CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Ihnatenko, Oleksandr |
|---|---|
| Title | The Soviet 1955 Decision to Accept Foreign Tourists: An Ontological Insecurity Explanation |
| Summary | Why is it that in 1955 the Kremlin decided to encourage foreigners to come as tourists to the Soviet Union? In a search for an answer, I embark on a turbulent trip through the fields of ontological insecurity, which becomes my theoretical framework. I go down the bizarre worlds of post-war Soviet society, which presents me with the empirical material. Finally, I arrive to the halls of 1954 Writer’s Congress of the Soviet Union, where battles are fought for how much foreign is acceptable. At the end of this journey, I come to a conclusion that many individuals living in the Soviet Union after the Second World War were experiencing ontological insecurity, while the death of Stalin enabled them to communicate this through the literary circles to the corridors of power. The expansion of what was considered legitimate foreignness into the touristic realm is, I argue, a result of this process. I believe that this historical study challenges the conventional understanding of “soft power” and, thereby, has an implication for the contemporary policy of Transatlantic allies vis-à-vis Russia – it is illegitimate foreignness which challenges an isolationist regime and not just foreignness as such. Conditions must be formed to force the Russian regime to make bigger areas of foreignness illegitimate. |
| Supervisor | Merlingen, Michael |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/ihnatenko_oleksandr.pdf |
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