Suchergebnisse

Using Indonesia, one of the leading voices in the so-called Global South, I trace the diverse narratives of non-Western elites on interpreting the war in Ukraine, the relationship between Russia and the "non-Western" world, and the NATO factors. The lack of knowledge about Russia and Ukraine, coupled with the strong anti-Western sentiment, has created a more proRussian sentiment in the Indonesian narratives about the war. This tendency was made stronger by the postcolonial thinking in Indonesian elite discourse, creating an 'understander' narrative rooted in the local postcolonial history instead of being driven by external, material factors.

Tulisan ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan secara singkat respons awal pemerintahan Rusia, di bawah pemerintahan Putin, terhadap krisis pandemi Covid-19 sejak awal Januari sampai dengan awal September ketika Rusia meluncurkan vaksin Sputnik V. Penulis berargumen bahwa respons Rusia memiliki karakteristik khas: dualitas antara pendekatan santai disertai dengan segala bentuk disinformasi serta kontranarasi dalam kerangka muslihat strategis untuk mencapai tujuan. Pola respons yang santai sejak awal telah ditampilkan oleh pemerintahan Rusia, ditandai dengan keengganan menetapkan situasi darurat sejak awal dan upaya menutupi informasi mengenai kasus positif. Pola ini lantas berlanjut dalam bentuk langkah strategis yang diambil yaitu pendelegasian kewenangan kepada pemerintah lokal dan regional. Strategi yang menurunkan resiko bagi pemerintah ini ternyata mendorong turunnya legitimasi dari rezim, sehingga pemerintah melakukan upaya tambahan dengan melakukan muslihat strategis: disinformasi dan propaganda domestik serta upaya memunculkan kontranarasi di level global demi amannya legitimasi internal rezim dan tercapainya posisi Rusia sebagai pemimpin alternatif di dunia. Kata-kata kunci: COVID-19, Rusia, rezim Putin, pendekatan santai, muslihat strategis This paper aims to describe the initial responses of the Russian government, under Putin's administration, to the Covid-19 pandemic from early January to early September 2020 when Russia launched the Sputnik V vaccine. The author argues that Russia's responses have distinctive characteristics: a duality between laid-back approaches accompanied by all forms of disinformation and counter-narrative in the framework of strategic deception. The Russian government has displayed a laid-back pattern of responses from the start, marked by a reluctance to establish emergencies and the efforts to cover up information regarding positive cases. This pattern then continues in the form of strategic steps taken, which is the delegation of authority to local and regional governments. This strategy, while lowering the risks for the government, precipitated the decline of the legitimacy of the regime. The government then makes additional efforts by committing strategic deception: disinformation and domestic propaganda as well as efforts to generate counter-narrative at the global level in order to secure the regime's internal legitimacy and achieve Russia's position as an alternative leader in the world. Keywords: COVID-19, Russia, Putin's regime, laid-back approach, strategic deception

This article analyses the water security problems in Central Asia bycomparing Kazakhstan's and Uzbekistan's policy regarding the Aral Sea. Asone of the perpetual problem in Central Asia, the condition of freshwaterresources in the Aral Sea has been worsening for the last decades. Efforts bygovernments were isolated and unorganised. Both the Kazakhstan and theUzbek government, which had their own share of the problem, had beenunable to cooperate on this issue. This article tries to elaborate the problem by using the theory on securitisation process, regional security complex, and the patterns of amity-enmity. This research finds that while the amity-enmitypatterns was absent, the differing process of securitisation (in Kazakhstan)and de-securitisation (in Uzbekistan) had forced both states to embark on their own strategies and policies regarding the Aral Sea.

This article reassesses Danish efforts of nation-branding towards Muslim-majority countries after the 2005 Prophet Cartoon Crisis. It disputes Rasmussen &Merkelsen's (2012) findings regarding the shifting Danish policy to a more brand-conscious policy. This article differentiates reactive crisis diplomacy and a brand-informed policy and finds that Danish policy towards Muslim-majority countries was closer to the principle of reactive crisis diplomacy, rather than a conscious nation-branding. Result from this research could be used as the basis for future research on the idea that nation branding could complement the use of classic diplomacy. As the Danish case has shown, the lack of coordination between governmental and non-governmental actors and the lack of conscious effort on nation branding could negate the possibility of creating a good brand image.

By using the case study of Sweden and the momentum of the refugee crisis in Europe, this research attempts to analyse the extent to which the shifting practice of Swedish policy towards the refugees (as signified by the new 2016 law prohibiting/restricting the entrance of refugees) might prompt some forms of core identity changes related to immigrant and minority groups. Using the poststructuralism as the central perspective on identity, we argue that the flow of refugee during the crisis in 2015-2016 could be classified as an external shock which then compelled a changing practice of Swedish refugee policy. We then try to show the relationship between changing practice and changing identity discourse by tracing the dynamics of the attitude and perception from both the Swedish government and society regarding the refugees and the Muslim minority groups in Sweden. By analysing the main texts in Swedish identity discourses and the media/public discourses, we found that the changing policy reconstitutes (albeit slowly) the identity of Sweden in "othering" the refugees and Muslim minority groups. This kind of "Self/Other" relationship was different from the condition before and during the early days of the refugee crisis.Keywords: the European refugee crisis, Sweden, Muslim Minority Groups, Post-Structuralism, Changing Practices/Discourses. Dengan menggunakan studi kasus Swedia dan momentum krisis pengungsi di Eropa, penelitian ini berupaya menganalisis sejauh mana praktik pergeseran kebijakan Swedia terhadap para pengungsi (sebagaimana ditandai oleh undang-undang baru tahun 2016 yang melarang atau membatasi pintu masuk bagi pengungsi) mungkin mendorong beberapa bentuk perubahan identitas inti yang terkait dengan kelompok imigran dan minoritas. Dengan menggunakan poststrukturalisme sebagai perspektif utama tentang identitas, penulis berpendapat bahwa masuknya pengungsi selama krisis pada tahun 2015-2016 dapat diklasifikasikan sebagai guncangan eksternal yang kemudian mendorong perubahan kebijakan kebijakan pengungsi Swedia. Kami kemudian mencoba menunjukkan hubungan antara praktik yang berubah dan perubahan diskursus identitas dengan menelusuri dinamika tingkah laku dan persepsi dari pemerintah Swedia dan masyarakat terhadap pengungsi dan kelompok minoritas Muslim di Swedia. Dengan menganalisis teks-teks utama dalam diskursus identitas Swedia dan diskursus media atau publik, penulis menemukan bahwa kebijakan yang berubah merekonstruksi (walaupun perlahan-lahan) identitas Swedia dalam "othering" para pengungsi dan kelompok minoritas Muslim. Hubungan "self/other" semacam ini berbeda dengan kondisi sebelum dan selama masa-masa awal krisis pengungsi. Kata-kata kunci: Krisis pengungsi Eropa, Swedia, Kelompok Minoritas Muslim, Post-structuralism, perubahan praktik/diskursus.

This Forum focuses on a variety of discourses that in one way or another "understand" and normalize the logic of Putin's war against Ukraine. These discourses have different epistemologies - some of them might simply reproduce Russian propagandistic cliches, while others are embedded in - and adjusted to - specific national contexts; some of them emanate from political milieus, while others have academic pedigrees. Of particular interest for the reader is a comparative frame of the Forum that gives floor to European and non-European perspectives on the topic that at some point resonate, engage, and communicate with each other. The authors discuss social and cultural conditions that produce professional and vernacular narratives sympathetic to or compatible with the Russian officialdom, and deploy them in different theoretical contexts - from neorealist to post-colonial.