Category: Russia

RUCARR Thesis Award 2024 awarded to Johan Richter

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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.

RUCARR seminar with Prof. Irina Busygina, Oct 15

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Welcome to the seminar with Prof. Irina Busygina on October 15, the seminar room, 9th floor, Niagara:

Russia’s War against Ukraine: Implications on Russia’s Territorial Stability

Professor Irina Busygina is a Research Fellow at Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University and Researcher at the Center of Eastern European and International Studies (ZoiS) in Berlin. She previously worked as Professor of Comparative Politics at the Department of Political Science and International Relations (Higher School of Economics at Saint Petersburg, Russia) and headed the Center for Comparative Governance Studies. Her research interests include comparative federalism and decentralization, Russian domestic and foreign policy, Russia-EU relations.

Her latest publications include “Center-regional relations in Russia”. In: Routledge Handbook of Russian Politics and Society. Ed. by Graeme Gill. UK: Routledge, 2023 (with Mikhail Filippov); “Ready to Protest? Explaining Protest Potential in Russian Regional Capitals.” Regional and Federal Studies”, published online January 2023 (with Ekaterina Paustyan); “Pandemic Decentralization: COVID-19 and Principal–Agent Relations in Russia.” Problems of Post-Communism, Published online: 14 Sep 2022 (with Stanislav Klimovich). Her last book (coauthored by Mikhail Filippov) is “Non-Democratic Federalism and Decentralization in Post-Soviet States” (UK: Routledge 2024).

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Journalist Johanna Melén presents her new book “Imperiehunger”

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Welcome to a presentation in Swedish at RUCARR by Johanna Melén, foreign correspondent at Sveriges Radio:

Johanna Melén besöker RUCARR vid Institutionen för Globala politiska studier för att berätta om sin bok “Imperiehunger : Putins storryska drömmar och ett nyvaknat motstånd”.

När: 10 september, 15-17
Var: Seminarierummet, vån 9, Niagara, eller Zoom, https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/68024609948

Det här är en bok om de självständiga länder som genom historien dominerats av Ryssland och som fortfarande drygt tre decennier sedan Sovjetunionens fall kämpar för att ses som något annat än före detta sovjetrepubliker.

Vladimir Putin har byggt sitt politiska varumärke kring att återskapa bilden av Ryssland som en stormakt, därtill med en tusenårig historia. Länderna som tidigare levde under rysk hegemoni har behövt förhålla sig till det. När det storskaliga anfallskriget mot Ukraina inleddes väcktes en rädsla bland flera postsovjetiska länder för att stå näst på tur. Men också en växande insikt om vikten av att värna sin autonomi, sitt språk, sin nationella kultur som något oavhängigt den ryska.

I Imperiehunger rör sig Johanna Melén mellan Armenien, Azerbajdzjan, Belarus, Georgien, Kazakstan, Moldavien, Tadzjikistan och Ukraina. Hon beskriver utvecklingen i respektive land och hur relationen till Ryssland har förändrats sedan februari 2022. Boken ger också en historisk tillbakablick över både kommuniståren och den tidiga historien för att ge en djupare förståelse kring rysk imperialism då – och nu.

Johanna Melén är Sveriges Radios korrespondent i Östeuropa. Hon debuterade 2021 med Mina ryska vänner: en berättelse om Putins Ryssland.

Seminar May 21, 15:15-17:00: The inefficiency of EU leverage in Serbia during the Russia-Ukraine war

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The inefficiency of EU leverage in Serbia during the Russia-Ukraine war, Branislav Radeljić

When: May 21, 15.15-17:00 CET
Where: Zoom link https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/69865873540

The war in Ukraine has exposed a rift between Serbia and the Brussels administration. Serbia has been accused of aligning itself with Russia as opposed to the strictly pro-Ukrainian EU. In this talk, Prof. Radeljić will look at the nature of EU–Serbia relations, with a particular focus on (a) the relevance of EU norms and values as policy tools, (b) the foreign policy of Serbia under the Progressivists and the regime of Aleksandar Vučić, and (c) the rising influence of Russia and China in the Western Balkan region, which has been undermining the EU’s push for democratization and Europeanization.

Branislav Radeljić is Professor of International Relations in the Department of Government and Society, United Arab Emirates University. In addition, he serves as Visiting Professor of European Politics at Nebrija University. His scholarly interests focus on European and Middle Eastern political and socioeconomic developments. 

Seminar May 7 “Empire of Refugees: North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State” with Dr Hamed-Troyansky

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RUCARR seminar with Dr. Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky, Ass. Prof. of Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara:

Empire of Refugees: North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State

 

When: May 7, 17.00-18.15 CET

Where: zoom https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/62352627321

Between the 1850s and World War I, about one million Muslims from the Russian Empire’s North Caucasus region sought refuge in the Ottoman Empire. In his new book, Empire of Refugees: North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State, Dr. Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky examines how Circassian, Chechen, Dagestani, and other refugees transformed the late Ottoman Empire and how the Ottoman government managed Muslim refugee resettlement. Empire of Refugees argues that, in response to Muslim migrations from Russia, the Ottoman government created a refugee regime, which predated refugee systems set up by the League of Nations and the United Nations. The book also revises our understanding of how Russia used migration policies to govern the Caucasus and its Muslim populations.

Bio

Dr. Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky is a historian of global migration and forced displacement and Assistant Professor of Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research examines Muslim refugee migration and its role in shaping the modern world. He is the author of Empire of Refugees: North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State (Stanford University Press, 2024). His articles appeared in Past & Present, Comparative Studies in Society and History, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Slavic Review, and Kritika. He received a Ph.D. in History from Stanford University and served as a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University.

Seminar with Prof Stefan Hedlund, May 28

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Ukraine, Russia and the West

When Value Promotion Met Hard Power

Professor Stefan Hedlund, Uppsala University, Institue for Russian and Eurasian Studies

When: May 28, 15.15-16.30
Where: K3 Studio, C Area, 5th floor, Niagara building, Nordenskiöldsgatan 1
Zoom: https://mau-se.zoom.us/s/65067842259

Why did Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine come as such a surprise to the West? This is the key question considered in this broad-ranging book. It argues that Russia and the West had been playing different games: while Russia under Putin had become obsessed with using hard power to restore the Cold War security architecture in Europe, the major Western powers had become equally obsessed with value promotion that allegedly would ensure a global triumph for the values of the West, touted as “universal values.” While the Russian play for a sphere of interest was clearly defined and demarcated, the Western play for values was by definition without limits. Hence there could be no common ground and no common understanding. When push came to shove, Russian hard power trumped Western value promotion – and Ukraine was left to pay the price.

March 26th, 15:15-17:00 double seminar with Oguzhan Mutluer and Nino Javakhishvili & Nino Butsashvili

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Double seminar, March 26,  15.15–17.00

Where: Seminar room, 8th floor, C 0826, Niagara buidling (alternatelively, zoom https://mau-se.zoom.us/s/67806213523

15:15-16:00: Research on the Films of the Russian-Ukrainian War

Oğuzhan Mutluer holds a Doctoral degree from İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University, International Relations. Currently, he is a research assistant at Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Turkey. His research interests include films & politics, memory politics, the history of Soviet and post-Soviet Russian cinema, and contemporary Russian politics.

Abstract

The Russian-Ukrainian War has been one of the critical conflicts in world politics in the last decade and the latest invasion stage has been the most significant military conflict in Europe since the end of the Second World War. While the impact of the conflict on world politics is particular in terms of power politics, perceptions of the war also have a substantial part for both sides. Cultural mediums may affect perceptions to mobilize the masses and make them experience conflict throughout a narrative. The main topic of my research is to analyze the Russian-Ukrainian War-based films to understand the perceptions of each side. For this purpose, I will ask, “How has the crisis been represented in the national cinemas of Ukraine and Russia?” as a question. I claim that the visual discourse on the big screen may help us to understand perceptions and motivations about the war as films can represent, construct and modify reality. In the first step of the research, I will focus on Russian and Ukrainian film politics. Then, I will categorize the films through their genres. In the next stage, I will analyze the films using sociological, political-ideological and historical analysis, semiotics, auteur analysis and genre analysis. The main goal of the research is to find similar or contradicting patterns in both Ukrainian and Russian films depicting the conflict.

 

16:00:-17:00: Contestation but not Euroscepticism: economic and security concerns and the fear of losing national traditions in Georgia

 

Presenter – Nino Javakhishvili is a full professor of psychology at the School of Arts and Sciences and director of D. Uznadze Institute of Psychology at Ilia State University. She is widely published locally and internationally and her research and teaching focus are intergroup relations, identity formation and gender equality, among others.

Co-author – Nino Butsashvili, PhD in psychology, is a research assistant at D. Uznadze Institute of Psychology at Ilia State University. She is involved in several research projects, including studies which focus on intergroup relations and identity formations.

Abstract

This paper examines the role of utilitarian, political and cultural/identity-based factors of Euroscepticism on a nationwide representative sample of ethnic Georgians (dataset from the study of “Knowledge of and attitudes toward the EU in Georgia, 2021”). Hierarchical multiple logistic regression showed that for ethnic Georgians, utilitarian factors are the strongest predictors of support for the EU integration, followed by cultural/identity and political variables, supporting the rational choice theory. These predictors are, in turn, anteceded by popular perceptions of the EU in Georgia. Mediation analysis revealed that the perception of the EU as a source of peace and security precedes the hope for an increase in national security with its support (political predictor). Likewise, the perception of the EU as a champion of the economic development antecedes the hope for reduced poverty in Georgia (utilitarian predictor). These consequences, in turn, lead to decision to vote for the EU membership. On the other hand, the perception of the EU as a threat to national traditions does not predict Euroscepticism. We elaborate on this result through an examination of the current political atmosphere of Georgia, where we determine that fears of losing national traditions are outweighed by fears of economic and political insecurity.

 

RUCARR seminar with Doctoral Fellow Natalia Iost – March 12

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The Influence of Critical Junctures with Russian Involvement on its Standing in the Baltic States. The Analysis of Narratives and Public Perceptions

When: March 12, 2024, 15.15-16.30
Where: Niagara building, 9th floor, seminar room (zoom: https://mau-se.zoom.us/s/64204938730)

Natalia Iost studied political science and Jewish theology in the Universities of Heidelberg, Stuttgart, and the University of Jewish Studies. Today, she is a Doctoral Fellow in the University of Greifswald’s International Research Training Group: Baltic Peripeties – Narratives of Reformations, Revolutions, and Catastrophes.

Abstract

Critical junctures with Russian involvement have always affected the security situation in the Baltic states. The Russian-Georgia War (2008), the Annexation of Crimea (2014), as well as the beginning of the Russian-Ukraine War in 2022 caused a splash in security narratives, which increasingly depict Russia as the main threat. In my analysis, I apply securitization theory to show how critical junctures such as international crises and wars influenced the securitization of Russia in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in the last 30 years. I will answer the questions of how exactly the depictions of Russia changed in the security narratives of the Baltic states in the aftermath of the international crises. Which Russia-related issues started to be perceived as a threat? And which strategies were discussed to combat the threats? In the next step, I will analyze the changes in public attitudes towards Russia in all BSR countries. I claim that critical junctures with Russian involvement considerably influenced security narratives and public attitudes in the Baltic states and the whole Baltic Sea region, shifting Russia to the very center of security concerns.

RUCARR Seminar with Prof. Vladimir Gel’man, November 28

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Prof. Vladimir Gel’man: Why Russia Fails: Origins of the Ukrainian Catastrophe

You are welcome to attend a lecture by Vladimir Gelman, professor at Aleksanteriinstitutet, University of Helsiniki, and new member of RUCARR’s Advisory Board. He will talk about ‘Why Russia Fails: Origins of the Ukrainian Catastrophe’, which also is the subjet of his coming book. The event is a collaboration with Global Europe & International Cooperation (GEIC).

Vladimir Gelman’s areas of expertise include Russian and post-Soviet politics and governance. This knowledge is applied in a theoretical and comparative perspective with a special emphasis on political regime dynamics, political institutions, policy-making, electoral and party politics, regional, and local government.

His most recent book isThe Politics of Bad Governance in Contemporary Russia (University of Michigan Press, 2022). Previous works include Authoritarian Russia: Analyzing Post-Soviet Regime Changes (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015) and Authoritarian Modernization in Russia: Ideas, Institutions, and Policies (Routledge, 2017). He also authored scholarly articles in Post-Soviet Affairs, International Political Science Review, East European Politics, and other journals.

When: November 28, 15-17

Where: Niagara, K3 Studio 5th floor, C0541

Please, sign up here by Nov 27

Visit from the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul

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Roundtable at Malmö University on the topic of “The Caucasus between Turkey and Russia” at the annual meeting of the Research Collegium of the Swedish Research Institute , Istanbul (https://srii.org/), hosted by RUCARR.

Presenters: PhD Candidate Michel Anderlini, Dr George Mchedlishvili, Dr Natia Gamkrelidze, Dr Kamal Makili-Aliyev, Prof. Karina Vamling. Moderator: Prof. Bo Petersson.