Ukraine shares a long history with Russia. In the early 21th century, Ukrainians wanted a freer Ukraine. Therefore the orange revolution started in 2004 by the Ukrainians and had a positive outcome. The situation later became worse because of the economic crisis in 2008 and a corrupt president. The pro-western politician Petro Poroshenko was elected to become president in 2014.

In this paper I will examine the five Pussy Riot music videos that the group has published online on their official You Tube website. I will examine them through a ?gender lens? looking at their visual representations of gender vis-à-vis the hegemonic gender discourse in Russia. In addition I will examine their potential effects and if/how these visual representations can be understood as resistance.In my study I will take on a constructionist approach and the main theories being used to understand and analyze the Pussy Riot music videos are discourse- and representational theory including deconstruction, performativity and the social construction of gender as well as ?in-between? and deviant representations.

Suicide research has a long tradition within sociology. Parallel to the Durkheimian tradition, seeking the causes of suicide in societal factors, a more cultural understanding of suicide has been emphasized. Attitudes to suicide have been stressed as important for the understanding of suicide mortality levels in different societies. For Russia, where suicide mortality levels are among the highest in the world, an understanding of this kind might be of particular importance.Based on a survey study from Moscow 2004, attitudes to suicide were studied in relation to social, economic and demographic factors as well as to attitudes to other morally disputable behaviors. Suicide attitudes in different age and sex groups in the sample were further compared to suicide mortality levels in the corresponding groups in the population.

In this paper I attempt to analyze the ways the European Union defines its external borders in cross-border co-operation with its neighbours. The analysis is based on case study examining the founding components of a updated version of the Northern Dimension policy of the European Union.The analytical framework of the study is composed of three different perceptions on the cross-border co-operation; regionalisation, integration and flexible integration. I conclude that the model of cross-border co-operation laid by the Northern Dimension policy would have an impact on the EU's external border with Russia, making it more flexible and vague.As far as the geographical terms of the co-operation are concerned, they seem to shift from regional co-operation to greater emphasis the role of networks as basis for co-operation instead of traditional regions..

Uppsats för avläggande av filosofie kandidatexamen iKulturvård, Bebyggelseantikvariskt program15 hpInstitutionen för kulturvårdGöteborgs universitet2014:13.

The Russian-Georgian war of 2008 drastically changed Europe´s and Sweden´s political climate.Russiashowed that it is capable of successfully completing complex campaigns including ground, naval and air assets. However, not much has been said about the theoretical framework and doctrine of the Russian military of today. Even less has been researched about Russian use of air power and applied air theory. Are air power assets still considered primarily as support of ground offensives or has the theoretical framework changed?John A.

The purpose of this essay is to examine why some countries in the world decided to support Kosovo?s declaration of independence in 2008, while others did not. The essay is a type of case study, with Kosovo?s independence as the main focus. For the purpose of the essay, main focus will be on the United States of America, Russia, China and Serbia.

The war between Georgia and Russia awakened the world pretty brutally when a small country like Georgia tried to restore order in South Ossetia. The war between the two countries took place over five days in August 2008. This paper discusses the Russian operational art and its development after the war. The starting point is to test the traditional and classic Russian theory of operational art. The aim is to describe and discuss the Russian operational experience and any developments and trends in the Russian Federation's armed forces. The purpose of describing the theory behind the operational art is to create an independent analysis model. The essay?s analysis is based entirely from qualitative research with the collection of qualitative data in the form of texts and documents with a holistic perspective. Initially, the theory chapter is created from an inductive approach to identify, define and describe the operational concept and principles, creating a theoretical model of explanation. The developed analytical model is based on the Russian theory of operational art and takes off from a deductive approach to the collected empirical data. The results of the performed analysis results are interpreted and the product of this presented in the operational conclusions. Russia had a strategic ability to win the war by means of strategic resources related to tempo, simplicity and shock effect on the Georgian troops. Russia carries out a variety of reforms and the outcome of the war demonstrates the importance of Russia having a strategic capacity to make use of one in the type of conflict that Georgia represents. This success shows that the strategic capabilities are initially a success factor, while the deficiencies in the operational and tactical levels cannot be accepted in the long run, but must be developed.

AbstractThis thesis analyzes the Russian Foreign Policy Doctrine from a broad theoretical perspective, with the aim of describing and explaining the doctrine using a number of theoretical approaches. Russia's foreign policy has undergone substantial changes since Vladimir Putin became president in the year 2000, involving a radical shift in foreign policy objectives and thereby moving away from the more confrontational and distrusting policies which characterized the Boris Jeltsin regime. Putins doctrine, based on pragmatism and seeking partnership and collaboration with the West, can be described as a near revolutionary re-orientation of Russia's foreign policy guidelines, meaning a transformation of the country's self image which implies a rejection of great power status and a search for a new role in the international community.Our thesis has examined explanatory variables such as the domestic political situation in Russia, the contemporary international system and President Vladimir Putins system of beliefs in order to describe and explain the doctrine. Our results show that the doctrine is largely a product of Putins personality, values and beliefs, but also to a large extent a consequence of necessities, namely the poor Russian economy and the fact that the country no longer can withstand an all out conflict with the West involving an excessive arms race.Keywords: Vladimir Putin, pragmatism, realism, domestic politics, radical change..

The purpose of this study was to examine and explain Sweden?s defence and security policy during the twenty-first century. The method that was used in this research was a case study. The material that was used were government documents focusing on this area of policy, and numerous books concerning the theoretical perspectives on international relations and defence security policy. The study is of an explaining art and the analysis explains Sweden?s security and defence policy during the twenty-first century. The analysis explains this by testing it against a liberal and a realist view on international relations. The conclusion of the study is that Sweden?s defence and security policy has been liberal during this time period ? and still is.

In May 2004 eight former communist countries (EU-8) with close historical trade ties to Russia joined the European Union. According to integration theory, we expect that Russia ? a so called third country ? in some cases may suffer from trade diversion due to this. This thesis focuses on the possible effects on Russian trade resulting from the 2004 eastern enlargement of the European Union. It aims to find out whether any evidence of trade diversion can be found.

This is a tale about energy and power. It describes the geographer Halford Mackinder?s geopolitical theories and compares them with current views outlined by Zbigniew Brzezinski and Michael T Klare, among others. With a critical approach it also provides a historical account of a Europe that stands in front of an energy struggle so severe that the current world order seems destined to fall. Oil and natural gas, has since the beginning of the 20th century, been used as a geopolitical tool in order to create dependence, control and even sometimes overthrow empires.

The Swedish security policy has changed from stressing neutrality to embrace co-operation within the EU and other organisations. New threats like terrorism, boarder-crossing criminality and natural disasters require new ways to deal with this type of problems to protect the society. Since the beginning of 21st century the high Russian economic growth has made it possible for the country to play an increasingly role as a superpower on the international political stage. In the same time the democratic development has been replaced by an autocratic rule which has obstructed the Russian- European relations. From a Swedish security policy view the Russian political development is of importance and the picture of Russian as a threat has changed from 1996 to 2008/09.

This study in political science examines the UN adopted resolution 1970 (2011) andresolution 1973 (2011) on the basis of foreign policy decision-making. The study aims toexplain how the UN principle of Responsibility to Protect came to be legitimized for the firsttime by the UN Security Council in the Libya conflict in 2011. By a poliheuristic perspectivethe study attempt to explain Russia and China?s acting in the voting of resolution 1970 andresolution 1973. The background to the conflict in Libya 2011 is presented in the study aswell as the Security Council?s actions during the conflict, from the beginning of the conflictuntil the adoption of resolution 1973.

The aim of this essay is to study diaries and letters from Swedish soldiers during the Great Nordic War, more specifically those written during the campaign 1707-1721 against Russia, in search of religious coping and religious parables. The theoretic framework is evolved around Kenneth Pargament?s theory about religious coping, and Ana-Maria Rizzuto?s theory about object relations. The method used can be described as hermeneutic.The questions at hand were:- How did Swedish soldiers during the war against Russia relate to God, and express image of God and religious concepts?- Did the soldiers express themselves in terms of spiritual coping and in that case to what extent?The conclusions were that the soldiers used religious coping as a method of survival.