Suchergebnisse

The author and journalist Morten Jentoft reviews the book Herring in Fur Coat – 20 Years in Putin's Shadow, written by Kristoffer Lieng.

Abstract: On the Historiography of Zubov et al.'s History of Russia in the 20th CenturyAround 2009, a certain Kremlin-sanctioned Vergangenheitsbewältigung of Russia's Soviet past developed. A case in point is the collective two-volume work edited by Andrei B. Zubov, Istoriya Rossii. XX vek, published in 2009. Societal agency is said to be stressed over structural forces, but it is mainly the agency of Lenin, Stalin and later Soviet leaders that is analyzed. The narrative of the times before Stalin's ascent to power emphasizes repression, terror and planned famine as precursors of the totalitarian excesses under Stalin (1923–1953). The originality of Zubov's historiography is evident in his approach to the Great Fatherland War of 1941–1945, which Zubov refers to as The Soviet–Nazi War. Further, the narrative of the Cold War era culminates in an 'imperial overstretch' theory about the Soviet collapse. However, Zubov has been vehemently criticized for lack of critical rigor; his work represents an awkward mix of liberal enlightenment and obscurantism in its veneration of the fascistoid thinker Ilyin. Today Russia officially operates with one historical truth about the years 1941–45 and is hereby distancing itself from scholars like Zubov.

Abstract: Political Culture in the Baltic States. Between National and European IntegrationEglė Kesylytė-Alliks (researcher at Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University) reviews Political Culture in the Baltic States. Between National and European Integration written by Kjetil Duvold, Sten Berglund and Joakim Ekman.

Political Culture in the Baltic States: Between National and European Integration är en gedigen studie av demokratins ställning i de baltiska staterna och den kritiska roll som etniska skiljelinjer kan ha i demokratiseringprocesser. Den har mycket att erbjuda både områdesspecialister och läsare med ett mer allmänt intresse för demokrati och politisk kultur.
Political Culture in the Baltic States: Between National and European Integration is a thorough study of the situation of democracy in the Baltic states, and the critical role of ethnic cleavages in processes of democratization. It has much to offer to area specialists as well as to readers more generally interested in democracy and political culture.

Abstract: Narrating Otherness in Poland and Sweden – European Heritage as a Discourse of Inclusion and ExclusionJørn Holm-Hansen reviews the anthology Narrating Otherness in Poland and Sweden – European Heritage as a Discourse of Inclusion and Exclusion edited by Krzysztof Kowalski, Łucja Piekarska-Duraj & Barbara Törnquist-Plewa.

Abstract: An East-West divide in late-life wellbeing in Europe? A comparative study of 12 countries This study explores late-life loneliness and depression in European countries, noting the role of micro-level differences in socioeconomic status, health, and social variables. Findings from cross-sectional, nationally representative data from 12 countries and 36,000 individuals in the Generations and Gender Survey show a marked East–West divide among older but not among younger adults. Among older adults (aged 60–80) loneliness and depression are as much as three to four times more prevalent in Eastern European (20–40%) than in Northwest European countries (10–15%). These patterns reflect economic, social, and societal issues which in turn affect the conditions for active and healthy aging. There is considerable variation among Eastern European countries, correlating with macro-level economic development and welfare spending. Generous welfare states seem to offer a buffer against, or postpone, the risk of late-life depression and loneliness. Cultural factors may also play a role: because of high expectations as to strong family and community ties, Eastern Europeans may have a lower loneliness threshold than other Europeans.

Abstract: We Were the People. Meetings with Eastern Europeans 30 Years After the Fall of the Berlin WallMette Skak (Aarhus University) reviews Vi var folket. Møde med østeuropæerne 30 år efter Murens fald (We Were the People. Meetings with Eastern Europeans 30 Years After the Fall of the Berlin Wall) written by Thomas Ubbesen and Anne Haubek.

Abstract in English: Close and Distant. Political Executive-Media Relations in Four CountriesElin Strand Larsen reviews Close and Distant. Political Executive-Media Relations in Four Countries. Edited by Karl Magnus Johansson and Gunnar Nygren, the book is based on a three-year long research project and analysis of the relationship between politicians, press secretaries and journalists in four countries – Finland, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden. By conducting thorough, well-coordinated research and numerous research interviews (20–25 from each country), the research group has studied the interplay between government and media in the period 2014–2017. The anthology contains four country-specific chapters, as well as the following cross-national themes: government communication, social media, source-journalist relationships, mediatisation and political communication cultures.

Migration and Hybrid Political Regimes: Navigating the Legal Landscape in Russia by Rustram Urinboyev (University of California Press 2021) is reviewed by Anna-Liisa Heusala, of the University of Helsinki, Aleksanteri Institute - Finnish Centre for Russian and East European Studies.

Martin Kragh, Deputy Director of the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies (SCEEUS) and Senior Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, reviews Ingerid M. Opdahl's book, The Russian State and Russian Energy Companies, 1992–2018 (Routledge, 2020).

Abstract: Russia as Civilization: Ideological Discourses in Politics, Media, and AcademiaPål Kolstø (University of Oslo, Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages) reviews Russia as Civilization: Ideological Discourses in Politics, Media, and Academia, edited by Kåre Johan Mjør and Sanna Turoma (Routledge, 2020).

Abstract: Who is responsible for the protection of human rights in Kosovo?Human rights are central in the international community's missions in Kosovo. Moreover, Kosovo's 2008 Constitution lists eight directly applicable human rights instruments, along with detailed instructions on how they are to be interpreted in line with developments at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). And yet, human rights protection is lacking in the region. Potential violations attributable to the local authorities can be adjudicated, but only through the national courts, which raises questions of independence and impartiality. Meanwhile, NATO's Kosovo Force (KFOR) and the European Union's Rule of Law Programme (EULEX) enjoy immunity against prosecution by the domestic courts while still wielding some executive and judicial power. EULEX has an internal human rights panel, modelled on the less-than-successful panel established to hold the UN's Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) accountable, while KFOR has no similar judicial body. This article maps which options individuals have for addressing human rights violations in Kosovo and where the system still has its weaknesses. Additionally, it traces how the jurisdictions have changed in the past 15 years and proposes a way forward to fill the lacunae that remains.

Abstract: 'Have we ever been European?' Everyday reflections from Russia on the gender and sexuality 'culture wars'Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in European Russia, Jeremy Morris examines everyday attitudes to homosexuality in Russia, and the linkage to an understanding of terpimost (or 'tolerantnost') – 'tolerance' – as an insincere 'Euro-American' attitude. In this companion-piece to work focusing on male homophobia and conservative attitudes to childrearing (Morris & Garibyan, 2021), the focus is on how women describe their experience of same-sex relations and their heteronormative attitudes towards what they understand as 'non-normative' sexuality. Whereas the influence of Russia's state-led policy of conservatism is reflected in everyday talk – especially in relation to the idea that Euro-American values of permissiveness and 'tolerance' are misplaced – the findings reveal more nuanced ideas 'from below' about cultural differences between Russia and the putatively 'other' Europe. The article further notes the volatility and variance in survey methods that seek to measure 'intolerance' and cultural difference. They can exacerbate what, as Katherina Wiedlack and others have pointed out, is a colonial and orientalizing discourse that features an 'enlightened' West and a 'passive, backward' East. This article shows how 'intolerance' and acceptance of non-normative sexuality in Russia do not differ greatly from the situation in comparable societies of the global North.

This article begins by examining strategic culture studies, in particular Alan Bloomfield's concept of different sub-cultures in strategic culture. It then focuses on the border between Russia and Finland and how Finnish EU membership was made possible by Finland's decision not to challenge the WWII border treaty with the Soviet Union after the Soviet collapse. Next, it investigates the debates and public opinion relating to Finland's 1994 EU referendum, to see how the dynamics changed three strategic cultural sub-groups: "self-defence", "Westernisers" (including Western international organizations) and "Reassurance and Dialogue with Russia". In conclusion, it is argued that EU membership altered the hierarchy of these strategic culture sub-groups in Finland, as well as their substance. These changes were, however, more evolutionary than revolutionary.

Boken er en personlig beretning om Russland og russere skrevet av en pioneerene innen nordisk østforskning. Bokens hovedtese er at sovjetisk mentalitet aldri døde ut og nå i økende grad tar over, men at de autoritære tendensene tross alt møtes av et annet Russland av intellektuelle, dissidenter og bloggere hvis betydning ikke bør undervurderes.
This book is a personal tour d'horizon written by one of the pioneers and mainstays of Nordic Soviet, Russian and East European studies through the last half century. The main thesis of the book is that Soviet mindsets never died and are in the ascendant to day, but that there also exists another Russia of intellectuals, dissident and bloggers whose impirtance should not be underestimated.