Books by Alexandra Yatsyk
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
Celebrating Borderlands in a Wider Europe: Nations and Identities in Ukraine, Georgia and Estonia
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 Alexandra Yatsyk
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.
Mega Events in Post-Soviet Eurasia: Shifting Borderlines of Inclusion and Exclusion
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.
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.
Papers by Alexandra Yatsyk
he Sword and the Violin: Aesthetics of Russia’s Security Policy, The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 30:4, 543-560, DOI: 10.1080/13518046.2017.1377012, 2017
The article addresses the sphere of performing arts as part of Russia's security policy and, in p... more The article addresses the sphere of performing arts as part of Russia's security policy and, in particular, its propaganda dimensions. The authors approach cultural representations as appeals to universal norms rather than to national interests and in this respect focus on two specific cases of aestheticization of military force applied beyond the national borders of the Russian Federation — in Georgia in August 2008 and in Syria since September 2015. These cases are comparable with each other, since the external projections of Russia's hard power were accompanied by similar cultural gestures — namely, public concerts of classical music performed by the world-famous Valery Gergiev's Mariinsky Theater in two sites controlled by Russian troops, Tskhinvali and Palmyra. The article argues that the Russian government uses two strategies of aesthe-ticizing its military missions — mimetic (implying the closest possible correspondence to reality) and aesthetic (based on imageries), though the distinction between the two is not always well fixed.
All Azimuth, 2017
This article sketches out general approach to using cultural semiotics as a cognitive tool for an... more This article sketches out general approach to using cultural semiotics as a cognitive tool for analyzing international relations in general and in post-Soviet area in particular. The authors discuss how the homegrown school of cultural semiotics associated with the University of Tartu can be helpful for IR studies. In this respect we place cultural semiotic knowledge in a multidisciplinary perspective and look for projections of its concepts into the vocabulary of foreign policy. Then we intend to discuss the Tartu school from a political perspective, thus claiming that its premium put on cultural issues renders strong politicizing effects. Ultimately, we use cultural semiotic notions and approaches for problematizing the concept of the post-Soviet with its conflictual split between reproducing archaic policies and discourses, on the one hand, and playing by the rules of the post-modern society, with entertainment, hybridity and the spirit of deconstruction as its pivots.
The 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, were during the preparations and run-up phase int... more The 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, were during the preparations and run-up phase intensely followed by the global community and were generally associated with a vast array of problems: political, democratic, economic, ecological and security-related. When the hosting of a mega-event such as the Olympic Games has been awarded to a site in an authoritarian state, the global community has moral responsibilities to live up to. There is a need and an obligation to raise one’s voice and criticize where criticism is due also after the Games are concluded. For Sochi, as for sites of all major sports events, continued critical attention is therefore warranted also after the competitions. It is essential to try to gauge the extent to which predicted problems materialized, what happened afterwards and what have been the more long-term consequences and local effects. This is the general perspective that brought the authors of this volume together.
Andrey Makarychev & Alexandra Yatsyk (2017): Estonia and the refugees: political discourses and artistic representations, Global Affairs, DOI: 10.1080/23340460.2017.1316593, May 5, 2017
The article addresses two dimensions of the refugee debate in Estonia – political discourses and ... more The article addresses two dimensions of the refugee debate in Estonia – political discourses and cultural representations. The authors specifically focus on distinctions between the mainstream Estonian narrative and that of the Russophone community, as well as on the role of Russia and Europe as two major shapers of the refugee debate
The common denominator for this cluster of three articles is an exploration of the nexus between ... more The common denominator for this cluster of three articles is an exploration of the nexus between biopolitics and national identities. Of course, biopolitics is just one possible conceptual approach to the study of nationalism and nation-building; yet, as this collection of papers demonstrates, it might be instrumental for uncovering certain aspects of national identities that are not visible from other research perspectives. What biopolitics can tell us is that national identity making necessarily implies disciplinary practices of controlling and regulating human lives as a precondition for aggregating a population into a single collective body. The concept of biopolitics might help us to grasp the political as "something that occurs when bodies come together and relate to one another" (Puumala 2013, 952).
In this article, we address geopolitics and biopower as two different yet mutually correlative di... more In this article, we address geopolitics and biopower as two different yet mutually correlative discursive strategies of sovereign power in Russia. We challenge the dominant realist approaches to Russia's neighborhood policy by introducing the concept of biopolitics as its key element, which makes analysis of political relations in the post-Soviet area more nuanced and variegated. More specifically, we address an important distinction between geopolitical control over territories and management of population as two of Russia's strategies in its "near abroad."
In this article, we uncover the dynamics and the evolution of Russian discourses of sovereignty b... more In this article, we uncover the dynamics and the evolution of Russian discourses of sovereignty before and after the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games using some elements of Foucauldian methodology and constructivist reading of sovereignty as an institution. We argue that there is a discrepancy between the rhetoric of sovereign power and the institutional practices in which it is embedded. It leads us to theorize that sovereignty discourses are contextual, unstable and constitutively shaped by commitments taken as key elements of international socialization. In the case of Russia, these discourses can be divided into three groups: pre-Sochi, post-Sochi and pre-World 2018 Cup discursive formations. As we venture to demonstrate, Putin's model of sovereignty is in crisis, yet it has support, both domestic and international. In the near future, sport is likely to remain one of those spheres of high visibility where the ideology of surviving under sanctions and counter-attacking the West will be reified.
When the party is over: developments in Sochi and Russia after the Olympics 2014
The 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, were during the preparations and run-up phase int... more The 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, were during the preparations and run-up phase intensely followed by the global community and were generally associated with a vast array of problems: political, democratic, economic, ecological and security-related. When the hosting of a mega-event such as the Olympic Games has been awarded to a site in an authoritarian state, the global community has moral responsibilities to live up to. There is a need and an obligation to raise one’s voice and criticize where criticism is due also after the Games are concluded. For Sochi, as for sites of all major sports events, continued critical attention is therefore warranted also after the competitions. It is essential to try to gauge the extent to which predicted problems materialized, what happened afterwards and what have been the more long-term consequences and local effects. This is the general perspective that brought the authors of this volume together.
Book chapters by Alexandra Yatsyk
Shaping Estonian: National identity in Film, Art and Song. In Suturing the Ruptures: Seams and Stitches in the Baltic Sea Region. Edited by Andrey Makarychev and Alexandra Yatsyk, 197-226. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, 2016
The case of Pussy Riot: Biopolitics, believers, bodily protests. In The Shrew Untamed: Cultural Mechanisms of Political Protest in Russia. Edited by A. Etkind, S. Turoma, B. Beumers and O. Gurova, 123-140. London and New York: Routledge, 2017 , 2017
The biopolitical turn in post-ideological times: a trajectory of Russia’s transformation. In Body, Personhood and Privacy. Perspectives on Cultural Other and Human Experience. Approaches to Culture Theory 7. Ed. by A. Kannike, M. Tasa, M. & E.-H.Västrik, 99-117. Tartu: University of Tartu Press, 2017
In Mega-Events in Post-Soviet Eurasia: Shifting Borderlines of Inclusion and Exclusion. Edited by Andrey Makarychev and Alexandra Yatsyk, 173-193, 2016
Uploads
Books by Alexandra Yatsyk
Edited books by Alexandra Yatsyk
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 Alexandra Yatsyk
Book chapters by Alexandra Yatsyk