The thesis focuses on analysis of the current opposition in Russia. Attention is mainly focused on the conditions for the existence and operation of the opposition created by the government's garniture, including the purposeful changes of the valid legislation and its influence on the state of the present opposition. Furthermore, the work aims to map key opposition parties and find out what the character of the current opposition is, whether it offers a liberal-democratic alternative to the existing regime or not. Last but not least, presented public opinion polls investigate whether there is room for opposition in society and what the society's attitude toward opposition is. This thesis is a contribution to discussion in the context of the nature of the current regime in Russia and the real possibilities for its change in the near future, because analysing the opposition is important for understanding of the system and its functioning, both in terms of conditions for its functioning, its embedding in society and ideological focus.

Russian-American Relations and the Mass Media Securitization of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in the American Press by Valeriia Alikina This thesis is focused on two issues relevant to Security Studies and Political Science: relations between the Russian Federation and the United States of America, which are currently experiencing yet another decline, and problematics of political journalism. It reviews the process of securitization of Russia through speech acts in the mass media of its historical opponent, the United States. First, the thesis provides a theoretical framework, securitization theory, introducing its main principles. To prove that the process of securitization indeed occurs, the method of discourse analysis is employed. The third chapter provides background information on the relations between the Soviet Union/Russia and the United States since the end of the World War II; this information is completed by the role mass media had in their affairs. The next chapter frames the issue of propaganda, elaborating on the meaning behind this concept, the "fake news" narrative, and the idealistic idea of media objectivity. In the fifth chapter, the case study, two processes of securitization are reviewed. The first one is the American mainstream media, namely ​The New York Times​ and ​The...

The aim of this thesis is to evaluate shifts in the EU - Russia co-operation in the last decade. It is based on the analysis of relations in terms of their content and their institutional framework. This work efforts to assess the potential of building the Four common spaces between Russia and the EU on the basis of the Russian and the European frame of reference.

The diploma thesis examines why did the non-systemic opposition in Russia between 2011 and 2016 fail to reach any significant success. Even though during 2011 and 2012 Russia witnessed mass anti- government protests the non-systemic opposition was not able to enforce any relevant change in the regime, obtain representation in the state institutions or induce larger public dissatisfaction with the regime. The study analyses problematic internal features of the non-systemic opposition (lack of public support, coalition potential, election programs and campaigns, party financing) and external repressive means of the Vladimir Putin's regime against the opposition (legislation, direct confrontation, judicial trials, elections and means of rigging). The thesis offers a complex insight into the functioning of the non-systemic opposition in Russia in the observed period and accentuates the authoritarian character of the Russian regime. Based on the evaluation of the key variables the study concludes that the repressive policies of the regime cardinally affected the weakness and fragmentation of the non-systemic opposition which moreover was not able to overcome the internal conflicts and gain broader public support.

Neoclassical realism has the ability to advance our understanding of foreign policy responses through the recently designed neoclassical realist model. However as international relations have proven, a theory is not a concrete motionless design. Improvements can be made and the fluidity of theory allows social sciences to adapt and advance. This thesis introduces developments to neoclassical realism by stating that the individual factors and intervening variables hold varying degrees of importance that alter between each foreign policy decision. There is no overarching set of instructions for 'foreign policy', rather an adaptable model that takes into consideration the geopolitical arena, the state and the statesman. The case study chosen for this thesis is the Russian foreign policy response to annex Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Analysis and comparisons of the variables resulted in three factors standing out as most significant. The most important influence within the systemic stimuli was the nature of the strategic environment and the window of opportunity that arose in Crimea due to Ukrainian political and military instability. The intervening variable leader images proved to be the decisive factor, as the consolidation of power by Vladimir Putin allowed the annexation to be completed...

Vladimir Putin has been President of Russian Federation for almost 20 years. Powerful politicians of that importance and duration warrant research to understand their personal beliefs in a variety of topics. This study sets out to understand Putin’s opinions on a range of subjects such as multiculturalism, patriotism, and ethnicity to determine “What kind of nationalist is Vladimir Putin?” This question is answered by using four distinct ideal types of nationalism; civic, ethno-cultural, multicultural, and religious. Most of the research material consists of primary texts or articles written by Vladimir Putin, five in total, and two excerpts from answers given by Putin in press conferences. The reason for choosing these specific sources is because they provide direct information on Putin’s opinions and beliefs. After analysis the author of this article has concluded that Vladimir Putin closely resembles the civic nationalism ideal type; however, Putin is also very to the close ethno-cultural nationalism and to some extent multiculturalism with insignificant overlap with religious nationalism. The main reason for this conclusion is because of Putin’s reoccurring encouragement of patriotism through loyalty to the Russian state. Putin has also expressed ethno-cultural statements such as viewing Russian people as the “state building people” in Russia and seeing Russian culture and language as the dominant culture for Russia, not in the sense of stating the fact that majority of Russia is Russian, but also that it should continue being dominant. Not just by language and culture but also by prohibiting nationalist-regionalist political parties.

For about a decade, the Russian opposition politician Aleksej Navalnyj has been a topic in the Swedish news media. Particularly since the end of august 2020, when suspected of having been poisoned with the neurotoxin novitjok. Often described as a freedom fighter in the Swedish press, Navalnyj, however, has a quite varied background in both liberal and nationalist groups. Since the poisoning, however, questions have been raised about Navalnyjs past, who he actually is, and what he wants to achieve. Yet, he tends to be described as a freedom fighter in most texts. In this essay we aim to examine not the narrative of Navalnyjs fight against Vladimir Putin's Russia, but how he is framed in the Swedish news press. To do so, we combine a quantitative digital text analysis with a qualitative frame analysis. By applying a theoretical framework based on acknowledged media theories such as framing and priming theory combined with earlier studies on the topic, we find that Navalnyj tends to be framed as a kind of antithesis to the Russian regime and Putin. Also, it seems the conflict is not limited to the borders of Russia, nor to the Russian people. The European Union is reported to take interest in the conflict, for example, taking Navalnyjs side. A logical explanation may be found in the view on Russia in the Swedish society, which is employed as a frame in the media and hence gets reproduced into society.

The master thesis called Security of the Russian Federation: (de)securitization of the U.S. by Russian representatives deals with the security of Russia from the top representatives points of view. The analyzed time is determined by the presidential term of Dmitry Medvedev (2008 - April 2012). The aim of the thesis is to find out, why the U.S. was (de)securitized during the Medvedev's presidential term and confirm or disprove the predefined hypothesis. President, prime minister and minister of foreign affairs create the foreign politics of Russian federation. Their speeches and interviews are the main source of the data. The basic security terms and the theories (de)securitization are discussed in the first part of the thesis. The Russian point of view of security is defined in the following part. There are analyzed oficial documents focusing on definition of the national security, foreign policy and military field. There are also discussed the Russian media discourse since 90s of the 20 century and Russian- American relations. The last empirical part analyzes the interviews and speeches of the president Medvedev, of the prime minister Putin and of the minister of foreign affairs Lavrov in terms of their attitudes to the U.S.

The Russian-Ukrainian relationship is inherently complex. Since the end of the Cold War, there have been several defining moments in this relationship, which have contributed to how Russia perceives any potential challenges to its security. Securitising discourse from Russian political leadership, namely the President, offers an insight into what aspects of this relationship are escalated so extensively that extreme courses of action may be deemed necessary (i.e., a full-scale invasion of Ukraine). Drawing on Buzan et al. (1998), this project identifies the key sectors that Russia politicises, and those that it securitises vis-à-vis Ukraine. In addition, this study highlights the key sub-themes within politicisation and securitisation that were found within these sectors. This is all within a timeframe where relations have moved from comparatively stable to a time of war (February 2019 – February 2023). There is some degree of overlap between the themes politicised and securitised, especially across the military, political, societal, and economic sectors of security. There were no cases of securitisation within the environmental sector. Overall, this study found a significant shift in Russia’s securitisation framing of Ukraine from mid-2021 onwards.

L’ascension de Vladimir Poutine à la présidence de la Russie fut un point tournant dans l’histoire de la Russie et de ses relations avec l’occident. Lorsqu’il est comparé aux politiques plus pro-occidentales de son prédécesseur, Boris Eltsine, le nouveau nationalisme russe de Poutine changea la relation de la Russie avec l’Occident. Ce texte utilise des articles publiés dans quatre journaux influents de l’Occident—le Washington Post, le New York Times, le Guardian et l’Independent—pour montrer comment l’Occident percevait la Russie entre 1999 et 2008. Poutine fut longuement critiqué pour avoir transformé la « démocratie », instauré par l’Occident dans les années postsoviétiques, en autocratie qui reflétait plus le contexte politico-social traditionnel russe. La Russie refusa de se soumettre aux intérêts de l’Occident. Les médias populaires occidentaux, reflétant les intérêts de leurs gouvernements respectifs, ont rondement critiqué la nouvelle direction de la Russie. L’obligation perçue par les médias occidentaux de promouvoir la « démocratie » autour du globe les a menés à condamner Poutine et la Russie, ce qui créa un sentiment de « russophobie ». / The ascension of Vladimir Putin to the Russian presidency was a turning point in the history of Russia. Using articles from four influential western newspapers—the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian and the Independent—this text will show the West perceived Russia during Putin’s between 1999 and 2008. Putin was heavily criticized as he was moving the country away from the “democracy” installed by the West after the Cold War, to a path more in line with traditional Russian principles. Russia refused to be subservient to Western interests. The western mainstream media reflected their government’s interests and critiqued Russia’s new path. The western media’s perceived obligation to promote “freedom” and “democracy” around the world has led it to condemn Russia and Putin and to create a sense of “russophobia” in the West.