Uppsatsen behandlar hur den ryska televisionen behandlas av den ryska staten och vilken betydelse detta fått för yttrandefriheten i Ryssland. Uppsatsen fokuserar på tiden mellan president Putins första och andra presidentval (1999-2000). Den ryska staten har under denna tid kritiserats från många håll då den statliga kontrollen över televisionen kraftigt ökat. Uppsatsen försöker reda ut hur detta ökade statliga inflytande påverkat mediaföretagen och hur detta i sin tur påverkat den nyhetsbevakning den ryska allmänheten fått ta del av. Uppsatsen ger också en historisk beskrivning av hur televisionen förändrats från Sovjetunionens fall fram till idag. Vidare används TV-stationen NTV och dess ägare, som en fallstudie av hur mediaföretag behandlats av den ryska staten. Uppsatsen visar också på hur televisionen bevakat presidentvalen 2000 och 2004 och hur detta påverkat utgången av valen. Tillsist sammanförs uppsatsens delar i en diskussion om hur ägandet av televisionen påverkar dess utbud och i förlängningen hur det påverkar televisionens publik. / This essay deals with how the Russian television has been treated by the Russian state and how this has affected the freedom of opinion in Russia. The essay focuses on the time between the first and second presidential election of president Putin (2000-2004). The Russian state has during this time been heavily criticised by many because of the increasing influence the government has over the Russian television. This essay tries to find out how this increasing state influence has affected the broadcasting companies and how this has influenced the newscasts. This essay also gives a historical overview of how the Russian television has changed since the Soviet Union’s downfall until today. Furthermore the TV-station NTV and its owners are examined as a special case of how the broadcasting companies are treated by the Russian government. The essay also shows how TV covered the presidential elections in 2000 and 2004 and how their coverage affected the election results. Finally the parts of the essay are brought together in a discussion about how the ownership of television influences the range of news and thereby its audience.

Det är nu väl belagt att människorättssituation har försämrats i Ryssland under Putins presidenttid. Människorättsaktivister som blir godtyckligt arresterade, ökad statlig kontroll av de ryska NGO:er och HBT-fientlig lagstiftning som antas i Duman är bara några enstaka exempel på det strängare klimatet kring de mänskliga rättigheterna i landet sedan Vladimir Putin kom till makten år 1999. Uppsatsens utgångpunkt utgörs av Aydinlis teoretiska modell som lägger ett särskilt fokus på begreppen säkerhetisering, hot och konstruktion. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur de nationella eliterna i Putins administration framställer globalisering som ett hot. Analysen genomförs som en kvalitativ diskursanalys av ett tiotal deklarationer av olika aktörer inom den ryska statsförvaltningen under Putins presidentperioder. Uppsatsen visar att dessa ryska aktörer ständigt porträtterar globalisering, mänskliga rättigheter, civilsamhälle och västvärlden som hot mot den ryska staten och Rysslands kultur och samhälle. Uppsatsen argumenterar att denna strategi har använts av de nationella eliterna för att legitimera inskränkandet av mänskliga fri- och rättigheter i Ryssland. Genom att påtvinga en definition av globalisering som ett hot har dessa inhemska aktörer kunnat säkra sina maktpositioner och få det ryska samhället att acceptera försämringar inom områden för de mänskliga rättigheter och politiska friheter i landet. / It is now well established that the human rights situation has worsened in Russia during Putin's presidency. Arbitrary arrests of human rights activists, increased state control of the Russian non-governmental organizations and the adoption of laws hostile to the LGBT community are just few examples of the more severe human rights climate in Russia since Vladimir Putin came to power in 1999. This essay, based on Aydinli´s theoretical model, places a particular focus on the concepts securitization, threat and construction. The purpose of this essay is to examine how the national elites in Putin's administration portrays globalization as a threat. The analysis is rendered by a qualitative discourse analysis of ten statements from different actors of Putin´s administration and shows that these actors constantly depict globalization, human rights, civil society and the West as threats to the Russian state, culture, and society. This strategy has used by the national elites to legitimize the restrictive measures adopted and preserve their accumulated power. By imposing a definition of globalization as a threat, they have been able to get the Russian society to accept a worsen human rights climate and less political rights.

I detta arbete har jag försökt utröna vilken bild av Ryssland som kommer till uttryck i de fyra största svenska dagstidningarnas (Aftonbladet, Expressen, Svenska Dagbladet och Dagens Nyheter) rapportering av konflikten i Georgien sommaren 2008. Med utgångspunkt i Sture Nilssons Rysskräcken i Sverige – Fördomar och verklighet  har jag konstruerat en idealtyp, bestående av begreppen fientlighet, rädsla och misstro . Med detta som analysverktyg har jag studerat den rapportering som skedde mellan 2008-08-08 – 2008-08-12, dvs. under den väpnade delen av konflikten. I denna rapportering har idealtypens begrepp med stor tydlighet varit representerade i både ledare och allmän rapportering, dock inte med alla aspekter som ingick i definitionen för fientlighet. Begreppet rädsla  har endast yttrats otvetydigt under den sista dagens rapportering. Rapporteringen har varit liknande i alla fyra tidningar till innehållet, dock med något starkare tendenser i lösnummerpressen (Aftonbladet och Expressen) och med större volym i Dagens Nyheter och Svenska Dagbladet. / In this essay I have attempted to determine what image of Russia was expressed in the largest newspapers in Sweden (Aftonbladet, Expressen, Svenska Dagbladet och Dagens Nyheter), during the conflict in Georgia in the summer of 2008. Starting with the image presented by Sture Nilsson in Rysskräcken i Sverige – Fördomar och verklighet, I have constructed an ideal consisting of the terms hostility, fear, and mistrust. These factors have then been used to analyse the reports between 2008-08-08 – 2008-08-12, which was the armed part of the conflict. I have found that the factors composing the ideal have been expressed clearly, in editorials as well as in news articles, with the exception of some of the factors that define hostility. The term fear  has only been expressed unequivocally in the last day’s reports. Reports have shown little variation between the different newspapers, although the tabloid press (Aftonbladet and Expressen) have expressed these tendencies slightly stronger, and the volume of reports have been noticeably larger in Svenska Dagbladet and Dagens Nyheter.

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.

Filmmediet idag är den mest populära formen av masskultur. Med sin världstäckande genomslagskraft och sitt stereotypa porträtterande av verklighet, påverkar filmen världsåskådningen för människor runtom i världen. Ett brinnande ämne i amerikansk film har alltid varit Ryssland, på grund av de politiska motsättningarna och den historiska rivaliteten med USA. Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur Ryssland porträtteras i amerikanska filmer från perioden för presidenterna Dmitrij Medvedevs respektive Barack Obamas första mandatperiod. Frågeställningen för uppsatsen är: hur ser stereotypa föreställningar om Ryssland ut i amerikansk film 2008-2011? Trettiotal filmer med ryska motiv valdes ut för undersökningen och analyserades utifrån de visuella och sociala aspekterna. Resultatet visar på att det förekommer tre skikt av stereotyper om Ryssland: de eviga, som har existerat i hundratals år och spridits av resenärer; stereotyper från epoken för det kalla kriget; och stereotyper om det moderna Ryssland inspirerade av medias nyhetsrapporteringar.

Seit Beginn der kriegerischen Auseinandersetzungen in der Ukraine und der anschließenden russischen Annexion der Krim ist das öffentliche Interesse an der neusten Geschichte Russlands und an Putins System international stark gestiegen. Auch im deutschsprachigen Raum sind in den letzten zwei Jahren auffällig viele Publikationen erschienen, die der aktuellen Situation in Russland und speziell dem russischen Machthaber gewidmet sind. Die Mehrheit dieser Veröffentlichungen stammt aus dem Gebiet der Journalistik oder Populärwissenschaft (Ewers, Philipp. 2015. Putin verstehen? : russische Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik der Ära Wladimir Putin; Reitschuster, Boris. 2016. Putins verdeckter Krieg; Bidder, Benjamin. 2016. Generation Putin: Das neue Russland verstehen, u. a.), aber auch einige Fachwissenschaftler wagen sich an die hochaktuelle Thematik, die weit über den wissenschaftlichen Bereich hinausführen kann.

Sweden has always had a special relationship with Russia. The countries have fought dozens of wars against each other, both in the Viking Age, the Middle Ages and the early modern period. This, according to many historians, led to the emergence of a russophobia in Sweden. It has now been over two hundred years ago since the last altercation between these countries, so does russophobia still exist in Sweden, and if not, what characterizes our perception of Russia today?   These are the types of questions that will be processed and answered in this press analytical study of the Swedish media's representation of Putin and Russia. The material studied consists of articles in two major Swedish newspapers from the period around the Russian presidential elections in 2000, 2004 and 2012, all of which were won by Putin.   A general conclusion is that the Swedish media image of Russia is strongly negative. The image of Putin was somewhat positive in the year 2000 but then became increasingly negative. I also found no evidence of russophobia. Although Russia is sometimes portrayed as militarily aggressive there’s nothing that suggest that Sweden should feel threatened.

The aim of the diploma thesis is to review the position of the Russian Federation in the post-Soviet area by means of the analysis of the Russian foreign policy in this region after the year 2000. The first chapter identifies the theoretical and methodological basis applied in the diploma thesis. The second chapter deals with the formulation of the Russian foreign policy after the dissolution of the USSR and its development in the 1990s. Subsequently, the third chapter contains the analysis of the Russian foreign policy in the post-Soviet area after the year 2000 based on four levels of analysis -- the international system level, the state level, the domestic influences level and the individual level. The forth chapter focuses on the analysis of the bilateral relations between Russia and post-Soviet republics on the other hand. With the aim to illustrate different approaches used in the Russian foreign policy in relation to various post-Soviet republics, the examples of Georgia and Armenia have been chosen. The last chapter provides the features of the Russian foreign policy in the post-Soviet area after the year 2008 in the light of the Foreign policy concept of the Russian Federation published in 2008.

The aim of this research is to critically analyse development of the Russian economy during the years 2000 - 2008 then examine the impact of the world economic crisis on the economy of Russia and mutual relations of Russia with the strategic foreign partners. The first part of this paper commences by undertaking a critical analysis of the economic progress during the government of V. Putin and a period before his apppointment to the presidency of Russia according to the evaluation of the macroeconomics indexes. The second passage is focused on the growth of the Russian economy during the world economic crisis up to current situation. The final part draws attention to the attitude of Russia to the important foreign partners such as EU and USA. It also identifies principal players in the Caspian region and analyses their task and goals in this area.

This thesis investigates the two major problems of poverty and corruption in post-Soviet Russia, by comparing Boris Yeltsin&rsquo / s and Vladimir Putin&rsquo / s terms of office. In order to do that, political and economic circumstances during these two presidents&rsquo / eras, the reasons of these two problems, and the consequences of certain policies adapted by these two presidents are focused on. The main argument of the thesis is to analyze interactively the certain conditions of poverty and corruption in the Russian Federation under the presidencies of both Yeltsin and Putin.