Russland og Eurasia

Russia's turn to the East: The Ministry for the Development of the Far East, and the domestic dimension

Russia’s recently proclaimed turn toward Asia is fuelled by expectations of reaping benefits from integrating with the fast-growing markets of Northeast Asia. However, such a geoeconomic reorientation requires a viable springboard in the Russian Far East. For all the talk about Asia–Pacific markets, a key component of the Asian pivot is Russia’s own Far Eastern region, an underdeveloped, crisis-ridden backwater that currently constitutes a ‘double periphery’ – in relation to Moscow, and to the Asia–Pacific (Kuhrt 2012).

Tryggingspolitikk sett frå Tyrkia og Russland

Female heroes in a man's world: The construction of female heroes in Kyrgyzstan's symbolic nation-building

This article explores how Kurmanzhan Datka and other female heroes fit into the heavily male-dominated narrative traditionally promoted by Kyrgyz nation-builders. From a reading of state-approved secondary school history textbooks, the article traces the construction of female heroes and discusses how this construction contributes to the gender dimension of Kyrgyz nation-building: What values do these female symbols appear to represent? Which roles have they been assigned in the process of Kyrgyz nation-building? And what consequences may this have for the reproduction of hegemonic gender conceptions?

Å kommunisere en konflikt – aktører i RTs dekning av situasjonen i Ukraina i februar–mars 2014

(Fulltekstartikkel kun på norsk): This article analyses the Russian public diplomacy news organization RT’s coverage of the situation in Ukraine in February–March 2014, the period that culminated with the annexation of Crimea. It finds that enemy images were drawn of the West/USA and of Ukrainian radicals, whereas the liberal opposition and in part the new Ukrainian government were subjected to «symbolic annihilation» – that is they were not represented at all, only indirectly in depictions of the enemy image of the other actors. Locating these portrayals in the theoretical literature on «strategic narratives», the author interprets them as attempts at achieving consensus around Russia’s own perspectives on international affairs, which include the promotion of a world order in which the USA is no longer a hegemon and Russia is respected as a great power.

Iceland’s Relations with its Regional Powers: Alignment with the EU-US sanctions on Russia

The paper examines the Icelandic government’s consideration to withdraw its support for the sanctions against Russia over Ukraine in 2015. The consideration came as a surprise to many since Iceland in the past has habitually aligned itself closely with the United States and the European Union in such matters. The Icelandic fishing industry lobbied hard for the sanctions to be lifted to avoid Russian counter-sanctions on Iceland. After considerable internal debate, the government decided to uphold the sanctions, but settled on a policy of not taking part in EU´s foreign policy declarations about the sanctions. This move is interesting given Iceland’s traditional positioning between two gravitational centres in world politics: the EU and the US. The paper discusses what this case tells us about Icelandic policymakers’ room for maneuvering in the formulation and enactment of its foreign policy, and about Iceland’s foreign policy bonds to the US and the EU.