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on Confederation of Independent States |
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Issue of 2020‒10‒19
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Minesashvili, Salome |
| Abstract: | Since the 1990s, the notion of belonging to Europe has been embedded in a number of the former Soviet states' domestic discourses. These European identity discourses are highly contested, both domestically and internationally, and operate beyond the European Union community, giving the European identity concept its peculiar character. At the same time, these states have been through turbulent times and numerous crises since the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, due to a lack of comparative and longitudinal studies on these discourses, not much is known whether and how these reconstructed images of the European Self have been changing. This paper examines the development of European identity discourse based on the case of Ukraine. The posed question is empirically explored by a study of Ukrainian mass media discourse on European identity for the period of 2004-2017. Changes in the discourse are examined in the context of domestic and foreign political developments in order to uncover the conditions that instigate change in identity notions and contesation around them. The paper finds that while the contestation persists over time, it can fluctuate depending on the event. During the given time period, the Orange Revolution and the war with Russia have resulted in the most significant changes when the contestation changes in favor of the pro-European discourse, which becomes dominant at the expense of the anti-European one. |
| Keywords: | European identity,Ukraine,color revolution,Russo-Ukrainian war |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ekhdps:220&r=all |
| By: | P.B. Craik |
| Abstract: | The term ‘information war’ (IW) first came to public consciousness following the bizarre set of events surrounding Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. Since then, despite significant popular and academic interest in the topic, the nature of its deployment and the set of motivations behind it remain poorly understood. This paper seeks to address this. In it I argue that the Russian IW programme is best understood as an attempt to weaponize postmodernism. By this I intend not the aggressive advocacy of a set of intellectual postulates, but the promotion of a psychological weariness or scepticism that resembles what we might call the postmodern condition. Its aim, I argue, is to aid in the establishment of a multipolar international order, one that insulates the Putin regime against the spread of ideas disruptive to its rule at home. |
| Keywords: | Russia, Putin, European Union, information warfare, RT intergovernmentalism |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eiq:eileqs:146&r=all |
| By: | Melianova, Ekaterina; Parandekar, Suhas; Patrinos, Harry Anthony; Volgin, Artëm |
| Abstract: | This paper presents new estimates of the returns to education in the Russian Federation using data from 1994 to 2018. Although the returns to schooling increased for a time, they are now much lower than the global average. Private returns to education are three times greater for higher education compared with vocational education, and the returns to education for females are higher than for males. Returns for females show an inverse U-shaped curve over the past two decades. Female education is a policy priority and there is a need to investigate the labor market relevance of vocational education. Higher education may have reached an expansion limit, and it may be necessary to investigate options for increasing the productivity of schooling. |
| Keywords: | Returns to Education,Russian Federation |
| JEL: | I26 I28 J16 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:674&r=all |