Central and East European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (CEERES) – Master’s Theses

Selle kollektsiooni püsiv URIhttps://hdl.handle.net/10062/66593

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A ‘Telegram Revolution’: the impact of digital authoritarianism on political mobilization in Belarus since the 2020 protests
(Tartu Ülikool, 2024) Van Hooft, Laura; Cheskin, Ammon, juhendaja; Zubek, Marcin, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
Amid the surge of anti-regime protests in 2020 in Belarus, Telegram played an important role in protest mobilization and coordination, and drew widespread (academic) attention. However, existing literature focused merely on the active mobilization phase, leaving a void in understanding the platform’s evolution beyond 2020, particularly in the face of escalating authoritarian practices. The main aim of this research is to understand how this increased authoritarianism has impacted political mobilization efforts on Telegram in Belarus between August 2020 and September 2023. Based on semi-structured interviews with five administrators of Telegram channels, this thesis investigates how this increased repression has impacted activists and users’ online behavior on Telegram, and opportunities for political mobilization. Employing an inductive qualitative content analysis, this study reveals that over time, the regime’s legislative reforms, increased surveillance, repression and misinformation transformed Telegram’s role from a space for political mobilization and protest coordination, to predominantly a source to reach uncensored information. The participatory culture that previously characterized Telegram, and its status as a ‘free space’, have disappeared, challenging the optimistic perspectives prevalent in earlier literature. Even though the effects of the protests linger, the shrinking public space has led to depoliticization, diminishing prospects for political mobilization on Telegram in Belarus. Nevertheless, the online space remains comparatively more free than the offline space, remaining as the only possible trajectory for potential mobilization in the country.
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A divided nation? Production and reproduction of national di/visions in Hungarian diaspora politics (2010–2019)
(Tartu Ülikool, 2020) Royer, Laura; Piirimäe, Eva, juhendaja; Kołodziej, Jacek, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
Since the democratic transition in the early nineties, successive Hungarian governments have sought to engage and support the Hungarian diaspora outside the borders of the state. This commitment to creating a diaspora community tied to an imagined motherland can be conceptualised as diaspora politics. Whilst diaspora politics should be differentiated from what is often referred to as nationalist politics, they are always concerned with the place of the diaspora in relation to the nation. In that regard, it can be said that diaspora politics – and the actors taking part in them – play a role in processes of nation-production, insofar as they contribute to the conservation or modifications of the principles of visions and divisions of the national world. Although diaspora politics have been an important feature of Hungarian politics for almost thirty years, the establishment of a Fidesz-KDNP government in 2010 constitutes a key moment in the development of Hungarian diaspora politics. The new government seized the pre-existing diaspora political institutions and developed a wide range of new laws, programmes, and institutions representing the Hungarian diaspora as embedded into the wider Hungarian nation. Drawing upon Pierre Bourdieu’s key political concepts, this thesis inquires how Hungarian diaspora politics between 2010 and 2019 have contributed to the production and reproduction of Hungarian national di/visions. Through an analysis of major laws, documents, institutions, programmes, and publications related to Hungarian diaspora politics between 2010 and 2019, it is argued that the development of a new legal and institutional framework for Hungarian diaspora politics since 2010 has provided the means to produce, reproduce, and legitimate the integration and dissolution of the diaspora in a redefined Hungarian nation. Furthermore, taking as a case study the journal Minority Studies edited by the Research Institute for Hungarian Communities Abroad (NPKI) between 2013 and 2016, this thesis contends that this diaspora integration has taken place through the redefinition of the boundaries of the national world. Specifically, the production of a renewed Hungarian nation has been permitted by the representations of historical, cultural, and political principles of national di/visions.
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‘A Horseshoe in Crisis’ - To what extent do German populist far-right and far-left parties converge in times of crises?
(Tartu Ülikool, 2024) Weber, Paro Olefile; Duro, Jozsef, juhendaja; Hardman, Helen, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
As the world began seeing light at the end of the tunnel with lockdowns ending and a global recovery in sight, Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 catapulting the world into the next crisis sending shockwaves worldwide. The war crimes committed in Ukraine, have forced the European states to act internationally, as well as domestically. Considering the presence of such crises, this paper provides an insight into the strategies and policies national populist parties adopt. In doing so, this study focuses on the German populist far-right party AfD and populist far-left party Die Linke, comparatively measuring their agreement on a variety of policy topics surrounding the 2022 Ukraine War and comparing it to those of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis. A comprehensive theoretical framework discusses the main concepts, and the objectives of this study based on previous literature. The collected data consists of segments of parliamentary speeches members of the German parliament across 17 to 33 months. The methodology comprises of 3 instruments including a stance analysis of speech as primary method. The use of manifestos from the MARPOR database serve the measurement of the concept populism and an analysis of legislative roll call votes as an additional step to identify consistency between stances from speeches and stances from legislative voting. While this study expected causation between the presence of crises and populist party stance convergence, findings were limited to minor similarities, displaying insufficient convergence across both crises. The paper nonetheless contributes to a wider understanding of populism’s relationship to crises and the strategies it warrants for populist parties to employ in times of societal turmoil.
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A new type of de‐democratisation: the influence of Covid‐19 pandemics on the democratic backsliding of Georgia
(Tartu Ülikool, 2023) Lepsveridze, Dachi; Orzechowska‐Wacławska, Joanna, juhendaja; Hardman, Helen, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
This thesis aims to study and analyse the dynamics of democratic backsliding in Georgia during the Covid‐19 pandemic in 2020 while focusing mainly on government activities and initiatives. Since 2012, when the Georgian Dream political party secured a sweeping victory in the Parliamentary Elections, Georgia had found herself on the track of democratic backsliding, which continued up to 2020, when the country was plunged into Covid‐19 management. Since the beginning of the Covid‐19 pandemic, the Georgian government has got access to excessive emergency power first by imposing the State of Emergency and then making some of the most controversial and anti‐constitutional amendments within the law, which included not only the amending the existing laws, but also introducing the regulations, decrees, and restrictions. To achieve this goal of the paper and answer the research question ‐ Has Covid‐19 accelerated the democratic backsliding process in Georgia in 2020, and how? – I will try to provide an empirical study analysing the pandemic‐related developments in Georgia in 2020. To reach the paper’s objectives, I will study and analyse the laws, regulations, decrees, and restrictions issued in connection with Covid‐19 management. First, I will provide the background context and the theoretical framework for the study. Then, the thesis will feature the methodological chapter, breaking down all the steps and methods I plan to employ. The final chapters will be dedicated to the empirical findings and conclusion.
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A powder keg once more?: Contemporary separatist movements in Bosnia & Herzegovina and how it may reshape the Western Balkans
(Tartu Ülikool, 2023) MacBride, Cameron Baillie; Repovac-Nikšić, Valida, juhendaja; Kursani, Shpend, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
The aim of this thesis project was to analyse views held by political representatives from select nations on contemporary issues affecting Bosnia and Herzegovina. Therefore, the key focus of this thesis was on the pressing issue of the potential secession of the Republika Srpska entity from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Other factors such as political representation, foreign interference, and the standing of Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of the international community, were brought in and analysed to examine how these issues may be affecting the potential for Republika Srpska secession. As part of this, qualitative data was gathered through an interview process, within which 9 interviews took place between March-May 2023 across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia. The final analysis of gathered responses highlighted clear disagreement along ethnic lines on not only the potential, but feasibility of an eventual secession attempt being attempted by the current Republika Srpska administration. Furthermore, disagreement was found between different ethnic groups on the role of foreign actors and the international community within Bosnia and Herzegovina. More specifically, different groups viewed international actors, namely Russia and Turkey, in various ways, with some seeing them as their people’s closest ally, and some, their greatest hindrance to development. However, most interviewees from all backgrounds agreed on the need for stronger integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina into the international community, namely implementing political reforms in order to eventually attain membership of the European Union.
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A strongman at home is a strongman abroad? Investigating operational codes of Aliaksandr Lukašenka and Donald Trump
(Tartu Ülikool, 2020) Azarkevich, Yahor; Kołodziej, Jacek, juhendaja; McNamara, Eoin Micheál, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
With the decline of democracy in the world and accompanying rise of political strongmen, the demand for studies which would uncover peculiarities of the illiberal ruling has increased. While more researches indeed started to investigate different types of regimes and autocratic leaders, the level of their sophistication yet remains low. This thesis aims to contribute— within the extent of available resources—to the emerging literature on strongman rule and considers the belief systems of two well-known strongmen: Aliaksandr Lukašenka and Donald Trump. This research adopts the operational code analysis and hence focuses on the leaders’ foreign policy decisions. It argues that while the incumbent presidents of Belarus and the United States might indeed be strongmen at home, they are not ones abroad. This study discovers that the considered leaders possess low strongmen tendencies when dealing with their major international counterparts—Russia and China, hypothetically for the same reason. Lukašenka aims to sustain friendly and cooperative relations with these two due to the dependence of his regime on the external financial assistance, while Trump is also interested in maintaining favourable economic ties between world’s major economies. Overall, however, Lukašenka is more consistent in his beliefs across time, counterparts and speech genres, supposedly as the authoritarian system he operates in allows to disregard any domestic constrains to his foreign policy. Trump, on the other hand, manifests higher beliefs fluctuation as probably aims to satisfy internal political demands without abandoning his genuine opinion. There is hope that the findings of this study will help developing strategies for the struggle against illiberalism which rapidly consolidates across the globe.
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Across the “curtain” and within the “bloc” – political opinion of Maoist parties and organizations in Central and East Europe from the perspective of international politics
(Tartu Ülikool, 2024) Xu, Risheng; Zoltán, Balázs, juhendaja; Unkovski-Korica, Vladimir, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
This thesis explores the political opinion of Maoist parties and organizations in Central and East Europe. As an important topic in the field of Cold War studies, considerable amounts of research on the global Maoism and Maoist movement are concentrated on the developed world of the West and the vast developing world of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Yet for the Central and East Europe at the frontier of the Cold War confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union, Maoist movement of this region has been little studied comparatively. The recent years witnessed the gradual growth of related studies about the Maoist movement in Central and East Europe, but most of the limited literature mainly tried to outline the major historical timeline of the Maoist movement or to give overview about the lives of specific leaders of the CEE Maoist group but lacks deeper analysis of their organizational documents concerning their political programme and opinion as organized group. The thesis tries to focus on Maoist political parties and organizations emerged within the Eastern Bloc and make a detailed analysis of their crucial document defining the core proposition of their organizations with special attention to the substance of their theoretical principle and claiming proposal in the replenishment of factual outline from existing literature. By examining the global and regional geopolitical environments, combined with a closer look from international and domestic level at the selected key documents of the CEE Maoist organizations with common theme defining their political identity and proposition, it is an attempt trying to contribute a little bit in pushing from “Was it (Maoism) there?” towards deeper and closer inspection at “Why and What were they (Maoist) struggling (for) there?”
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“Acts of translation”: travelling postmemory of the holocaust in Ukraine
(Tartu Ülikool, 2023) Perkis, Amy; Kowalski, Krzysztof, juhendaja; Pääbo, Heiko, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
This dissertation utilises the concepts of travelling memory and postmemory to analyse three 21st century narratives of the Holocaust in Ukraine by members of the Ukrainian Jewish diaspora: Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Everything is Illuminated (2002), Katja Petrowskaja’s literary memoir Vielleicht Esther: Geschichten (Maybe Esther: Histories) and Dash Art’s performance piece Songs for Babyn Yar (2020-2022). Literature and fictional media have been seen as important containers of historical memory by scholars such as Marianne Hirsch, whose concept of ‘postmemory’ emphasises the role of imaginative investment in processing the traumatic memories of previous generations. This dissertation links postmemory with Astrid Erll’s ‘travelling memory’, unpacking how the chosen works use physical and metaphorical travel to process family histories of the Holocaust in Ukraine. Across three vectors of analysis, Travels through Space, Travels through Time and Travels across Traumatic Borders, I examine the complex process of accessing cross-border and multi-lingual histories, showing how travel forms part of a wider process of ‘working through’ and opens up possibilities for imaginative time travel or the creative remixing of difficult histories. With the ‘Holocaust by Bullets’ still relatively marginalised within both Ukrainian memory and global Holocaust narratives, I also argue that these creative works provide models for subverting paradigms of competitive memory and incorporating the Holocaust in Ukraine within European and trans-Atlantic Holocaust narratives.
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Agent and structure: a neoclassical realist approach to the Second Karabakh War
(Tartu Ülikool, 2023) Castro Nogueira, Larissa de; Pavlenishvili, Nino, juhendaja; Kentros Klyszcz, Ivan Ulises, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
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An analysis of successful cooperation strategies towards ethnic reconciliation between international and domestic civil society in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina
(Tartu Ülikool, 2024) Driessen, Danae; Repovac-Nikšić, Valida, juhendaja; Bernard, Sara, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
This research explores the notion of reconciliation and its application in Bosnia and Herzegovina by civil society actors. Not only does it attempt to define what reconciliation means to actors on the ground and how it should be approached, but this author also delves into the challenges of various civil society actors operating in a limited area for the same goal. The aim of this project is to shed light on several misunderstandings and assumptions about civil society and reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but more importantly to listen to what experts on-site think and offer recommendations for improvement as well as filling gaps in the literature about the more practical side of reconciliation.
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“An unjust transition is not sustainable”. Climate justice and the effects of hydropower expansion in Georgia under Georgian Dream
(Tartu Ülikool, 2023) O’Sullivan, Hannah; Mühlfried, Florian, juhendaja; Prina, Federica, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
This research examines the prevalence of climate justice in Georgia’s hydropower sector under the current Georgian Dream government. Georgia is a country highly dependent on its hydropower resources in efforts to increase its energy security, but how this energy policy affects people and planet is not widely examined. A discourse analysis of existing literature was incorporated into data from reports and interviews. This research finds that there has been a significant improvement in the legislation which exists around climate and hydropower issues in Georgia in recent years to facilitate a more just energy system, but the implementation of this legislation is severely lacking. As such, there are limited signs of climate justice in the hydropower sector in Georgia. By applying the three tenets of climate justice; distributive, recognitional, and procedural, this research explores how both people and planet are affected by hydropower expansion, as well as alternative renewable energies which could be included in Georgia’s electricity balance.
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Analysing the Korean diaspora: a case study of Koryo-saram and Sakhalin Koreans
(Tartu Ülikool, 2022) Jung, Hyogyeong; Banaszkiewicz, Magdalena, juhendaja; Unkovski-Korica, Vladimir, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
Koryo-saram and Sakhalin Koreans are ethnic Koreans living in the post-Soviet countries. This paper tries to clarify the terminology regarding these ethnic Koreans in the post-Soviet countries through the diaspora theory, and analyze them further with the concept of the ‘Korean diaspora’ and ‘the place of diaspora’. The research took Small-N comparison and case study method by reviewing Korean, Russian, and English literature. By analysing the Soviet Korean diaspora through ‘homeland-host country-international society’ framework with political, economic and social aspects, ‘the place of diaspora’ is visualised.
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As above, so below: communicating foundational myths through monuments. A comparative study of Piłsudski Square (Warsaw) and Independence Square (Kyiv)
(Tartu Ülikool, 2021) Ukhov, Sergei; Kowalski, Krzysztof, juhendaja; Pääbo, Heiko, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
Between 2014 and 2015, Ukraine and Poland experienced drastic political reconfigurations, when the former saw the Revolution of Dignity conducted by grassroots groups, and the latter saw the electoral triumph of the conservative party Law and Justice. The two new powers, contrasting in their nature and goals, almost immediately began to perpetuate political myths that legitimised their rule through various tools of politics of memory, which was etched into the urban cultural landscape of Kyiv and Warsaw, not exclusively, by means of the erection of new monuments. This study explores the discourses communicated by monuments originating on the opposing sides of power relations in order to disclose to what extent the messages that the monuments convey are similar. To do so, the research applies the Social Semiotics approach from Critical Discourse Analysis to the analysis of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes commemoration site located in Independence Square in Kyiv, and the monuments dedicated to Lech Kaczyński and the victims of the Smolensk Air Crash of 10 April 2010 located in Piłsudski Square in Warsaw. The results have shown a high degree of resemblance in the discourses communicated by monuments through various semiotic modes, the main one being the sacredness of what constitutes the power holders’ foundational myth. Other discourses, including grievance and martyrdom, despite the fact that they both belong to the religious domain, demonstrate diverging traits. However, put together these discourses perfectly blend into the common canvas of new post-Communist mythologies regardless of the status of the political agents who are in charge of the creation of those foundational myths.
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Assessing the effectiveness of NGO-led initiatives in the menstrual hygiene needs of Ukrainian female refugees in Poland: post-2022 invasion
(Tartu Ülikool, 2025) Osikoya, Adepelumi Funsho; Gajda, Kinga, juhendaja; Ivashinenko, Nina, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
In this study, the extent to which non-governmental organizations (NGOs) effectively provide menstrual hygiene products and services to Ukrainian female refugees in Poland after the Russian invasion in 2022 is examined. It highlights how gender, health, and humanitarian response are intertwined and criticizes the omission of NGOs as active players in meeting the menstrual demands of these refugee women. Using a framework of feminist humanitarian theory, the study looks at how NGOs contributed to the menstrual hygiene management of these groups and assessed the results of their efforts. The study uses a thematic analysis to identify major obstacles and achievements in MHM provision through 11 semi-structured interviews with representatives of non-governmental organizations, which are supplemented by 14 Ukrainian refugee interview transcripts. The findings reveal that, although NGOs have played a major role in the provision of menstrual products and services, issues like cultural stigma, a lack of resources, and inadequate long-term planning still exist. The study highlights the importance of considering menstrual hygiene as a crucial component of gender equality and human rights in refugee assistance, and further recommends more gender-inclusive, culturally aware, and sustainable frameworks for future humanitarian initiatives.
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Assimilation and rejection of the Soviet heritage in the identity construction of post-Soviet Cuban generation: the case of nostalgia for Soviet cartoons (muñequitos rusos) in Cuba
(Tartu Ülikool, 2025) Aguirre Espinosa, Isis Adriana; Piekarska, Łucja, juhendaja; Pavlova, Elena, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
This thesis explores nostalgia in the discourses surrounding Soviet cartoons—popularly remembered in Cuba as muñequitos rusos—and their role in contemporary Cuban identity construction. Using a qualitative interpretive approach, the study analyzes a corpus of newspaper articles and Facebook user comments published between 2013 and 2025. The analysis combines thematic, discursive, and narrative methods, allowing us to map the tension between "top-down" and "bottom-up" discourses to examine how post-Soviet Cuban identity is constructed. The findings demonstrate that the Soviet legacy—illustrated through nostalgic references to the muñequitos rusos—occupies an ambivalent position in the construction of post-Soviet Cuban identity, situated between acceptance and rejection, and marked by humor (Cuban choteo), criticism, aesthetics, and everyday reinterpretation. At the same time, the Cuban case reveals the importance of generational silence: younger Cuban generations construct their identities in contexts where the celebration of Soviet heritage no longer plays a central role. For them, nostalgia for muñequitos rusos appears primarily as commodified or ironic aesthetic references, rather than vehicles for restoring the past. In this sense, nostalgia in Cuba for the Soviet heritage emerges as a reflexive, commodified cultural practice, criticized through censorship, humor, and everyday economic precariousness, as well as entering dialogue and dispute with other heritages that continue to participate in contemporary Cuban identity-building processes.
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Azerbaijani Georgian child marriage through the lens of NGO workers
(Tartu Ülikool, 2025) Hawk, Corey; Gurchiani, Ketevan, juhendaja; Sayfutdinova, Leyla, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
Child marriage is harmful practice which endures despite the best efforts of interventionists. It is also predominantly experienced by the poor and ethnically Azerbaijani in Georgia. Seen from another angle, it is also a proving ground for discourse between actors with different ideas of how to solve the problem, or whether it is a problem at all. One actor overlooked by most conceptual frameworks is the NGO sphere. Georgian NGOs, which collectively make up Georgian civil society, have met strong turbulence from the state after years of advocating for the rights of peripheralized girls. This case allows for a deeper probing into how civil society members design their interventions on child marriage, as well as how they pitch them to the state for broader implementation. Relying on concepts of power relations developed by Peter M Hall, this research attempts to explain why and how actors create interventions and policy concerning child marriage, rather than describing drivers of child marriage and prescribing solutions. Through a thematic analysis of over 70 written works, this research shows that international relations factors more into child marriage prevention than previously thought. It also improves upon a model which explains child marriage outcomes by adding information about how policy and interventions ultimately arise or sometimes fail to launch.
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Behind renaming: state, minorities and toponym changes in Almaty and North Kazakhstan oblasts since 1991
(Tartu Ülikool, 2019) Diego Gordon, Maria; Pääbo, Heiko, juhendaja; Zardykhan, Zharmukhamed, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
Lately renaming of districts, towns and villages in Kazakhstan has drawn attention amongst experts, journalists and curious onlookers equally. The topic has caused particular interest within heated debates on Kazakhstan’s nation-building path and the role that national minorities are meant to occupy in that process. In fact, both media and academia have often portrayed policies of renaming in the country as another sign of an ongoing process of “Kazakhization”. During the last decades, scholarship involved in the study of toponyms has developed approaches closer to critical studies in the belief that the study of the landscape, and the elements which conform it (as it is the case of place-names) can be a useful tool in order to expose the prevailing ideologies behind the ones who author it through acts such as naming and renaming practices, or in other words, the ones who hold the power over it. Therefore, the objective of this work is to understand the attitudes of the Kazakhstani state towards its national minorities through the analysis of the acts of renaming which took place since its independence.
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Between declaratory consensus and implementation gap: Polish and Hungarian gas diversification policy dilemma
(Tartu Ülikool, 2023) Ghazaryan, Mkhitar; Pożarlik, Grzegorz, juhendaja; Aliyev, Huseyn, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
The presented research is in the realm of energy studies, and it seeks to shed light on the diverging gas diversification implementation approaches of Poland and Hungary. In spite of the fact that these countries have much in common from a historical, economic, social, and geopolitical standpoint, a deepening gap has been observed between their energy policies, which the thesis strives to expose. The study aims at explaining the discrepancy between the formal alignment of the states with respect to the necessity to diversify gas routes/sources and the translation and execution of such objectives in practice via thorough assessment of official documents and secondary sources. Considering the increased energy security concerns and the ongoing need to diversify the gas market in light of geopolitical developments in the region, the core timeframe of the research is the period from 2014 to 2021. While the annexation of Crimea in 2014, as well as deteriorating relations with Russia and threats from its aggressive foreign policy, are seen as the main catalysts for reassessing energy policy, gas disruptions caused by the 2006/2009 crises are also addressed and deemed the foundation for amplification of gas diversification. The research compares the gas diversification strategies of Poland and Hungary, revealing the circumstances that have prompted each country to choose a different path. The thesis’ analysis and conclusions are meant to contribute significantly to the field of energy studies and encourage further research in the subject.
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Between the West and Russia: mapping out Georgia's formal, informal, official, and unofficial pathways to foreign policy-making
(Tartu Ülikool, 2023) Smeyers, Emma; Gvalia, Giorgi, juhendaja; Cheskin, Ammon, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
The study of the foreign policy of small states, including that of Georgia, is often approached from structural standpoints, which tend to analytically silence the complex dynamics that go on within the state. As such, the multi levelness nature of foreign policy is often ignored. In Georgia, important linkages with both the West and and Russia exist. The way in which such influences permeate the state, and feed complex dynamics both between actors domestically, and between local and international actors, in turn feeding foreign policy action, is the focus of this paper. Rather than engaging in the establishment of causal patterns, it aims to improve structural readings of foreign policy, by looking at the constitution of multi-level, cross-border interactions in GD-led Georgia, and building a set of hypotheses for future research. The concepts of official/unofficial, formal/informal foreign policies are put forth. The concept of “linkage” is mobilised in order to highlight the cross-border ties of the various elements of the polity (leadership, political parties and civil society organisations) It is reinvested in order capture the decentralised making of foreign policy, and the dynamic interaction between transnational connections and foreign policy. Further, a hypothesis on the leadership’s, multi-level balancing is introduced on the basis of Morar and Dembinska (2021)’s “Power Broker” framework, which conceives of the elite as actors seeking to maximise their agentive power. This has one main implication: they seek to balance both domestically and internationally, navigating a complex web of connections. The propensity of such trends, in turn, affecting foreign policy line is explored in the final section of the paper.
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Beyond Europeanisation: contestation and localisation of gender equality and LGBT norms in Georgia
(Tartu Ülikool, 2025) Urban, Frederik; Gavashelishvili, Elene, juhendaja; Linsenmaier, Thomas, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
This thesis looks at the puzzling implementation of European Union-promoted gender equality and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans norms in Georgia in the period from 2014 to 2024. The research is set out to explain the puzzle of Georgia’s strong societal European Union support and political commitment towards the European Union, on the one hand, and contradictory legislation and anti-European Union rhetoric on the other hand. By investigating domestic dynamics and local actors, the thesis explains this puzzling behaviour of hybrid implementation of externally promoted norms concerning gender-based violence, women's economic empowerment, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans rights. To answer the puzzle, the analysis adopts a framework based on Europeanisation theory but improved by incorporating literature on norm contestation and localisation. The advantage of this created framework is to bring domestic actors and their actions of localising or contesting norms to the centre of attention. Accordingly, the domestic agency is seen as more than passive norm recipients. In this way it becomes possible to see how external norms are shaped by local agents, which explains the outcomes observable in Georgia. The qualitative data was collected from semi-structured interviews with local experts from civil society, academia, and international organisations. The findings of the thesis show that the main driver of the observed outcomes is the strategic agency of domestic actors. On the one hand, state and religious actors engage in “validity contestation”, framing gender equality norms, and especially those related to sexual minorities, as a threat to Georgia’s identity and sovereignty. As a result, the government engages in legislative “decoupling”, formally complying with European Union-promoted norms while restricting the actual legislative impact. On the other hand, civil society actors use the public space they have, to use localisation strategies to create norms based on European Union norms but adapted to the local context. Ultimately, the study shows that external incentives can influence the direction of a country. However, without strong societal and political support behind adopted changes, it is an easy task for political actors to revert once introduced changes.

Sirvi

Sirvi Central and East European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (CEERES) – Master’s Theses Pealkiri järgi