Alexandra Yatsyk

The article addresses the sphere of performing arts as part of Russia's security policy and, in particular, its propaganda dimensions. The authors approach cultural representations as appeals to universal norms rather than to national interests and in this respect focus on two specific cases of aestheticization of military force applied beyond the national borders of the Russian Federation — in Georgia in August 2008 and in Syria since September 2015. These cases are comparable with each other, since the external projections of Russia's hard power were accompanied by similar cultural gestures — namely, public concerts of classical music performed by the world-famous Valery Gergiev's Mariinsky Theater in two sites controlled by Russian troops, Tskhinvali and Palmyra. The article argues that the Russian government uses two strategies of aesthe-ticizing its military missions — mimetic (implying the closest possible correspondence to reality) and aesthetic (based on imageries), though the distinction between the two is not always well fixed.

This article sketches out general approach to using cultural semiotics as a cognitive tool for analyzing international relations in general and in post-Soviet area in particular. The authors discuss how the homegrown school of cultural semiotics associated with the University of Tartu can be helpful for IR studies. In this respect we place cultural semiotic knowledge in a multidisciplinary perspective and look for projections of its concepts into the vocabulary of foreign policy. Then we intend to discuss the Tartu school from a political perspective, thus claiming that its premium put on cultural issues renders strong politicizing effects. Ultimately, we use cultural semiotic notions and approaches for problematizing the concept of the post-Soviet with its conflictual split between reproducing archaic policies and discourses, on the one hand, and playing by the rules of the post-modern society, with entertainment, hybridity and the spirit of deconstruction as its pivots.

The 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, were during the preparations and run-up phase intensely followed by the global community and were generally associated with a vast array of problems: political, democratic, economic, ecological and security-related. When the hosting of a mega-event such as the Olympic Games has been awarded to a site in an authoritarian state, the global community has moral responsibilities to live up to. There is a need and an obligation to raise one’s voice and criticize where criticism is due also after the Games are concluded. For Sochi, as for sites of all major sports events, continued critical attention is therefore warranted also after the competitions. It is essential to try to gauge the extent to which predicted problems materialized, what happened afterwards and what have been the more long-term consequences and local effects. This is the general perspective that brought the authors of this volume together.

The article addresses two dimensions of the refugee debate in Estonia – political discourses and cultural representations. The authors specifically focus on distinctions between the mainstream Estonian narrative and that of the Russophone community, as well as on the role of Russia and Europe as two major shapers of the refugee debate

This article begins with an analysis of Boris  Nemtsov’s critical contribution to the Sochi Olympics debate and then projects it onto a wider discourse about mega-events in Russia. Being a native of Sochi, Nemtsov followed the issues related to its transformation into an Olympic city, and even ran for mayor in 2009. In 2013 he co-authored a widely circulated report, “Winter Olympics in the Sub-tropics,” in which he raised substantial issues about transparency and accountability that remain relevant after the Olympics. Nemtsov’s analysis remains an important reference point for critical discourses that put an emphasis on corruption, mismanagement and societal risks associated with global sports events in authoritarian countries. In conclusion, the authors examine the plethora of critical Olympic discourses related to the nature of the current political regime in Russia as well as the policies pursued by global sports institutions.

The 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, were during the preparations and run-up phase intensely followed by the global community and were generally associated with a vast array of problems: political, democratic, economic, ecological and security-related. When the hosting of a mega-event such as the Olympic Games has been awarded to a site in an authoritarian state, the global community has moral responsibilities to live up to. There is a need and an obligation to raise one’s voice and criticize where criticism is due also after the Games are concluded. For Sochi, as for sites of all major sports events, continued critical attention is therefore warranted also after the competitions. It is essential to try to gauge the extent to which predicted problems materialized, what happened afterwards and what have been the more long-term consequences and local effects. This is the general perspective that brought the authors of this volume together.