European Studies: A Deficit of New Approaches
Guess what panel was the largest at a major conference on European studies held in Passau, Germany? Quite tellingly, it was on EU–China relations. As Fraser Cameron, the director of…
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Russia
2419 posts
Russia’s Soft Power: Beyond Kalinka-Malinka
This past weekend I had a rare chance to observe Russia’s soft power in action: Gandermenmarket, one of the most beautiful squares in Germany (at least, this is what…
Away with Political Simulacra?
What Russia and the EU share, even having drifted apart from each other in most policy spheres, are unfulfilled (or simply wrong) expectations. Indeed, intensive discourse on Russia’s European…
Talking about Talking: A Socio-Linguistic Look at Russia and its Neighbors
For socio-linguists everything matters – private ads hanging on the fences, street signs, media commercials, election posters, and even football fans’ exclamations. This made the Socio-Linguistic Symposium “Language and…
Visual Representations, Pussy Riot, and Putin’s Hatred for Politics
If you need a short and comprehensible answer to the question of why Russia is not like the rest of Europe, look at the “Pussy Riot” trial. Perhaps the group…
Sports and Olympian Politics
Perhaps, the most striking paradox of the London Olympic Games is that in spite of the much-discussed commercialization they leave much space for politics. For Britain, the Games bear…
Ending Bilateral U.S.-Russian Strategic Arms Control
For more than 40 years, negotiators from Moscow and Washington have engaged in countless meetings about strategic arms control. Several bilateral agreements resulted from these talks during the Cold War,…
The New European Missile Defense Architecture: Is There a Place for Ukraine?
U.S. President Barack Obama rejected his predecessor’s proposed ballistic missile defense system in Europe and substituted it with a localized theater system. This was generally understood to be a significant…
Sochi Surprise: Imagining Change in Moscow’s Caucasus Policy
Let us imagine… at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the United Nations Secretary General announces a new peace deal for the Caucasus, surprising everyone. The…
The ‘Hidden Hand’ of External Enemies: The Use of Conspiracy Theories by Putin’s Regime
Deploying and seeking to capitalize on conspiracy theories is fairly common among political actors worldwide. Explaining some events as the result of an internal or external opponent’s sinister plans can…