CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2022
| Author | Lagidze, Marita |
|---|---|
| Title | The Imagery of Russia's Humanitarianism - A Critical Geopolitical Approach and the Case of the Intervention in Syria |
| Summary | The thesis addresses the puzzle of the duality of Russia’s foreign policy regarding humanitarianism and the contradictory use of the humanitarian doctrine in its internal discourse around the intervention in Syria. The main argument presented is that standard explanations in the literature about how Russian humanitarianism works are insufficient to fully make sense of the humanitarian claims of Moscow. Materialistic and ideological foundations, as well as a widespread view that attempts of Russia to represent itself as a humanitarian actor to a great extent is a parody, mimicry, and mocking of the West, are limited since they do not allow looking at the issue from Russia’s own lens. Instead, the thesis applies a critical affective geopolitical framework and argues that the construction of Russia as a humanitarian actor is a spatial project which sets up a specific geopolitical imaginary. Using the thematic analysis of articles from two Russian pro-government newspapers, eight generic themes are identified, allowing to assemble humanitarian geopolitical imagery of Russia, which is being constructed and reconstructed with an aim to create a specific mindset, values, and ideals that will prepare grounds for political legitimization and moral justification of foreign policy decisions of Russia. |
| Supervisor | Kurowska, Xymena |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2022/lagidze_marita.pdf |
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