Books by Andrey Makarychev
The authors analyse Lotman's semiotics in a series of temporal contexts, starting with the rigidi... more The authors analyse Lotman's semiotics in a series of temporal contexts, starting with the rigidity of Soviet-era ideologies, through to the post-Soviet de-politicization that - paradoxically enough - ended with the reproduction of Soviet-style hegemonic discourse in the Kremlin and ultimately reignited politically divisive conflicts between Russia and Europe. The book demonstrates how Lotman's ideas cross disciplinary boundaries and their relevance to many European theorists of cultural studies, discourse analysis and political philosophy. Lotman lived and worked in Estonia, which, even under Soviet rule, maintained its own borderland identity located at the intersection of Russian and European cultural flows. The authors argue that in this context Lotman’s theories are particularly revealing in relation to Russian-European interactions and communications, both historically and in a more contemporary sense
The book addresses Estonian, Ukrainian and Georgian identities that develop against the backgroun... more The book addresses Estonian, Ukrainian and Georgian identities that develop against the background of the neo–imperial policies of Russia and EU normative power projection. With the decreasing explanatory value of the “post–Soviet” frame, the authors propose the concept of borderlands for bringing together a group of countries located at the intersection of different cultural, religious, ethnic and civilizational flows and systems. It is argued that for borderlands nation–building envisages strategies of meaning–making aimed at self–identification, consolidation and integration, along with strategies of adjusting to practical tools and mechanisms of governance generated and shared by Europe. Performative cultural and sportive events, such as Euro 2012 in Lviv, Song and Dance Festival 2014 in Tallinn, and Youth Olympic Games 2015 in Tbilisi are at the centre of each of these case studies.
Edited books by Andrey Makarychev
This book focuses on the recent political trajectories within the Baltic Sea Region from one of t... more This book focuses on the recent political trajectories within the Baltic Sea Region from one of the success stories of regionalism in Europe to a potential area of military confrontation between Russia and NATO. The authors closely examine the following issues: new security challenges for the region stemming from Russia’s staunch anti-EU and anti-NATO polices, institutions and practices of multi-level governance in the region, and different cultural strategies that regional actors employ. The common threads of this innovative volume are issues of changing borders and boundaries in the region, and logics of inclusion and exclusion that shape its political contours. From diverse disciplinary and methodological positions the authors explain policies of specific Baltic Sea states, as well as structural matters that make them a region.
The conflict in Ukraine and Russia's annexation of Crimea has undoubtedly been a pivotal moment f... more The conflict in Ukraine and Russia's annexation of Crimea has undoubtedly been a pivotal moment for policy makers and military planners in Europe and beyond. Many analysts see an unexpected character in the conflict and expect negative reverberations and a long-lasting period of turbulence and uncertainty, the de-legitimation of international institutions and a declining role for global norms and rules. Did these events bring substantial correctives and modifications to the extant conceptualization of International Relations? Does the conflict significantly alter previous assumptions and foster a new academic vocabulary, or, does it confirm the validity of well-established schools of thought in international relations? Has the crisis in Ukraine confirmed the vitality and academic vigour of conventional concepts?
These questions are the starting points for this book covering conceptualisations from rationalist to reflectivist, and from quantitative to qualitative. Most contributors agree that many of the old concepts, such as multi-polarity, spheres of influence, sovereignty, or even containment, are still cognitively valid, yet believe the eruption of the crisis means that they are now used in different contexts and thus infused with different meanings. It is these multiple, conceptual languages that the volume puts at the centre of its analysis.
This text will be of great interest to students and scholars studying international relations, politics, and Russian and Ukrainian studies.
The edited volume explains why sport mega events can be discussed from the viewpoint of politics ... more The edited volume explains why sport mega events can be discussed from the viewpoint of politics and power, and what this discussion can add to the existing scholarship on political regimes, international norms, national identities, and cultural narratives. The book collects case studies written by insiders from different countries of post-Soviet Eurasia that have recently hosted— or intend to host in the future —sporting events of a global scale. Contributing authors discuss cultural, political, and economic strategies of host governments, examining them from the vantage point of an increasing shift of the global sport industry to non-Western countries. Mega-events often draw domestic lines of cultural and social exclusion within host’s polities. It is these ruptures and gaps this volume explores, contributing to a better understanding of the intricate interconnections between global institutions and national identities.
Papers by Andrey Makarychev
Producing Cultural Change in Political Communities
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2020
Journal of Contemporary European Research, Dec 15, 2022
Educational practices are instrumental in the transfer of European values beyond EU borders. Our ... more Educational practices are instrumental in the transfer of European values beyond EU borders. Our aim is to problematize Europeanisation through education in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries by studying the promotion of EU studies in higher education projects funded by the Erasmus + programme. The paper discusses the educational dimension of Europeanisation in EaP countries from three interrelated perspectives-social constructivism, the Foucauldian concept of governmentality and a post-structuralist reading of centrality and marginality. We specifically focus on a series of international projects developed by the University of Tartu (Estonia) in partnership with other EU-based and non-EU universities from the EaP. We used qualitative data from reports of 4 EU-funded cooperation projects and also students' views obtained in 2 focus groups that explored how the EU is taught and discussed. In the end, the added value of the article is that it offers a critical view on teaching the EU in the Eastern neighborhood, focusing on nuanced local perspectives on the challenges of Europeanisation through education.
Journal of International Relations and Development, Jul 31, 2023
Central European Journal of International and Security Studies
This introductory note discusses how the concept of securitisation might be used as a tool for un... more This introductory note discusses how the concept of securitisation might be used as a tool for understanding the different logics driving and standing behind foreign policies of major international stakeholders in situations of crises, emergencies and exceptions. The editors look at how securitisation functions as a discursive instrument for reshaping actors’ subjectivities, and how it might be adjusted to the rapid changes in global politics triggered by Russia’s war against Ukraine. They argue that the discursive construction of insecurities is not politically neutral and is driven by certain logics, presumptions and imaginaries. Russia’s war against Ukraine is a particularly important focal point in this regard since it elucidates another crucial question: how do the parties involved in the war securitise and de-securitise – as well as exceptionalise and normalise – specific risks, dangers and threats, and what are the implications of these discursive strategies for international...
International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure
In this article we analytically relate to each other the concepts of integration, responsibilizat... more In this article we analytically relate to each other the concepts of integration, responsibilization and representation. The first one is relatively well established in the extant academic literature, though some social and cultural realms—such as sports—still remain understudied as playgrounds for integrative endeavors. The second concept refers to one of the pillars of liberal governance—the idea of individual responsibility for life-shaping strategies in people’s everyday routine, including health, leisure and physical activities. The third concept in this triad plays a particularly important role when it comes to international sport competitions and tournaments, since all the involved groups—athletes, coaches, volunteers and fans—in one way or another not only assemble and aggregate their particular identities in a teamwork, but also represent their country to a global audience by publicly exposing their support and emotional affection, loyalty and belonging. Key questions to be explored in this article are: how does social integration function in Estonian sports, and how instrumental are practices of responsibilization and representation for promoting the domestic integration process involving the two communities—the Estonian national majority and the Russophone minority? Our analysis led us to conclude that the process of integration in sports can be viewed from two perspectives—through the lens of representation (when it comes to collective identities-in-the-making) and responsibilization (when it comes to anatomo-political practices of adjusting individual ethnic and linguistic identities to the participation in sportive performances).
Based on a comparative analysis of the cases of Ukraine, Georgia and Estonia, the article argues ... more Based on a comparative analysis of the cases of Ukraine, Georgia and Estonia, the article argues that cultural semantics of the performative events are constitutive for borderland identities-in-the-making
Baltic-Black Sea Regionalisms, 2019
In this chapter, we propose to look at cross-/trans-border regionalism through the prism of biopo... more In this chapter, we propose to look at cross-/trans-border regionalism through the prism of biopolitics as a particular analytical lens appropriate for discussing a “regime of belonging” grounded in policies of protecting and taking care of people’s lives and physical bodies. Corporeality, central to biopower, goes beyond spatial (as in geopolitics) and blood-based (as in ethnopolitics) regimes of belonging, yet in the meantime constructs its own limitations and restraints, and produces its own relations of power projected beyond the established territorial units or ethno-cultural entities. These theoretical premises will be projected onto the countries of the Baltic–Black Sea region, with examples of Poland and Estonia as major illustrative cases.
Russian Politics, 2018
This article offers a new approach to Russian foreign policy under Putin’s presidency as shifting... more This article offers a new approach to Russian foreign policy under Putin’s presidency as shifting from its ‘soft power’ model to what might be characterized through the prism of biopower. The author discusses the various meanings attached to the concept of attraction, and scrutinises the biopolitical turn in Russia as a domestic phenomenon and as a key element of Russia’s power projection abroad. It is argued that biopolitics as a power instrument can play different roles – it can be a tool to construct Russian national (and simultaneously imperial) identity and to distinguish Russia from the West, and channel for communication with conservative forces across the globe.
Russian Politics, 2018
This introductory article explains how the concept of biopolitics can be used as an analytical to... more This introductory article explains how the concept of biopolitics can be used as an analytical tool in the sphere of Russian studies. The author elucidates different approaches to the idea of biopolitics in contemporary political philosophy, and relates the extant theoretical debate to the ongoing political and academic discussions on power and identity in Russia, both from domestic and international perspectives. He claims that biopolitical vocabulary is a nuanced cognitive instrument for unpacking a plethora of social and cultural dimensions inherent to relations of power, and further conceptualizing the specificity of post-Soviet illiberal regimes.
Borders in the Baltic Sea Region, 2016
This book is a result of a networked project designed and implemented by the Centre for East Euro... more This book is a result of a networked project designed and implemented by the Centre for East European Studies at the Free University in Berlin and the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Science at the University of Tartu. The research agenda that gave a start to this book in 2014 focused on a variety of bordering and de-bordering practices unfolding in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR), an area that is usually considered to be the most successful example of region-building in a wider Europe. In the literature, the BSR is often referred to as a model for other regions-in-the-making, located at the intersection of the EU and Russia, and a possible source of spill-over effects and sharing of best practices with other regions constituting the EU–Russia common neighbourhood.
Avrasya Incelemeleri Dergisi, 2012
Celebrating Borderlands in a Wider Europe, 2016
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Books by Andrey Makarychev
Edited books by Andrey Makarychev
These questions are the starting points for this book covering conceptualisations from rationalist to reflectivist, and from quantitative to qualitative. Most contributors agree that many of the old concepts, such as multi-polarity, spheres of influence, sovereignty, or even containment, are still cognitively valid, yet believe the eruption of the crisis means that they are now used in different contexts and thus infused with different meanings. It is these multiple, conceptual languages that the volume puts at the centre of its analysis.
This text will be of great interest to students and scholars studying international relations, politics, and Russian and Ukrainian studies.
Papers by Andrey Makarychev
These questions are the starting points for this book covering conceptualisations from rationalist to reflectivist, and from quantitative to qualitative. Most contributors agree that many of the old concepts, such as multi-polarity, spheres of influence, sovereignty, or even containment, are still cognitively valid, yet believe the eruption of the crisis means that they are now used in different contexts and thus infused with different meanings. It is these multiple, conceptual languages that the volume puts at the centre of its analysis.
This text will be of great interest to students and scholars studying international relations, politics, and Russian and Ukrainian studies.