Dr. Elizaveta Kopacheva will present her thesis “The resource model of political participation 2.0: Protesting in semi-authoritarian regimes – A privilege of the privileged”, that she recently defended at Linnaeus University. Read the abstract here. Welcome!
When? Tuesday 13th of June, 15:15-17:00
Where: Zoom-link: https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/69779449463
Striving towards democracy? Political participation in post-Soviet countries by Viktor Tuzov, Ph.D Candidate in Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR
The formation of political systems in the post-Soviet region remains a relevant topic even thirty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Due to the social, economic and cultural factors, the political regimes continue to move from the general communist in the past towards different political futures dominated by authoritarian or democratic frames. Our study aims to analyze the patterns of political participation and political culture, focusing on the binary categorization of political regimes across post-Soviet countries and the impact of media trust. It focuses on eight post-soviet countries equally divided into authoritarian and hybrid political regimes using WVS/EVS 2017-2020 survey. The results highlight the importance of media in the formation of political participation habits across countries with unconsolidated democracy. The people with higher media trust tend to participate in non-institutional political actions less frequently but have a higher willingness to vote during the national elections. The freedom index has also been integrated into the research as a moderator due to the importance of freedom for the media to mobilize society. The moderation analysis has revealed the distinctive patterns of political participation in countries with lower and higher levels of freedom.
Prof. Oleksandr Potii, Brigadier General the Deputy Chairman of the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine since September 2020, will give a prsentation at the RUCARR seminar:
When: May 16, 15.16-17.00
Where: Zoom – https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/68914039402
Prof. Potii is an expert on information protection standards, on the development of personnel potential in the field of cyberdefense, and on the protection of critical information infrastructure, information security and cryptography. From 2019 to 2020, Deputy Chief Designer of Systems and Means of Cryptographic Information Protection at the Private Joint Stock Company “Institute of Information Technology”. From 2014 to 2019, Professor of Security Information Systems and Technologies, Faculty of Computer Science, the Kharkiv National University. Earlier served in the Air Force of Ukraine for 25 years.
Welcome to the RUCARR seminar on May 11, 10.00-11.30 with Ass.Prof. Edward Lemon, Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University and Dr Oleg Antonov, researcher at Södertörn University and RUCARR, Malmö University.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 led many analysts to predict that its role in Central Asia would decline. While there have been moments of pushback against Russia from the region’s governments, political, economic and security ties remain strong and resilient to change. At the same time, China is capitalizing on Russia’s distraction to make further inroads in Central Asia, becoming less deferential to Moscow, accelerating a trend that existed before February 2022. The speakers will discuss how the region is being affected by the war in Ukraine and what this tells us about the influence of Russia and China.
Dr. Edward Lemon is a Research Assistant Professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University. He previously held positions at the Wilson Center and Columbia University. His research focuses on Russia and China’s influence, authoritarianism and security in Central Asia
Dr. Oleg Antonov is a Researcher at the Department of Global Political Studies, the Faculty of Culture and Society, with Russia, Ukraine and the Caucasus Regional Research (RUCARR), Malmö University (supported by the Crafoord Foundation) ant at the same time a Researcher at the Department of Political Science, Södertörn University. His research focuses on authoritarian governance in Central Asia, in particular Russia and China’s influence in the region. He has previously held positions at Uppsala University, University of Amsterdam, University of Gothenburg, University of Heidelberg and University of Fribourg.
Very welcome to join our next RUCARR seminar on April 11 with Evgeny Romanovskiy, Charles University.
WHEN: April 11, 15.15-17.00
WHERE: Sign-up here for zoom link
The Caucasus has always been a mystical region for researchers not only from abroad, but also for Russians, where “traditional methods did not work.” Nevertheless, in this study, the author will lift the veil of the secrets of the formation and development of state policy in nation- and identity building in two republics of the North Caucasus: Chechnya and Dagestan. While Chechnya is a traditional mono-ethnic and mono-religious republic within Russia that has given rise to a “special” kind of nationalism, Dagestan is a «Babel tower of languages and cultures” that represents a different type of nationalism, or lack of it. While using modern social theories, the author of this study [in both cases] will try to prove that the Caucasus went through a difficult, but the same way of forming national identities as other regions of the Earth. This seminar will help to better understand the Caucasus, as well as the processes that took place and are taking place there and that have shaped the image of this region as we know it.
Welcome to next RUCARR seminar on March 21 with Dr Katrine Godfredsen, senior lecturer in Caucasus Studies at Malmö Unversity.
When: March 21, 15.15-17.00
Where: Sign-up here for zoom link (new link)
Zoom Meeting https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/67632369897 Meeting ID: 676 3236 9897
In this presentation I will outline some preliminary findings from recent ethnographic fieldwork in Georgia conducted as part of the research project “Occupied Intimacies: Borderization in Palestine, Georgia and Western Sahara”. The project as a whole is about contemporary military occupations and their effects on the everyday lives of people under their rule. It compares three cases of on-going and disputed military occupations: the Russian occupation of the Georgian territory of South Ossetia, the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara.
The Georgian case study explores local effects of Russian border-making practices, or “borderization”, between the occupied territory of South Ossetia and Tbilisi controlled territory. Through the installation of physical barriers and symbolic gestures, such as signposts, fences and patrolling border guards, a previously invisible and elastic administrative boundary line (ABL) is gradually being turned into a de-facto international border. Moreover, these activities are accompanied by instances of what is locally described as “creeping occupation” – the step-by-step moving of fences and barbed wire further into Georgian controlled land and seizing of more Georgian territory.
Borderization has grave effects on the lives and livelihoods of borderland village communities. Some families have already experienced being cut off, or displaced, from their native farmlands, gardens and orchards, and others live with the fear and risk that this might happen at any time. This ongoing uncertainty presents local families with a number of economic and social problems and dilemmas, but it also fosters innovative strategies of accommodation, negotiation and contestation. In this presentation, I will examine how, and to which effect, borderization as a tool of dominance and subordination affects and reconfigures local village communities and livelihoods.
Welcome to the RUCARR seminar “Needs and support for Ukrainian higher education in times of war: the Polish perspective” with Dr. Iryna Degtyarova, Senior Researcher in Polish Rectors Foundation, SGH Warsaw School of Economics Rector’s Representative for Cooperation with Ukrainian Universities.
When: February 13, 15-17 CET
Where: zoom link: https://mau-se.zoom.us/s/67633545052
For those of you who would like to join the seminar at campus: Seminar room at floor 9, Niagara building (Nordenskiöldsgatan 1)
Abstract
“At the seminar Iryna Degtyarova will present a multidimensional perspective of support of Ukrainian academia in times of war of aggression of russian federation against Ukraine. The systemic perspective will be shared through the lenses of the Polish-Ukrainian national rectors’ conferences’ cooperation within the project funded by the Polish Ministry of Education and Science. She will focus also on the Institutional university perspective of the response to the war and refugee crisis . As for individual level, the recent study about the situation of Ukrainian academics abroad and their needs will be discussed.”
Welcome to the RUCARR seminar with Ukrainian students Mariia Vashchenko and Zoriana Tsiupak.
When: February 8, 15.00-16.30.
Where: Zoom link https://mau-se.zoom.us/s/61691650885
For those of you who would like to join the seminar at campus: Seminar room at floor 9, Niagara building (Nordenskiöldsgatan 1)
Two Ukrainian students, staying in Malmö on a Swedish Institute scholarship, are going to hold a presentation about the situation in Ukraine in the context of the full scale russian invasion. They want to highlight some aspects of the current reality based on their personal experience and some statistical data found on the Internet. In their presentation they want to cover some challenges for Ukrainian citizens during the war time, including gender equality and social inclusion among other things. Moreover, the role of Lviv as a transit center of humanitarian aid and a refugees’ destination will be discussed.
Understandings of democracy and “good citizenship” in Ukraine: utopia for the people, participation in politics not required by Dr. Joanna Szostek, Lecturer in Political Communication, University of Glasgow
When: January 24th, 12:15-14:00 CET time
Where: Zoom-link: https://mau-se.zoom.us/j/63683894763
Description: This research presentation will explore how people in diverse peripheral regions of Ukraine understood democracy, their role as citizens in a democracy, and the meaning of “good citizenship” in 2021, the year before Russia’s full-scale invasion. Using thematic analysis of focus group discussions, the research demonstrates gaps and inconsistencies in the understandings of democracy articulated by participants. A utopian understanding of democracy was common, in which authorities are expected to “listen to the people” and keep them satisfied, but the need for government to manage conflicting interests is not recognized. Understandings of good citizenship are inclusive and pro-social, but mostly detached from institutional politics. Similarity was observed across regions in how democracy is understood in the abstract. However, the meaning ascribed to democracy often varied when discussion moved from the abstract to particular country examples – a finding relevant beyond the Ukrainian case, for survey-based research on public understandings of democracy more generally.
RUCARR online seminar with visiting researcher Alexandre Kukhianidze, Professor of Political Science, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University University (Georgia).
When: December 13, 15.15-17.00 CET (6.15-8.00 pm Tbilisi)
Where: Zoom link https://mau-se.zoom.us/s/62874227691
Abstract
The online seminar discusses how Russia’s attack on Ukraine in the early morning of February 24, 2022, led not only to a rethinking of international security and stability, of Russia’s entire policy towards its immediate neighbors, but also to international assessments of Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008. The war led to a complication in relations between the ruling “Georgian Dream” party and the Ukrainian leadership, influenced the relationship of the Georgian leadership with the political opposition and leading non-governmental organizations, as well as the relationship of the ruling party to the European Union and the United States. Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, the Georgian political opposition is increasingly accusing the political leadership of Georgia of pro-Russian orientation, rejection of European and Euro-Atlantic integration and insufficient assistance to Ukraine, attacks by individual representatives of the “Georgian Dream” on the ambassadors of the European Union, the United States and the leadership of Ukraine. Meanwhile, the scale of mass rallies held in Georgia in support of Ukraine and aimed at criticizing the Georgian leadership has sharply decreased by the autumn of 2022, which has an impact on the stability of the latter. Based on personal observations and analysis of the entire post-Soviet period in Georgia, the speaker explains the reasons for the behavior of the Georgian leadership and the public against the backdrop of Russia’s war in Ukraine.