Suchergebnisse

En europeisk tragedie: Hvordan Vesten og Russland ble fiender – og kan finne sammen igjen är en kontroversiell journalistisk inriktad bok om bakgrunden till och implikationerna av Rysslands krig i Ukraina.
A European Tragedy: How the West and Russia Became Enemies – and Can Be Friendly Again is a controversial and hotly debated book by two journalists about the lead-up to and implications of Russia's war in Ukraine.

Using enemy images and securitization as theoretical points of departure the paper discusses and analyzes the landscape of Swedish security threats as made up of traditional, militarily defined threat perceptions and the looming specter of an invasive migrant Other. The paper uses a two-fold analytical focus. Firstly, the last decade or so has seen a notable return of hard security thinking to the Swedish political debate, particularly in relation to a resurgent Russia. To illustrate this, the paper analyzes political discussions surrounding the establishment of the Gotland Regiment, situated on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. The regiment became operational by January 1, 2018, following a political near-consensus that the Swedish preparedness for military defense against Russia needed to be strengthened, not least in the wake of the annexation of Crimea in 2014. The old regiment on Gotland was dismantled in 2004, and the decision about its reestablishment had significant symbolic value. Secondly, the old-school hard security threat perceptions coexist with less traditional threat perceptions, notably those connected to migration, particularly so in the wake of the so-called migration crisis of 2015 when Sweden in short time received an all-time high number of asylum-seekers and refugees. The Sweden Democrats, nowadays the third largest political party in the Swedish Parliament, has managed to capitalize on widespread perceptions that migrants pose threats to the physical security, economic well-being and moral and cultural values of the Swedish majority population, and has, through its success at the polls reshaped the Swedish political landscape.

Efter en kortfattad bakgrundsdiskussion om östutvidgningens dilemman behandlas frågan om en gemensam identitet för EU och vari denna kan tänkas bestå. Argumentet är att förekomsten av en gemensam identitet byggd på gemensamma värden är nödvändig för tilliten inom unionen, liksom för dess inflytande och anseende i världen. Därefter diskuteras de utmaningar som nu riktas mot EU:s gemensamma värdegrund: från de illiberala demokratierna Ungern och Polen, från auktoritära stater utanför EU som Ryssland och Turkiet samt från populistiska strömningar över hela EU-området. Kapitlet avslutas med en summering och några handlingsrekommendationer för hur en gemensam värdegrund, identitet och tillit kan värnas inom unionen. ; After a background discussion of the dilemmas raised by the eastern enlargement of the European Union in 2004, the issue of a common identity for the EU and where this might reside is addressed. The argument is that the existence of a common identity based on shared values is critical to trust within the Union, as well as to its influence and standing in the world. The discussion then turns to the challenges nowadays being directed at the shared fundamental values of the EU: from the "illiberal democracies" of Hungary and Poland; from authoritarian states outside the EU, such as Russia and Turkey; and from populist currents across the entire EU and outside it. The chapter ends with a summation and recommended action to safeguard shared values, common identity and trust within the Union.

March 2018 – and then what? The issue of political succession in Putin's Russia
As president of Russia and a prominent political leader, Vladimir Putin has consistently endeavoredto legitimize his rule by appealing to central political myths and taken-for-granted truths inRussian society. In rhetoric and official communication, he emerges as the guarantor of domesticorder and stability, the protector of traditional values, and a staunch advocate of Russia'sstatus and position as a great power in a world often depicted as hostile. What is being communicatedhere, and apparently finds resonance among broad segments of public opinion, is thaton all these parameters Putin is uniquely qualified to lead Russia. Four times in the course of18 years, Putin has been elected president in the first round of elections, and throughout thisperiod he has received high rankings in regular monthly opinion polls. However, his legitimationstrategies have been so firmly linked to the persona of Putin that we may speak of an emergingdilemma with his fourth presidency. Who could fill his shoes as his successor? The articleanalyzes this dilemma, taking its point of departure in Weber's seminal theorizing on types oflegitimate authority and the routinization of charisma. It discusses the evident dearth of crediblesuccessor candidates, and concludes by discussing possible actions for dealing with or postponingthe issue of succession.

In her new book The Return of Ideology Cheng Chen argues that as a nation makes the transitionfrom Communism to democracy or something else, its regime must construct a newpolitical ideology that can guide policy and provide a sense of mission and nationaltogetherness. This is needed for engendering legitimacy among the populace as well asthe support of domestic political and economic elites, and is a precondition for theregime's long-term viability. In the book, Cheng Chen compares the Russian Federationafter 1991 and post-Deng China during roughly the same period, and investigates thedegree of success of the ideology-building projects in the two great powers.

For decades now, President Vladimir Putin has consistently enjoyed markedly high approval rates and seemingly benefitted from charismatic legitimacy, whereas systemic legal-rational legitimacy has remained on a low level. This article discusses how, through the successful communication of political myth, legitimacy has become ever more personalized in Putin's Russia, and considers some of the dilemmas inherent in non-democratic settings where legitimacy builds on grounds that are not legal-rational in the Weberian sense.

In the absence of legal-rational legitimacy in the Weberian sense, any president succeeding Vladimir Putin in contemporary Russia would be hard put to find a recipe to maintain popularity and, ultimately, stability and order. The paper discusses these principal problems from the analytical perspective of classical and newer theories of legitimacy and also reflects on what implications the dominant mix of legitimation strategies may have should a situation of political succession suddenly arise. Against the backdrop of recent processes of political succession in other authoritarian settings, Weber's writings about the routinization of charisma – how charismatic legitimacy can conceivably be converted into other, more durable kinds - are drawn upon and interpreted in light of contemporary developments.