The Russian Federation is subject to a high degree of terrorist activity because the instability of the North Caucasus region makes it a breeding ground for terrorism. The main contemporary threat...Show moreThe Russian Federation is subject to a high degree of terrorist activity because the instability of the North Caucasus region makes it a breeding ground for terrorism. The main contemporary threat to the Russian Federation is terrorism linked to the North Caucasus. This thesis is based on Russian counter-terrorism policy in relation to public perceptions of the September 2004 tragedy of Beslan (North Ossetia). In September 2004, a school in Beslan was seized for three days by North Caucasian terrorists which resulted in a massacre with an extremely high number of hostages (1300), fatalities (372) and injuries (747). The Beslan tragedy is considered to be the Russian 9/11 and could, due to its magnitude and impact, theoretically be a turning point in counter-terrorism policy and public perceptions in the Russian Federation. However, the Beslan event has not been a significant turning point in Russian counter-terrorism legislation and laws, despite certain changes and amendments. Furthermore, despite relatively small reforms in the security services, these reforms have been considered to be primarily cosmetic and have not yielded significant results. Also, the perceptions of terrorism and the government’s efforts to combat terrorism among Russian citizens have not improved since Beslan. The rhetoric by the media and government seems to focus primarily on the ostensible success of its counter-terrorism approach. However, despite the qualification of Beslan as the Russian 9/11 and the changes in policy following the event, terrorist activity remains a serious part of daily life within the Russian Federation and any potential improvements in the near future are considered to be unlikely. Keywords: Russia, North Caucasus, Beslan, Terrorism, Counter-terrorismShow less
This thesis examines the role the Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera played in the building of a Ukrainian state. Firstly, it pays attention to Bandera's life and death. Afterwards, attention has...Show moreThis thesis examines the role the Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera played in the building of a Ukrainian state. Firstly, it pays attention to Bandera's life and death. Afterwards, attention has been paid to the 'Bandera myths', the 'Hero of Ukraine' award and the Euromaidan protests.Show less
In this thesis the situation considering national awareness of the Chuvash people is described. The central question in this research is the following: how can awareness of the Chuvash people be...Show moreIn this thesis the situation considering national awareness of the Chuvash people is described. The central question in this research is the following: how can awareness of the Chuvash people be described and which factors are/were crucial in its formation? In order to analyze the problem in greater depth, the historical background of the region and the Chuvash people since the 10th century till post-communist period is studied in the first chapter. Additionally, socio-political awareness of the national elite and its development was studied for a broader understanding of the topic. Particular attention is paid to Ivan Iakovlevich Iakovlev, the pedagogical activist, nationalist, founder of the Chuvash alphabet and first Chuvash national schools. This person played an important role in the development of the national awareness among the Chuvash as his activities contributed to formation of national intelligentsia and thereby to establishment of the Chuvash statehood. The situation considering national awareness among the Chuvash in modern Russia is analyzed in the second chapter. Contradictions in evaluation of the situation are explained there: was it a period of national awakening or rather of “national nihilism”, in other words underestimation of own ethnic group, lack of confidence in the prospects of their development and orientation on other nation. In the third chapter, the results of interviews and current situation are described. Possible economic, political and socio-cultural reasons for the current situation considering national awareness among the Chuvash are discussed there too.Show less
In 2005 werd literair Rusland wakker geschud met de publicatie van Pathalogieën, een roman die in het teken staat van de tweede Tsjetsjeense oorlog. De toen nog onbekende auteur Zachar Prilepin,...Show moreIn 2005 werd literair Rusland wakker geschud met de publicatie van Pathalogieën, een roman die in het teken staat van de tweede Tsjetsjeense oorlog. De toen nog onbekende auteur Zachar Prilepin, zelf een veteraan van de Tsjetsjeense oorlogen, maakte onmiddellijk naambekendheid en brak met zijn volgende twee romans Sankja (2006) en Zonde (2007) definitief door in Rusland. Parallel naast zijn schrijverschap groeide Prilepin vervolgens uit tot een populaire, maar controversiële publieke persoonlijkheid binnen het Russische medialandschap. Een belangrijke factor van Prilepins overdonderend succes is zijn imago van traditionele en ‘echte’ Russische man, dat gevoed wordt door zijn verleden als elitesoldaat in Tsjetsjenië, zijn nationalistische overtuigingen en zijn voorkomen van conservatieve familieman. Met dit imago lijkt Prilepin te beantwoorden aan het mannelijkheidsideaal dat in voege getreden is in Poetins Rusland, i.e. de moderne moezjik en dat gekenmerkt wordt door viriliteit, patriotisme en uitgesproken heteroseksualiteit. In tegenstelling tot hun geestelijke vader zijn de helden uit Prilepins vroege proza (Pathalogieën, Sankja en Zonde) echter geen vertegenwoordigers van dit ideaaltype. Ze worden in tegendeel gekenmerkt door onzekerheden en angsten, neigingen tot (zelf-) destructie, emotionele kwetsbaarheid en ze dragen een verward vaderlandsbeeld met zich mee. Hierdoor lijkt Prilepin komaf te willen maken met het keurslijf van de moderne moezjik en te pleiten voor de ontmanteling ervan.Show less
The scholarly debate about the Mongol yoke in Western and Russian circles has been an ongoing discussion since the seventeenth century that particularly revived after the collapse of the Soviet...Show moreThe scholarly debate about the Mongol yoke in Western and Russian circles has been an ongoing discussion since the seventeenth century that particularly revived after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Although the extent to which the Mongol conquest has exerted influence on Russia’s institutions has been widely debated among scholars, no consensus has been reached so far. This thesis has sought to understand how the debate about the Mongol yoke evolved over the past two centuries in order to explain what this reveals about Russia’s current state of self-identification. Three periods proved to be key. During the first period Russian imperial historians formulated a so called ‘black legend’. The second period is characterised by a ‘white legend’ that was created by Eurasianists. The third period proves that the debate has become highly idealized for geopolitical goals. Such diverse outcomes acknowledge that Russians are in search for an identity that is not Western or European. Still, the Mongol legacy is no ideal solution either. The Mongol period solely forms an acceptable solution for the time being. However, since the identity debate is still undecided it is not likely that Mongol ‘yoke’ in academic circles will be lifted any time soon.Show less
The problem of the Genitive of negation is one of the most up-to-date in current Russian linguistic discussion. The nature of the Genitive Rule in Russian is still unclear and the register of...Show moreThe problem of the Genitive of negation is one of the most up-to-date in current Russian linguistic discussion. The nature of the Genitive Rule in Russian is still unclear and the register of papers devoted to this scientific question grows constantly. The Genitive Rule is also popular topic for researchers, whose scientific interest belongs to other Slavonic languages (for instance, Polish) or the same language family (for example, Lithuanian). Considering the relevance of the problem, it was decided to find out if the Genitive Rule also exists in Latvian language. During the theoretical part of the work, it turned out that, it is possible to use the negated Genitive in place of the Accusative with the transitive verbs, however, the use of the negated Genitive is rather archaic; it is stylistically marked, and, as a rule, it occurs in fiction. The negated Accusative shows dominance in modern literary Latvian. However, since literary Latvian is very young (about one hundred years), since the dominance of the negated Accusative in old Latvian was not proved, and, finally, since no special papers devoted to the Genitive of negation in Latvian exist, it was aimed to make a quantitative analysis of the situation in Old Latvian and Latvian dialects. For the above mentioned purposes, Latvian popular songs (dainas) were taken as a main source. The analysis of the work was carried out manually. After analyzing more than 20000 dainas, it was found out, that the negated Accusative was not unambiguously dominant before Latvian was codified. In additon to that, it was proved than in one region of Latvia (Latgale) the negated Genitive occurred even more frequent. The results and the corpus of current thesis could be very useful for further semantic and syntactic research.Show less
In this thesis, the development of the East-Slavic languages has been investigated through the analysis of various written sources on a multitude of morphological scoring criteria. The thesis aims...Show moreIn this thesis, the development of the East-Slavic languages has been investigated through the analysis of various written sources on a multitude of morphological scoring criteria. The thesis aims at finding evidence that can either prove or disprove some of the many theories with respect to the evolution of the East-Slavic languages (these theories are also included in the thesis). The theories that are discussed in the thesis differ with respect to how much credit is given to the Polish language in the development of East-Slavic. Therefore, investigating whether or not Polish did play a role in the language development of the East-Slavic area provides us with material that can make certain theories more plausible than others. Various texts - the oldest dating to 1229 and the youngest texts to the 19th century - were analysed and scored on present and past verb inflection, the use of auxiliary verbs and the declension of the nominative adjective (thereby paying special attention to the possibility of gender distinction in nominative plural).Show less
The goal of this essay is to prove that national identity, as perceived by the Russian leadership plays an important role in the making of Russian foreign policy. The thesis is that Russian...Show moreThe goal of this essay is to prove that national identity, as perceived by the Russian leadership plays an important role in the making of Russian foreign policy. The thesis is that Russian-Brazilian relations confirm this importance of identity in Russian foreign policy. Although Russia and Brazil share certain commonalities when it comes to the size of the countries and populations, the leadership potential that comes with that, the developments they have gone through over the past century, similarities in their economies and some of the social issues they face today, in a practical sense they do not have that much in common. Geographically, they are remote from one another, historically they have been on opposite sides of the Cold War and they have very different regime types, Brazil being a fully-fledged democracy whereas Russia boasts a hybrid regime with authoritarian traits. They could easily conduct their internal and external affairs without investing any time and effort in bilateral relations, as they more or less have done in the 1990s. Therefore, Moscow’s relations with Brasilia make an interesting case to explore the motivations behind, as they are neither self-explanatory nor indispensable. This essay does not aim to prove that Russian-Brazilian relations are essential to Russian foreign policy. As abovementioned, they clearly are not indispensable. The Russian leadership does identify Brazil as a key partner in Latin America and describes the relationship as being of strategic importance , and in recent years the Kremlin has attributed increasing importance to relations with Latin America, but there can be no doubt that the region takes a backseat to Europe, Asia and North-America in Russian foreign policy. This essay merely sets out to demonstrate that matters of national identity play a role in the making of Russian foreign policy, and aims to lend further credence to this thesis by analysing Russian-Brazilian relations. To this end, part I of this essay offers an analysis of Russian foreign policy in the 21st century, paying special attention to Realist tendencies and matters that seem to illustrate the importance of identity, whereas part II of this essay focuses on Russian-Brazilian relations and how these seem to indicate the importance of identity in Russian foreign policy.Show less
Italy is one of the European countries which have relatively good trade and investment relations with Russia. These two countries have historic links especially in the fields of trade and...Show moreItaly is one of the European countries which have relatively good trade and investment relations with Russia. These two countries have historic links especially in the fields of trade and investments, and after the fall of the Communism but especially in the last decade their relations have been greatly improving and several new business deals are planned. Italy represents one of Russia's most important trading partners in the world. Nowadays Italy is the 4th largest foreign trade partner and the 3rd among European Union countries. During recent years several political meetings between the two countries' authorities have been organized, helping to develop a special, broad, strong and strategic Italian- Russian collaboration based on mutual trust and support.Show less
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Central Asia has seen less conflict than initially expected. One of the anticipated sources of conflict has been the uneven distribution of natural...Show moreSince the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Central Asia has seen less conflict than initially expected. One of the anticipated sources of conflict has been the uneven distribution of natural resources between the five states. The theory of the relationship between resource abundance and scarcity and conflict are examined here and applied to the distribution of hydrocarbon and water resources in the region. Though especially water has become a serious issue in the region, it is concluded that it is as yet not acute enough to spark interstate conflict and dependence management policies that might spark internal conflict is largely not followed. However, should the situation continue to worsen or be compounded with other causes for conflict, this status quo may change.Show less
