The aim of this thesis was to examine how the two Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter portrayed the actions of Russia, Vladimir Putin, Nato and their allies and Ukraine in the conflict surrounding the sovereignty of Crimea that started in 2014.Our study was based on 18 news articles from the start of the conflict up to august of 2015.The results showed that Russia is portrayed as the villian of the conflict. Aftonbladet portrayed the nation as a threat to Sweden and the rest of the western countries. Both papers tended to treat Russian sources with distrust, often choosing to interview Swedish experts on Russia rather than citing Russian sources. Vladimir Putin was portrayed as an evil dictator who set his own interests first and foremost. Both papers drew parallels between Putins way of ruling with the style of leadership in Soviet Russia.In both Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter, Nato and their allies actions are portrayed as self defence towards Russia. Their actions are justified and always put in a perspective towards the actions of the Russians.The nation of Ukraine are initially portrayed as victims of Russian aggression. A few months into the conflict the newspapers started to become more critical of the Ukrainian actions, but always put it into perspective towards russian actions.Our study shows that swedish media holds a critical view towards Russia and their actions.

National identity provides the interpretive framework through which foreign policy makers understand their role in the world and the actions of other states, and can also be utilized as a tool to mobilize public support behind foreign policy maneuvers. Foreign policy in turn is both shaped by constructions of national identity, and often used to forge and substantiate the narratives of national identity which best serve the regime’s domestic interests. This thesis will seek to establish the mutually constitutive relationship between national identity and foreign policy through an analysis of the interaction of these elements in the Russian Federation under President Vladimir Putin. Russian national identity will be considered in its formation with respect to the Historical, Internal, and External ‘Others’ in post-Soviet discourse originally identified by the constructivist analysis of Ted Hopf, with particular emphasis on the evolution of identity narratives disseminated from the Kremlin.

Infografia que resume los eventos cronológicos que desencadenaron el conflcto entre Rusia y Ucrania.

En esta publicación te resumimos los eventos cronológicos que desencadenaron el conflcto entre Rusia y Ucrania.

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.

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.

The thesis aims to discuss the process of nation-building and discourse of Russian nationalism of the Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2000 - 2008. It focuses on the rise of the nationalism in Russia since 2000 and analyzes discourse of nationalism at the state level, in culture and religious sphere, as well as its representation in various ultra right-wing political movements. The thesis argues that despite the ethnic elements in Vladimir Putin&rsquo / s discourse of Russian nationalism, his version of nationalism is not ethnic, but rather multiethnic and inclusive that seeks to promote loyalty to the Russian state among the Russian citizens without eliminating their ethnic identities. In fact, Putin&rsquo / s version of nationalism is multidimensional. Unlike ethnicity, religion and other cultural elements, the loyalty to the state constitute the core of this nationalism. The thesis comprises of four main chapters. After the introduction chapter, the second chapter examines the main projects of the Russian nation-building and identity construction that emerged after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, and explains which of them were chosen by the leadership of the republic. The third chapter focuses on the discussion of the nation-building under Boris Yeltsin. The fourth chapter is the analysis of Vladimir Putin&rsquo / s nation-building policy and his discourse of nationalism. The fifth chapter analyses the foreign policy of Vladimir Putin, paying attention to policy towards compatriots in the near abroad, countries of the CIS and West. The concluding chapter discusses the main findings of the thesis.

This thesis aims to examine the evolution of the discourse of Eurasianism and its impact on the formulation and implementation of post-Soviet Russian foreign policy. The thesis argues that both of Russia&rsquo / s post-Soviet leaders: Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin have used the discourse of neo-Eurasianism pragmatically whenever it suited Russia&rsquo / s interests. Moscow ignored this discourse when its foreign policy interests contradicted with the main tenets of this ideology. The thesis has five chapters. Following the introductory chapter, the second chapter explores the evolution of Eurasianism as a discourse and its main variants in post-Soviet era. The third chapter examines the relationship between the Eurasianist discourse and Russian foreign policy under Boris Yeltsin. The fourth chapter discusses the same relationship under Vladimir Putin. The concluding chapter evaluates the main findings of this thesis.

Researchers have referred to Vladimir Putin as a “History man”. It has been confirmed that he takes a great personal interest in history and frequently speaks about the topic. However, previous research has not taken account for how Putin gives his statements about history additional authority. One way in which he does this is by referring to archives and archival documents, thus giving his statements about history an additional aura of “truthfulness”. This essay aims to partially fill the gap in previous research by examining Putin’s statements about history and archives from a perspective of archival science by asking the following research questions: “How does Putin view archives and archival records?”, “What can archives be used for and what characteristics are they given by Putin?”. The theoretical and methodological basis for this essay is discourse analysis and Jörn Rüsen’s typology of historical narratives. By examining the discourses Vladimir Putin expresses and reproduces about archives insight has been gained into the way in which a prominent politician uses archives, how he views their function in society and what their characteristics are. As Vladimir Putin seemingly always speaks about archives in relation to history the latter could not be ignored, which is why Rüsens’ typology was used to examine what kind of historical narrative Putin expresses when speaking about archives. The analysis in this essay shows that Vladimir Putin has a strong belief in archives as mirrors of the past. According to the Russian President archives portray a completely accurate and unquestionable account for how history has unfolded. He dismisses any historical narrative that is not based on archival documents as politicized speculation. In Putin’s eyes archives also play a central role in preserving a common, national heritage for the entire Russian nation as a whole.

This essay will examine Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and two of his speeches. The first speech is the one he held after the annexation of Crimea 2014 and the second speech is the one he held on the night of the invasion of Ukraine 2022. The speeches will be analyzed with the help of the rational choice theory while using a qualitative theory-consuming case study. Further the analysis uses two tools from the rational choice theory, self-interest and utility maximization. The aim is to get an explanation of Vldaimir Putin through the view of rational choice theory. The conclusion shows that Vladimir Putin is rational when applying his self-interest and utility maximization in the speeches. He is well aware of how he portrays himself to get the public's attention.