Category: Countries

Seminar January 20 with Mane Tsaturyan: “Armenia’s Foreign Policy Options…”

  By , ,

Mane Tsaturyan: “Armenia’s Foreign Policy Options Within China’s Belt and Road Initiative: A Small State Perspective” 

Place & Time

Date: 20 January, 15:15-17:00 

Place: NI:C0933 seminar room, 9th floor, Niagara, Nordenskiöldsgatan 1

Or Online: https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/68831376873, Meeting ID: 688 3137 6873

Bio

Mane Tsaturyan is an International Relations specialist currently working at the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia, where she prepares briefings, assessments, and detailed political reports on developments in Armenia and the wider region. She holds a Master’s degree in European Interdisciplinary Studies from the College of Europe in Natolin, where she was awarded the United Nations Award for the Best Thesis on “Europe, Multilateralism, and the UN.” She also holds a Master’s degree in World Politics from Yerevan State University, and is an alumna of the Diplomatic Academy of the MFA of Armenia. Her areas of expertise include EU foreign policy, multilateralism, the UN, the migration–foreign policy nexus, security, China, and Armenia.

Abstract

How does a small state like Armenia navigate one of the world’s largest infrastructure and economic projects, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)? In this talk, I will present my research exploring Armenia’s foreign policy choices within the BRI framework, especially after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War. Using small state theory, we will look at the unique challenges and opportunities Armenia faces in balancing security concerns with the desire for economic integration. I will highlight why, despite the BRI being over a decade old, Armenia remains largely outside its main corridors, and what this reveals about the delicate strategies small states use to engage with global mega-initiatives.

Welcome to RUCARR seminar 20th January!

RUCARR seminar Dec 9 with Håvard Swane Bækken

  By ,

Prof. Håvard Swane Bækken: “Militarized Patriotism and Identity Policy in the Occupied Donbas”

Time: 9 December, 15:15-17:00
Place: NI:C0933 seminar room, 9th floor, Niagara, Nordenskiöldsgatan 1

Online: https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/63790169816
Meeting ID: 637 9016 9816

Bio

Håvard Bækken is Professor of Russian Area Studies and has been affiliated with the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies (IFS) since 2015. As of 2025, he is also affiliated with the School of Intelligence and Language (SESK) 

Bækken’s research focus at IFS is militarism and military patriotic education in Russia and in occupied parts of Ukraine. Bækken is heading the research project Contested Ukraine: Military Patriotism, Russian Influence, and Implications for European Security, and (temporary) the Research Programme for Ukraine and Full-Spectrum Threats. 

Bækken teaches extensively and is responsible for courses on Russian politics and society as well as on Russian history and its uses. His previous research includes several publications on quasi-legal practices in Russia.

Abstract

Since the first invasion of Ukrainian territories in 2014, Russia has been using militarized patriotic education to further its strategic aims in the occupied regions. In his presentation, Håvard Bækken will introduce his research on military patriotic education in Russia, and in particular his articles on the export of militarized patriotism into occupied Ukraine. At the core of the presentation will be the policy employed in the so-called peoples republics in the Donbas before the full-scale invasion, where the changing faces of patriotic education is seen as a reflection of strategic concerns in Moscow. Since 2019, Bækken argues, the pace and direction changed, as clubs (esp. Yunarmiya) has become more directly involved in Russia’s plan of cultural assimilation of the youth. Today, Yunarmiya is actively promoting Russian nationhood in every occupied oblast of Ukraine. 

Welcome!

Seminar November 18: The EU-Russia Competition, Multi-Modal Contestation and Governance in a Shared Sphere of Influence

  By , ,

RUCARR Seminar with Bidzina Lebanidze, PhD, Senior Analyst at the Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP) and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of Slavic Languages and Caucasus Studies at Friedrich Schiller University Jena

Time: November 18th, 15:15-17:00

Place: Seminar room, 9th floor, Niagara, or on Zoom: https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/68198560054

Abstract:

In an era of resurgent multipolar competition, a fundamental update to our understanding of the reemerging concept of Spheres of Influence (SOIs) is needed. This analysis introduces the “Multi-Modal Sphere of Influence” (MMSOI) as a new analytical framework, positing that contemporary great powers project influence not just via coercion, but through a dynamic interplay of five modalities: military, economic, institutional, normative, and digital. This framework is used to deconstruct the intractable EU-Russia conflict in their “shared neighborhood” by bridging macro-, meso-, and case-level findings. At the macro-level, the core of the conflict is defined by different modalities of competition; this is not a symmetrical power struggle, but a structural clash between incompatible toolkits: the EU’s dominant normative, institutional, and economic modalities colliding with Russia’s reliance on its coercive-military and energy-based toolkit. This overlapping, multi-modal contestation creates, at the meso-level, a paradoxical environment for “in-between” states, granting them new avenues for hedging and agency while simultaneously exposing them to acute risks of coercion and conflict. Finally, the analysis unpacks the EU’s paradoxical role as an “antithetical actor.” While normatively rejecting SOIs, the EU’s institutional and regulatory expansion functions as a powerful, sui generis SOI-building tool, making it an unintentional geopolitical player. This synthesized approach explains the EU-Russia competition not merely as a regional dispute, but as a microcosm of 21st-century multi-modal, multipolar contestation.

 

Seminar November 11: Negotiating actorness and legitimacy: The Wagner Group and the Russian state

  By ,

RUCARR Seminar with Karen Philippa Larsen, Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)

Time: November 11th, 15:15-17:00

Place: Seminar room, 9th floor, Niagara, or on Zoom: https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/66706523090

Abstract:

Do you remember the Wagner Group? – The semi-private Russian military group that marched on Moscow one Saturday in June 2023, briefly making all of us wonder whether Putin’s grip on the Russian “throne” was as firm as we had thought.

The Wagner Group played a central role in advancing Russia’s interests internationally, in Russia’s early military operations in Ukraine, and in the full-scale war that Russia launched against Ukraine in 2022. Despite its significance, the group operated mostly in the shadows since its founding in 2014. Even after its financier, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, stepped forward and claimed leadership of the Wagner Group, it continued to operate in a nexus between practices hidden in the shadows and choreographed ‘grand’ performances, shared primarily on social media.

Karen Philippa Larsen’s presentation focuses on the Wagner Group’s actorness and examines the Wagner Group from multiple perspectives, highlighting the group’s ability to play several different roles simultaneously – both on behalf of the Russian state and in pursuit of its own interests. The presentation engages with concepts of non-state and state actors, legitimacy and agency, and opens for a discussion of how audiovisuality, which is central to our time, might influence them.

 

 

Seminar November 4: Unlocking the EU’s, Russia´s and the US´ Actorness in the Karabakh Peace Process by Azerbaijan

  By , ,

RUCARR Seminar with Lamiya Panahova, Doctoral Researcher at Charles University in Prague

Time: November 4, 15.15-17.00 CET

Place: Seminar room, 9th floor (Niagara) or via Zoom: https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/61212519285

Abstract:

The 44-day war in 2020 marked a turning point in the long-standing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, fought over the territory that once formed the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast within Soviet Azerbaijan. By retaking the surrounding districts and parts of the region during that war, Azerbaijan gained the upper hand, adopted a more assertive stance in subsequent peace talks, and ultimately used force to bring the entire area under its control in 2023. This talk covers, in comparative perspective, the roles of Russia, the European Union, and the United States in the negotiations from 2020 to 2025. It analyzes the factors behind their successes and failures, drawing on the actorness framework and prior scholarship to measure how these actors’ actorness shifted after 2020 and how those shifts affected their recognition by the parties to the conflict. The presentation will also discuss the recent US-brokered peace deal between the parties in August this year, talking about its future implications.

Seminar October 7: MAKING SENSE OF RUSSIAN STRATEGIC NARRATIVES – AFFECT AND RECEPTION AMONG YOUNG RUSSIAN SPEAKERS IN LATVIA

  By , ,

RUCARR Seminar with Emma Rönngren, Örebro University

Time: October 7, 15.15-17.00 CET

Place: NI:C0319 (Niagara) or via Zoom: https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/69615481801

Abstract:

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, attention has increasingly focused on how Russian strategic narratives are projected and received. In this seminar, Dr. Emma Rönngren presents findings from her doctoral dissertation on how Russian-speaking youth in Latvia make sense of, negotiate, and sometimes resist such narratives, with particular attention to emotions, media, and identity.

Drawing on focus groups and interviews with 69 participants, the study shows how young people navigate a contested media landscape where narratives of history, freedom of speech and language circulate. Using Carolyn Michelle’s reception model, Rönngren demonstrates how participants interpret these narratives on both denotative and connotative levels of meaning. Affect emerges as a key factor, shaping whether narratives gain persuasive force or trigger critical distance.

By foregrounding youth perspectives, the study not only contributes to debates on narrative power, resistance, and the affective dimensions of media reception, but also challenges simplified views of Russian-speaking minorities as either loyal or disloyal. It highlights the complexity of everyday meaning-making and the implications this has for democratic and civil actors in the Baltic Sea region.

Bio:

Dr. Emma Rönngren is a media and communication scholar specializing in strategic narratives, affect and information influence in the Baltic Sea region. She is a senior lecturer at Örebro University, affiliated researcher at IRES, Uppsala University and serves as the Student and Early Career Representative for the ICA Public Diplomacy Interest Group. Her current work includes forthcoming articles and book chapters on narrative persuasion, civil society resilience, and the role of media in geopolitics.

 

Seminar September 23: Russians go home: Exile, Empire, and Everyday Tensions: Russian Migration to Georgia after 2022

  By , ,

 RUCARR seminar with Dr. Sofia Gavrilova (Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Leipzig) and Olga Bronnikova (University of Bordeaux-Bretagne).

Time: September 23, 15.15-17.00 CET

Place: NI:B0314 (Niagara) or via Zoom: https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/65586314867

Abstract:

Since the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Tbilisi has become a key destination for Russian emigrants, including political activists, journalists, and NGOs. Their presence has sparked both solidarity initiatives—particularly in support of Ukrainian refugees—and deep social tensions, with accusations of “neo-imperialism” shaping public debates. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and collaborative research with colleagues, this talk examines how Russian “civil society in exile” coexists with Georgian civil society, and why their practices often clash. By contrasting Russian traditions of “small deeds” activism with Georgia’s more visible protest-oriented political grammar, Dr. Gavrilova explores how histories of empire, Soviet legacies, and ongoing occupation inform mutual perceptions. The presentation introduces the concepts of conditional neo-imperialism and embodied imperialism to explain how everyday practices of Russian émigrés are interpreted in Georgia’s anti-colonial framework, highlighting the fragile balance between cooperation, invisibility, and confrontation in Tbilisi’s contested civic space.

 

Dr. Sofia Gavrilova 

 

Seminar September 9: Military-Patriotic Education in Russia: Legitimation, Gender and Power Relations

  By ,

 RUCARR seminar with Jonna Alava

Jonna Alava is a PhD Candidate within the Doctoral Programme in Political, Societal and Regional Change at Helsinki University.

Time: September 9th, 15.15-17.00

Place: NI:C0315 (Niagara) or via Zoom: https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/66035667644

Abstract: 

The military-patriotic education of children and young people in Russia began during Vladimir Putin’s first presidential term in 2000. After the onset of the war against Ukraine, the education underwent a significant shift, expanding to encompass virtually every citizen. Today, it is one of the Kremlin’s top priorities, extending from kindergartens to universities. Propagandistic school curricula and numerous patriotic youth organizations aim to raise “warrior-citizens” loyal to the Kremlin, who perceive war as part of everyday life and are prepared to sacrifice themselves. Drawing on my doctoral dissertation, this lecture examines the legitimation, content, implementation, successes, failures, and resistance surrounding military-patriotic education, as well as the gender roles it constructs.

Seminar June 3: Parliamentary Buildings as Contested Spaces in Georgia and Ukraine: Power, Protest, and Legitimacy from the Soviet Era to Post-Independence

  By , ,

Parliamentary Buildings as Contested Spaces in Georgia and Ukraine: Power, Protest, and Legitimacy from the Soviet Era to Post-Independence

 RUCARR seminar with Lika Kobeshavidze

Lika Kobeshavidze is a Georgian political writer and analytical journalist specialising in EU policy and regional security in Europe. She is currently based in Lund, Sweden, pursuing advanced studies in European Studies.

Time: 3 June, 15:15-17:00
Place: Seminar room 9th floor, Niagara or online https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/62245882436

 Abstract:

This thesis explores the changing symbolic meanings of parliamentary buildings in Georgia and Ukraine. It focuses on how these spaces evolved from symbols of Soviet authority to main sites of resistance and political struggle through protest movements. The study offers a comparative analysis of Georgia and Ukraine through six key events that illustrate the symbolic transformation of the parliament buildings: the Georgian language protests and the Helsinki Group movement during the late Soviet era (1978–1988), the independence movements of 1989–1991 in both countries; the Rose Revolution in Georgia (2003), and the Orange Revolution in Ukraine (2004). The thesis uses Most Similar Systems Design (MSSD) to compare Ukraine and Georgia, two countries that share a common Soviet past and similar experiences with mass protests, although the state response and course of the events differ in detail. The analysis focuses on Henri Lefebvre’s idea of space as socially produced and Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic power, combined with discourse analysis methods by Norman Fairclough and Teun van Dijk. These theoretical frameworks allow a detailed analysis of how the discourse of the population, the language of protest, and the collective perception influence the change in the symbolic meaning of these spaces. By focusing on both the discursive and physical aspects of protests, the thesis emphasizes that these buildings are more than administrative centers and that during specific events, they change their symbolic meaning through the discourse and actions of the protesters. 

 

RUCARR seminar “Resilient Voices: Women Educators in Conflict Zones and Their Role in Rebuilding Societies” with Iryna Halasa, May 27

  By ,

Resilient Voices: Women Educators in Conflict Zones and Their Role in Rebuilding Societies

Dr Iryna Halasa, Associate Professor at West Ukrainian National University and British Academy Fellow and visiting scholar at King’s College London

Time: 27th May, 15:15-17:00
Place: Seminar room 9th floor, Niagara or online https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/64991963211

 

Bio

Iryna Halasa is an Associate Professor at West Ukrainian National University. She is currently a British Academy Fellow and visiting scholar at King’s College London, where she is working on her project “Researcher in Conflict: Maintaining Neutrality Amid Personal and National Crisis”. Her research examines how war impacts academic positionality, neutrality, and voice, particularly in the fields of linguistics and communication studies. Dr Halasa earned her PhD in Philology from Ivan Franko National University of L’viv in 2011. She is also leading the project “Resilient Voices: Women Educators in Conflict Zones and Their Role in Rebuilding Societies”, which explores the experiences of female educators in war-affected regions, focusing on education, gender, sociolinguistics, and post-conflict reconstruction. She is the author of the 2025 book Making War Visible: Language as a Weapon During Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine, which analyzes how language is used strategically in wartime discourse. Her academic experience is supported by numerous international fellowships and internships in the USA, the UK, Sweden, Hungary, Poland, and other countries.

Abstract

Education is a fundamental pillar of societal resilience and recovery, particularly in conflict-affected regions where the destruction of infrastructure, forced displacement, and psychological trauma disrupt learning. In these crises, women educators play a crucial yet often unrecognized role in maintaining access to education, fostering community stability, and shaping the post-conflict reconstruction process. Our project seeks to explore and document the contributions of Ukrainian female teachers during the full-scale invasion by Russia, highlighting their resilience, challenges, and impact on rebuilding societies through education. The problem our research addresses is the position of Ukrainian women educators and their vital role in sustaining education, supporting students, and fostering societal resilience amid military, economic, and personal crises. Armed conflicts affect education systems, leaving teachers – especially women – to navigate extreme challenges such as displacement, trauma, lack of resources, and threats to personal and family safety, all while maintaining their professional and caregiving responsibilities

 This project aims to uncover how female teachers navigate the immense challenges of teaching in Ukraine during wartime, shedding light on the strategies they employ to sustain education and provide stability in times of upheaval. By examining their approaches – both formal and informal – we seek to understand how they adapt curricula, foster resilience, and offer crucial emotional support to students facing war trauma. Beyond immediate survival, the project explores how women’s dedication lays the groundwork for healing future generations and shapes post-war societies through education and mentorship.