Category: Countries

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.

 

 

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 

 

New publications by Dr Kamal Makili-Aliyev

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RUCARR researcher Dr Kamal Makili-Aliyev has recenly publised two new articles:

  • ‘The Perspective of Post-Soviet States on the Burqa Ban. A Study of the Delegalization of Religious Headwear in Post-Soviet States’, in Matwijkiw A. and Oriolo A. eds., Law, Cultural Studies and the Burqa Ban, Cambridge: Intersentia, 2021, pp. 329-348. (ISBN 978-1-83970-058-3) <https://bit.ly/3DgGffy> 
  • ‘The Role of Azerbaijan in the Non-Aligned Movement Through the Lens of International Law and Security’, in Dimitrijević D. and Čavoški J. eds., The 60th Anniversary of the Non-Aligned Movement, Belgrade: Institute of International Politics and Economics, 2021, pp. 359-370. (ISBN 978-86-7067-283-3) <https://doi.org/10.18485/iipe_60nam.2021.ch20>

Seminar with Dr. Nino Antadze – October 19

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The role of traditional rituals in resisting energy injustice: The case of hydropower developments in Svaneti, Georgia

RUCARR seminar with Dr. Nino Antadze (University of Prince Edward Island)

October 19, 3.15 pm (zoom)

Sign-up here

Abstract

This study with co-author Kety Gujaraidze intervenes in the energy justice literature by bringing to the foreground the local, emplaced, and bottom-up perspective. We specifically explore the potential of place-based agency, expressed in the form of traditional rituals, to expand the repertoire of extra-institutional means of resistance against various manifestations of energy injustice. We investigate the recent developments in the hydropower sector in the Svaneti region of the Republic of Georgia. Based on a qualitative research design involving personal interviews and document analysis, we explain how and why the traditional ritual of taking the oath of unity on the icon of St. George has been used to oppose hydropower developments, and how the employment of this extra-institutional action is linked to the changed political opportunity structure. In addition to underscoring the need to recognize and respect the cultural and religious importance assigned to traditional rituals by local communities, the findings of our study imply a need to consider traditional rituals not merely as symbolic or/and performative means of resistance, but also as political tools that may have a significant impact on the development of energy projects.

Bio

Dr. Nino Antadze is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island (Canada). Dr. Antadze studies environmental planning processes with the emphasis on environmental and energy justice, and large-scale environmental change with the focus on climate justice and just transitions. Dr. Antadze earned a PhD in urban and regional planning from the University of Waterloo, Canada. She also holds an MSc in Environmental Management and Policy from Lund University, Sweden and an MSc in Environmental Sciences and Policy from Central European University, Hungary.

Bokpresentation med Kalle Kniivilä

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Journalisten och författaren Kalle Kniivilä presenterar i samtal med Bo Petersson (RUCARR) sin bok Putins värsta fiende : Aleksej Navalnyj och hans anhängare. Boken utkommer den 7 juni på bokförlaget Atlas.

Tid: Tisdag 8 juni, 15:00 – 16:30  (på svenska / in Swedish)

Om boken: Putins värsta fiende : Aleksej Navalnyj och hans anhängare

Den 20 augusti 2020 förgiftades den ledande ryske oppositionspolitikern Aleksej Navalnyj med ett militärt nervgift som nästan tog hans liv. Den ryska säkerhetstjänsten stod bakom mordförsöket, vars uppenbara syfte var att bli av med den jobbiga mannen som inte låtit sig tystas. När Navalnyj envisades med att inte dö försökte makthavarna tvinga honom att stanna utomlands och förvandla honom till ännu en marginaliserad regimkritiker i exil. Men han återvände till Ryssland, trots att han visste att Vladimir Putin i så fall kan låta bura in honom så länge han vill. Varför är han inte rädd och varför måste han tvunget återvända till Ryssland? Och framför allt, varför är Vladimir Putin rädd för honom, om det nu är så att majoriteten av ryssarna fortfarande tycker att Putin gör ett bra jobb, medan bara ett fåtal aktivt stödjer Navalnyj? Vem är egentligen Navalnyj och vilka är hans anhängare? Det är några av frågorna den här boken försöker ge svar på.

Läs mer om boken och Kalle Kniivilä

RUCARR Seminar with Dr. Igor Istomin

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Limits of Commitment: Responses of Junior Allies to Hegemonic Entrapment

Dr. Igor Istomin, Associate Professor, MGIMO University and Davis Senior Fellow, Harvard University, will give the presentation Limits of Commitment: Responses of Junior Allies to Hegemonic Entrapment at the RUCARR seminar on May 18, 3.15-5 pm (zoom, CET). Sign-up link

Abstract

 Entrapment represents an inevitable concern for states in alliances. Junior allies are especially exposed to the demands for support from a hegemonic patron on whose benevolence they rely. In this regard, the paper seeks to examine strategies that they use to avoid entrapment by a great power. It draws attention to the manipulation with the salience of their response as a source of leverage. The author argues that junior allies are more likely to pursue low-level evasion from pressure by their hegemonic patron than to demonstrate resolve through loud signaling. By capitalizing on the entry points into the decision-making of a great power, small states rely on quiet diplomacy rather than public statements to express their concerns. Only if they view a hegemonic patron as intransigent, they embarrass it with their high-profile defection. The paper poses these theoretical claims against empirical record in four cases, which include the refusal of several NATO Member States to support the U.S.-led intervention in Iraq in 2003, the opposition of Belarus to the Russian military base on its territory in 2015, the abstention of Israel from Western sanctions towards Moscow in 2014 and the lack of contribution by the CSTO Member States to the Russian operation in Syria in 2017. Within-case analysis on all four instances illuminates the causal logic connecting the salience of the response by small states to the intransigence of a hegemonic patron, while refuting several alternative explanations.

Short Bio

Igor Istomin is an Associate Professor, Department of Applied International Political Analysis, MGIMO University, and Senior Fellow, Davis Center, Harvard University. He holds Ph.D. and M.A. degrees from MGIMO as well as undergraduate degree from St. Petersburg State University. Igor Istomin teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in applied foreign policy analysis and international relations theory. He also delivered lectures and talks in several institutions, such as Columbia University, Fletcher School at Tufts University, Georgetown University, Harvard University (all U.S.) and Jilin University (China). Igor Istomin is an executive editor at the Mezhdunarodnye Protsessy (International Trends), a leading Russian academic journal.

Seminar with Erica Marat: The Politics of Police Reform

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The Politics of Police Reform: Society against the State in Post-Soviet Countries

When: April 20, 3.15-5.00 CET

Where: Sign up here for Zoom link

Dr. Erica Marat is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Regional and Analytical Studies Department at the College of International Security Affairs, National Defence University. She has previously directed Homeland Defense Fellowship Program at CISA.

Dr. Marat’s research focuses on violence, mobilization and security institutions in Eurasia, India, and Mexico. During our seminar, she will present her book – The Politics of Police Reform: Society against the State in Post-Soviet Countries. What does it take to reform a post-Soviet police force? Across the region, the countries inherited remarkably similar police forces with identical structures, chains of command, and politicized relationships with the political elite. Centralized in control but decentralized in their reach, the police remain one of the least reformed post-communist institutions. As a powerful state organ, the Soviet-style militarized police have resisted change despite democratic transformations in the overall political context, including rounds of competitive elections and growing civil society. This book explores the conditions in which a meaningful transformation of the police is likely to succeed and when it will fail. Based on the analysis of five post-Soviet countries (Ukraine, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan) that have officially embarked on police reform efforts, the book examines various pathways to transforming how the state relates to society through policing. It develops a new understanding of both police and police reform. Departing from the conventional interpretation of the police as merely an institution of coercion, this study defines it as a medium for state-society consensus on the limits of the state’s legitimate use of violence. Police are, according to a common Russian saying, a “mirror of society”—serving as a counterweight to its complexity. Police reform, in turn, is a process of consensus-building on the rationale of the use of violence through discussions, debates, media, and advocacy.

Seminar April 9 – The process of restoration of Georgia’s statehood

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This year marks 30 years since the 1991 referendum on the restoration Georgia’s statehood and the following declaration of independence. The years 1988-91 were a period of profound changes in the republics of the Soviet Union, subsequently leading up to the dissolution of the USSR at the end of 1991. In the RUCARR seminar on April 9 the presenters Merab Chukhua and Tina Tskhovrebadze approach and discuss the process of restoration of Georgia’s statehood from two perspectives:

From the 9th of April to the 9th of  April – a brief glance

Dr. Merab Chukhua was active in the national movement in Soviet Georgia during the last years of the Soviet Union and is currently Professor of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Department of Caucasiology, and also Director of the Circassian Culture Center (Tbilisi).

Politics of Memory in the Process of Georgian Statehood Restoration

Tina Tskhovrebadze is a PhD Candidate at the Dept of Political Science Tbilisi State University and currently working as a research assistant in the project Politics of Memory in Georgia in 1988-1991 at the Institute of Political Science. She a former visiting PhD Candidate to Caucasus Studies, Malmö University.

When:  April 9 13.15–15.00 (Zoom, CET, Swedish time).

Special thanks to Chargé d’affaires Levan Machavariani of the Embassy of  the Republic of Georgia to Sweden for his kind contribution in the organisation of this event and introduction to the seminar.

Merab Chukhua: From the 9th of April to the 9th of  April – a brief glance

 

Tina Tskhovrebadze: Politics of Memory in the Process of Georgian Statehood Restoration