After the end of the third democratization wave further democratization has stopped in many countries and even turned around into autocratic governing in several countries. This process is...Show moreAfter the end of the third democratization wave further democratization has stopped in many countries and even turned around into autocratic governing in several countries. This process is characterized by governments limiting the citizens ability to hold their governments accountable. The regimes mainly achieve this through gaining excessive control over the economy and the media, rigging the election system in their favor and dismantling the seperation of powers. The thesis investigates and compares these processes in the case of contemporary Russia and Hungary.Show less
This thesis explores how the discourse around immigration in Russia is shaped by the government, and by society segmented in actors disapproving or favorable of immigration. From the selected...Show moreThis thesis explores how the discourse around immigration in Russia is shaped by the government, and by society segmented in actors disapproving or favorable of immigration. From the selected primary sources, four main themes of discussion and four subsequent main techniques of persuasion used in argumentation around the themes are identified and scrutinized through critical discourse analysis. The main themes are economy, security, lifestyle and demography; the main techniques are play on emotion, anecdotal approach, comparison and statistical manipulation. The main findings of this paper constitute the following. The government pursues a dual policy to maximize the number of its adherents, and in its rhetoric most noticeably uses comparison for the purpose of justifying its policies. Anti-immigrant groups exploit all techniques extensively and mostly build their numerous arguments around economic, security and lifestyle concerns. Immigrant advocacy groups refrain from thorough discussion of security issues, present a limited amount of economic arguments, and focus instead on lifestyle and demography. They use all techniques as well but mainly play on emotion and narrate individual stories, displaying the immigrants’ perspective and encouraging leniency.Show less
The failure of democratization theory to explain the transitions (or lack thereof) in the post-communist world after the dissolution of the Soviet Union opened a whole field of newly created regime...Show moreThe failure of democratization theory to explain the transitions (or lack thereof) in the post-communist world after the dissolution of the Soviet Union opened a whole field of newly created regime-types for academics to theorize and categorize. Numerous theoretical frameworks have long been applied to analyze the Russian “managed democracy”. Conclusions have followed that Moscow has the tendency to utilize economic and political assets for the perpetuation of their ‘soft-authoritarian’ regime. Exploring the shortages in the existing literature, this paper looks at the applications of the explanatory model of authoritarian behavior, developed by North, Wallis, Webb and Weingast in their book “The Shadow of Violence”. Moreover, this newly developed interpretation of the transition period brings a valuable insight in the mechanisms behind the formation and development of authoritarian and hybrid regimes by evaluating its epistemological and conceptual reasoning in non-Western cultures. While the conventional explanations tend to focus on hybrid regimes as a stable intermediate entities that need to be pushed towards democracy by removing their authoritarian qualities, the conclusions of this paper will focus attention on how authoritarian qualities can be utilized to facilitate a more smooth and non-violent transitions towards democracy. This alternative angle in transitional studies highlights the need for a new approach in policy making when dealing with such regimes.Show less
Through an extensive analysis of speeches and statements of President Vladimir Putin of the Russian federation, an ideological shift towards Eurasianism is assessed. By comparing Putin’s discourse...Show moreThrough an extensive analysis of speeches and statements of President Vladimir Putin of the Russian federation, an ideological shift towards Eurasianism is assessed. By comparing Putin’s discourse with regard to Crimea, religion and what it means to be Russian with public opinion polls published by the Levada-Center, the contemporary place of identity in Russia is reconfigured. I propose a new ‘pick-and-mix’ type of Eurasianism, in which Russia’s uniqueness is established in political speeches and statements, but in which the reason for this special nature remains fluid. Public opinion and Putin’s discourse do not always line up with regard to the nature of Russian identity, showing how multiple narratives are colliding in the public sphere.Show less
A thesis on the effects of the 2008 Georgian War on the relations between Russia and the United States and the role of the media on the public opinion regarding the subject.
Throughout the past decade, two types of scandalous cases in Russia have been frequented in both the domestic and international media. These are cases of activism, and oligarch or elite corruption....Show moreThroughout the past decade, two types of scandalous cases in Russia have been frequented in both the domestic and international media. These are cases of activism, and oligarch or elite corruption. More specifically, the activism case of members of Pussy Riot was covered by news agencies worldwide, and their court cases were followed closely on a global scale. Contrastingly, the media handles cases involving individuals with a high ranking of authority or close affiliation with the governmental elites differently. This is especially evident in the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The research question of How does the Russian media portray individuals and groups involved in scandalous cases of activism and oligarch corruption? Aims to discuss the similarities and differences to how these cases were handled by the Russian media.Show less
In the public debate about race inequality, the notion of color-blindness is nowadays often discussed. In today’s society, many people like to believe racial prejudice does not play a role anymore,...Show moreIn the public debate about race inequality, the notion of color-blindness is nowadays often discussed. In today’s society, many people like to believe racial prejudice does not play a role anymore, but a growing group of people now states this wish for a color-blind society could be dangerous. This debate raises the question how children should be educated about racial differences and the struggle for equality. Because many people in the United States are brought up watching Disney films, the question exists how significant the impact of the representations of race in these films is on children. In order to answer a question like that, it is necessary to look at what these race representations actually are and if a trend could be spotted in these representations.Show less
The ‘Comfort Women’ issue is an ongoing discourse that continues to shape the unstable relations between Japan and Korea. Since the 1990's, Korean women who were coerced into sexual slavery by...Show moreThe ‘Comfort Women’ issue is an ongoing discourse that continues to shape the unstable relations between Japan and Korea. Since the 1990's, Korean women who were coerced into sexual slavery by Japan during World War II have come forward to fight for recognition of the war crimes committed by Japan. The contestation of various nationalist historical remembering however has sidelined feminist issues regarding the brutality women faced in order to prioritize state nationalism. This article extends McClintock’s critique of the term ‘post-colonialism’ and historical linearity to analyze the restraints of a singular embedded history that does not allow space for other historical experiences to be legitimized. This article examines how the state, organizations, and 'comfort women' survivors propagate a specific historical rhetoric in the redress movement against Japan where they are constrained to a post-colonial ‘condition’ that does not look beyond the nation nor takes into consideration the harm done to women’s’ bodies themselves.Show less
In July 2014, tens of thousands of protestors from various social groups took to the streets in what could be Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy protest ever after a number of pro-democracy...Show moreIn July 2014, tens of thousands of protestors from various social groups took to the streets in what could be Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy protest ever after a number of pro-democracy movements in earlier years. In the following month, the Chinese government eliminates the possibility of a fully democratic election for a new Hong Kong leader in 2017, as the protesters claim has been promised to them by Beijing in late 2007. The new decision has made it impossible for politicians to take part in this election without prior approval by Beijing. September 28 marked the start of Occupy Central as students and supporters set up their tents on the streets. For weeks on end the occupation goes on in protest of the limitation of ‘real democracy’, with more than 100,000 people participating in the Occupy Central protest at its peak. This occupation came to an end only on December 15 when the Hong Kong authorities cleared the last occupation site – however, the Umbrella Movement has not yet come to an end and, from time to time, makes its way back into the local headlines. This paper aims to identify the ways in which the Hong Kong identity is framed by both the protesters themselves and the local news media in the context of the Umbrella movement. For this purpose a combination of content analysis and discourse analysis will be used to examine a selection of news excerpts from the period ranging from September until December 2014.Show less
