Suchergebnisse

This paper seeks to examine the COVID-19 crisis in Russia, France, Germany, and the UK, as covered by the Russian state media outlet RT (formerly Russia Today). I view the RT coverage through the prism of biopolitics and critical discourse analysis (CDA) to demonstrate multiple discrepancies in its "post-truth" knowledge production strategies. I argue that these strategies aim to expose the hybrid and controversial nature of biopolitical governance in Western democracies during the COVID-19 pandemic as they struggle to strike a balance between imposing social restrictions and safeguarding public health. I also show how the (post)liberal biopolitical debate on personal responsibility and state resilience in times of emergency could be applied by authoritarian regimes for self-description.

Abstract
This paper examines the discourse of PiS party in Poland as a form of biopolitical populism. I view this phenomenon as a specific style of political discourse rather than an ideology, that, first, focuses on bodily issues, including family and gender policy, sexual behavior, etc., second—it is inherently performative and as such it appeals to emotions, and, third—it directly communicates with "people" while circumventing the existing institutional framework of the state. Based on the cases of PiS rhetoric on the Smolensk catastrophe, and its narratives on gender and anti-LGBTQ issues, I demonstrate how the latter could be used for political othering and for subverting the core democratic principles. My data includes publications in Polish media and on social platforms (Twitter and Facebook), mostly before and after elections to European and national parliaments in May and October 2019, as well as during the presidential election in spring 2020.

This paper examines the discourse of PiS party in Poland as a form of biopolitical populism. I view this phenomenon as a specific style of political discourse rather than an ideology, that, first, focuses on bodily issues, including family and gender policy, sexual behavior, etc., second—it is inherently performative and as such it appeals to emotions, and, third—it directly communicates with "people" while circumventing the existing institutional framework of the state. Based on the cases of PiS rhetoric on the Smolensk catastrophe, and its narratives on gender and anti-LGBTQ issues, I demonstrate how the latter could be used for political othering and for subverting the core democratic principles. My data includes publications in Polish media and on social platforms (Twitter and Facebook), mostly before and after elections to European and national parliaments in May and October 2019, as well as during the presidential election in spring 2020.

The article examines the question of how the refugee crisis in Europe re-actualizes the existing national geopolitical narratives and affects the border-(re)drawing of European political communities. I particularly refer to the Estonian experience, which I examine through two different case studies. The first one focuses on the refugee issue as seen from the perspective of fostering a less nationalistic and more heterogeneous identity in Estonia, expressed in the language of contemporary art. The second one addresses the perceptions of the refugee debate by Russian speakers in Narva who directly relate this question to their personal experiences with integration into Estonian society since the fall of the Soviet Union. I analyse both issues within the framework of popular geopolitics that tackles cultural representations of territories, spaces, and identity politics from the viewpoint of vernacular, home-grown, and routine meanings, to bring this culturally focused approach to the foreground of research into politically sensitive phenomena.

1. 'There are more important things than where the border runs' : the other side of George Kennan's containment theory / Alexander Astrov -- 2. The crisis of spheres of influence in the EU-Russia relationship / Iain Andrew Ferguson -- 3. Borderline strategies : salibrated territorial expansionism in the game theory searchlight / Mikhail Alexseev -- 4. From 'colony' to 'failing state'? : Ukrainian sovereignty in the gaze of Russian foreign policy discourses / Aliaksei Kazharski -- 5. Reconsidering Western concepts of the Ukrainian conflict : the rise to prominence of Russia's 'soft force' policy / Stephen G.F. Hall -- 6. Rising powers in the contemporary world : sources of sustainability / Irina Busygina -- 7. Governmentality beyond the West : (post)political machineries in Ukraine and Russia / Alexandra Yatsyk -- 8. Managing national ressentiment : morality politics in Putin's Russia / Gulnaz Sharafutdinova -- 9. Stabilizing dispersed identities, or why politics defines EU-Russia disconnections / Andrey Makarychev.

Die Autoren untersuchen Identitäten in den postsowjetischen Grenzgebieten in der Ukraine, Estland und Russland seit dem Fall der Sowjetunion. Anstatt auf die großen geopolitischen Akteure richten sie den Fokus auf eine Vielzahl unterschiedlicher Akteure in den Grenzgebieten und Ihre verschiedenen kulturellen, ethnischen, religiösen und zivilisatorischen Strömungen.

The edited volume explains why sport mega events can be discussed from the viewpoint of politics and power, and what this discussion can add to the existing scholarship on political regimes, international norms, national identities, and cultural narratives. The book collects case studies written by insiders from different countries of post-Soviet Eurasia that have recently hosted- or intend to host in the future -sporting events of a global scale. Contributing authors discuss cultural, political, and economic strategies of host governments, examining them from the vantage point of an increasing shift of the global sport industry to non-Western countries. Mega-events often draw domestic lines of cultural and social exclusion within host's polities. It is these ruptures and gaps this volume explores, contributing to a better understanding of the intricate interconnections between global institutions and national identities