analysis finds that the Latvian parliament’s struggle to ratify the Convention can be ultimately understood as a power struggle in which various political, religious and family-based interest groups are aiming to restore a self-perceived equilibrium within Latvian society In response to the perceived loss of male power, prestige and highly contestable notions of ‘traditional’ Latvian family values. The analysis eschews simple dichotomies that litter current conceptualisations of culture wars, recognising instead the fluid, dynamic and complex nature of Latvia’s culture war, and using Björn Kraus’ (2014) constructive theory of power the paper details how different sides within the debate are seeking to instruct or restrict the rights, resources, and values of others.
 

The Putin Predicament by Bo Petersson

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The new publication The Putin Predicament” by Prof. Bo Petersson has appeared. Congratulations! Celebration at the Department of Global Political Studies.

Using the Russian president’s major public addresses as the main source, Bo Petersson analyzes the legitimization strategies employed during Vladimir Putin’s third and fourth terms in office. The argument is that these strategies have rested on Putin’s highly personalized blend of strongman-image projection and presentation as the embodiment of Russia’s great power myth. Putin appears as the only credible guarantor against renewed weakness, political chaos, and interference from abroad—in particular from the US.

The Putin Predicament. Problems of Legitimacy and Succession in Russia

Bo Petersson. Foreword by J. Paul Goode. ibidem Press, 2021. Read more about the book here 

 

Seminar with Prof. Vello Pettai Sept 28

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Foresight Scenarios on Populism: Imagining Central and Eastern European Politics in 2030

Welcome to the RUCARR seminar with Prof. Vello Pettai, University of Tartu: Foresight Scenarios on Populism: Imagining Central and Eastern European Politics in 2030

When: September 28, 3-5 pm (Swedish time)

Where: Zoom, sign-up here

Abstract

Foresight research offers a range of techniques and perspectives in order to analyse political trends looking toward the future. This presentation will lay out a series of foresight scenarios about populist politics in Central and Eastern Europe that have been developed within the EU Horizon-2020 project “POPREBEL”. The scenarios are not meant as predictions, but rather as perspective-enhancing exercises about how different drivers might come together to create different outcomes by 2030. Participants will be asked to provide their analytical advice about how to improve the scenarios.