In spite of the growing literature on discourse analysis, the relationship of discourse to violent/non-violent outcomes of conflict is an under-researched area. This book combines theories on ethnic conflict, identity construction and discourse analysis with a comprehensive and inclusive survey of the countries of the former Yugoslavia. It presents an understanding of the interrelationship between 'words' and 'deeds' grounded through an extensively close analysis of film, television and newspapers samples taken from the period. This combination of ground-breaking applications of theory with detailed empirical case studies will make Media Discourse and the Yugoslav Conflicts of key interest to scholars across a range of social sciences including sociology, discourse analysis, media, conflict and peace studies as well as those concerned with ethnopolitical conflict.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union has provided scholars with tremendously rich material for the study of comparative nation building. Not since the decolonization of Africa in the 1960s have so many new states been established in one stroke in one region. The post-Soviet states, moreover, have all the necessary prerequisites for fruitful comparis

In spite of the growing literature on discourse analysis, the relationship of discourse to violent/non-violent outcomes of conflict is an under-researched area. This book combines theories on ethnic conflict, identity construction and discourse analysis with a comprehensive and inclusive survey of the countries of the former Yugoslavia. It presents an understanding of the interrelationship between 'words' and 'deeds' grounded through an extensively close analysis of film, television and newspapers samples taken from the period. This combination of ground-breaking applications of theory with detailed empirical case studies will make Media Discourse and the Yugoslav Conflicts of key interest to scholars across a range of social sciences including sociology, discourse analysis, media, conflict and peace studies as well as those concerned with ethnopolitical conflict.

After the conflagration of Tito's Yugoslavia a medley of new and not-so-new states rose from the ashes. Some of the Yugoslav successor states have joined, or are about to enter, the European Union, while others are still struggling to define their national borders, symbols, and relationships with neighbouring states. Strategies of Symbolic Nation-building in South Eastern Europe expands upon the existing body of nationalism studies and explores how successful these nation-building strategies have been in the last two decades. Relying on new quantitative research results, the contributors offer interdisciplinary analyses of symbolic nation-building in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia to show that whereas the citizens of some states have reached a consensus about the nation-building project other states remain fragmented and uncertain of when the process will end. A must-read not only for scholars of the region but policy makers and others interested in understanding the complex interplay of history, symbolic politics, and post-conflict transition.

After the conflagration of Tito's Yugoslavia a medley of new and not-so-new states rose from the ashes. Some of the Yugoslav successor states have joined, or are about to enter, the European Union, while others are still struggling to define their national borders, symbols, and relationships with neighbouring states. Strategies of Symbolic Nation-building in South Eastern Europe expands upon the existing body of nationalism studies and explores how successful these nation-building strategies have been in the last two decades. Relying on new quantitative research results, the contributors offer interdisciplinary analyses of symbolic nation-building in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia to show that whereas the citizens of some states have reached a consensus about the nation-building project other states remain fragmented and uncertain of when the process will end. A must-read not only for scholars of the region but policy makers and others interested in understanding the complex interplay of history, symbolic politics, and post-conflict transition.

Lev Tolstoi was not only one of the world's most famous writers, he was also a deeply concerned thinker and hugely influential critic of the Church whose impact was felt long after his death. For an entire generation, Tolstoi set the agenda for ethical and religious thought, in Russia and beyond. Most of Tolstoi's main ideas drew on his Christian heritage - selected and creatively combined. While he claimed that his life's work consisted of rediscovering the pure doctrine of Christ as it had been before the Church perverted it, in fact he radically reinterpreted the Christian faith he had encountered in his own life, Russian Orthodoxy. This book offers a new and comprehensive account of Tolstoi's relationship with the Orthodox Church and its teachings, and shows how the Russian Church reacted to the "Tolstoi phenomenon" and attempted to counteract the influence of this new "heretic" - with scant success.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union has provided scholars with tremendously rich material for the study of comparative nation building. Not since the decolonization of Africa in the 1960s have so many new states been established in one stroke in one region. The post-Soviet states, moreover, have all the necessary prerequisites for fruitful comparison: a number of similarities, but also significant differences in terms of size, culture, and recent history. State leaders in all of the new states are making strenuous efforts to imbue their population with a sense of unity and common nationhood. The citizens, they believe, ought to adhere to some common values and common allegiance towards the same state institutions and symbols. Often but not always this means that all inhabitants should also share the same culture. Strategies to foster this kind of common nationhood in a population are usually referred to as 'nation building'. After a decade of post-Soviet nation building certain patterns are emerging, and not always the most obvious ones. Some states seem to manage well against high odds, while others appear to be disintegrating or sinking slowly into oblivion. To a remarkable degree the former Soviet republics have chosen different models for their nation building. This book examines the preconditions for these endeavors, the goals the state leaders are aiming at, and the means they employ to reach them.

With a new introductory theoretical chapter, the book collects thoroughly revised nine articles and book chapters based on Pal Kolsto's thirty years of study of nationalism and ethnic conflict in post-Soviet states. Kolsto examines how the drivers behind ethnic conflicts in the non-Russian republics were not only struggle for collective identities but also more mundane interests, such as competition for jobs and positions. He also analyses the transformations of Russian nationalism, both among the ruling elite and in the opposition, with a particular focus on the use of symbolism.Exploring nationalism as a pervasive feature of politics in the modern world, Kolsto argues that both state leaders and 'ethnic entrepreneurs' employ nationalist rhetoric and stratagems to further their political agendas and achieve particular goals. He examines some of the ways this is used as a political strategy and focuses both on nationalism at the societal level and as a state strategy.

Russian nationalism, previously dominated by 'imperial' tendencies - pride in a large, strong and multi-ethnic state able to project its influence abroad - is increasingly focused on ethnic issues. In 2014, Russia's annexation of Crimea and the subsequent violent conflict in Eastern Ukraine utterly transformed the nationalist discourse in Russia. This book provides an up-to-date survey of Russian nationalism as a political, social and intellectual phenomenon by leading Western and Russian experts in the field of nationalism studies. It includes case studies on migrantophobia; the relationship between nationalism and religion; nationalism in the media; nationalism and national identity in economic policy; nationalism in the strategy of the Putin regime as well as a survey-based study of nationalism in public opinion.

Why has social peace been preserved in some new, nationalizing countries in Eastern Europe and broken down in others? While civil peace has reigned in Estonia, Moldova experienced a bloody civil war in 1992, claiming more than a thousand casualties. These two states in question share a number of common characteristics, but there is one important difference. National Integration and Violent Conflict in Post-Soviet Societies analyzes processes of nation-building and ethnic integration in Estonia and Moldova in order to increase our general understanding of how social peace remains strong in one place and disintegrates in another. Chapters employ both 'on the ground' empirical studies and a strong theoretical framework to discuss theories on ethnic violence in the modern world and their possible relevance for these two cases. Additionally, the results of two large-scale surveys and four country chapters written by scholars living and working in Moldova and Estonia round out the book's exploration of each country's similarities and differences. The resulting volume contributes to a better understanding of national integration process in Estonia and Moldova and of national integration and communal violence in general.

Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 marked a watershed in post-Cold War European history and brought East-West relations to a low. At the same time, by selling this fateful action in starkly nationalist language, the Putin regime achieved record-high popularity. This book shows how, after the large-scale 2011-2013 anti-Putin demonstrations in major Russian cities and the parallel rise in xenophobia related to the Kremlin's perceived inability to deal with the influx of Central Asian labour migrants, the annexation of Crimea generated strong 'rallying around the nation' and 'rallying around the leader' effects. The contributors to this collection go beyond the news headlines to focus on overlooked aspects of Russian society such as intellectual racism and growing xenophobia. These developments are contextualised with an overview of Russian nationalism: state-led, grassroots and the tensions between the two.

Explores the momentous changes that have taken place in the Russian nationalism since Putin's return to the presidencyRussia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 marked a watershed in post-Cold War European history and brought East West relations to a low. At the same time, by selling this fateful action in starkly nationalist language, the Putin regime achieved record-high popularity. This book shows how, after the large-scale 2011 13 anti-Putin demonstrations in major Russian cities and the parallel rise in xenophobia related to the Kremlin's perceived inability to deal with the influx of Central Asian labour migrants, the annexation of Crimea generated strong 'rallying around the nation' and 'rallying around the leader' effects. The contributors to this collection go beyond the news headlines to focus on overlooked aspects of Russian society such as intellectual racism and growing xenophobia. These developments are contextualised with an overview of Russian nationalism: state-led, grassroots and the tensions between the two.ContributorsHelge Blakkisrud, Senior Researcher and Head of the Research Group on Russia, Eurasia and the Arctic, at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), Oslo, Norway. J. Paul Goode, Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) of Russian Politics at the University of Bath, UK. Robert Horvath, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Politics and Philosophy at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. Eleanor Knott, Fellow in Qualitative Methodology, and from September 2017 an Assistant Professor in the Department of Methodology at the London School of Economics, UK. Pal Kolsto, Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Oslo. Michael Komin, Senior Expert at the Centre for Strategic Research in Moscow, and holds an MA degree in Political Science from the National Research University Higher School of Economics in St Petersburg, Russia. Alexandra Kuznetsova, PhD candidate at the Arthur V. Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, and an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political and Social Studies, Kazan National Research Technological University, Russia. Andrey Makarychev, Guest Professor at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Science, University of Tartu, Estonia. Emil Pain, Director General of the Centre for Ethno-Political and Regional Studies, Moscow, and Professor of Political Science, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow. Eduard Ponarin, Director of the Laboratory for Comparative Social Research and Professor of Sociology at the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow. Caress Schenk, an Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan.Sergey Sergeev, Professor and Head of the Department of Social and Political Conflict Studies at Kazan National Research Technological University and Professor at the Political Science Department, Kazan Federal University, Russia.Yuri Teper, Israel Science Foundation (ISF) postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Sofia Tipaldou, Marie Curie Research Fellow at the University of Manchester, UK. Alexander Verkhovsky, Director of SOVA Center for Information and Analysis, Moscow. Alexandra Yatsyk, Alexander Herzen Junior Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, Austria, and Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Uppsala University, Sweden.

Russian nationalism, previously dominated by 'imperial' tendencies - pride in a large, strong and multi-ethnic state able to project its influence abroad - is increasingly focused on ethnic issues. In 2014, Russia's annexation of Crimea and the subsequent violent conflict in Eastern Ukraine utterly transformed the nationalist discourse in Russia. This book provides an up-to-date survey of Russian nationalism as a political, social and intellectual phenomenon by leading Western and Russian experts in the field of nationalism studies. It includes case studies on migrantophobia; the relationship between nationalism and religion; nationalism in the media; nationalism and national identity in economic policy; nationalism in the strategy of the Putin regime as well as a survey-based study of nationalism in public opinion.

Vladimir Putin has explicitly based his nation-building initiatives on the assumption that there exists a vast pool of common values in Russia that cut across ethnic and regional divides. Nation-Building and Common Values in Russia explores whether Putin is correct in his assumption, and to what degree a "commonality of values" among the citizens of a country is a crucial element in the establishment of a common identity among them. The study raises two basic questions: Which values are actually common among various groups in Russia's population? And which nation-building strategies are the Russian authorities actually pursuing, centrally and locally? Sociological and political approaches to the study of nation-building and national cohesion in Russia are employed to answer these questions, and the findings contribute to a better understanding of nation-building processes in post-Communist Russia in general and of Putin's strategies in particular.

Vladimir Putin has explicitly based his nation-building initiatives on the assumption that there exists a vast pool of common values in Russia that cut across ethnic and regional divides. Nation-Building and Common Values in Russia explores whether Putin is correct in his assumption, and to what degree a 'commonality of values' among the citizens of a country is a crucial element in the establishment of a common identity among them. The study raises two basic questions: Which values are actually common among various groups in Russia's population? And which nation-building strategies are the Russian authorities actually pursuing, centrally and locally? Sociological and political approaches to the study of nation-building and national cohesion in Russia are employed to answer these questions, and the findings contribute to a better understanding of nation-building processes in post-Communist Russia in general and of Putin's strategies in particular.