contributors

Articles by Robert Chandler

1. Media Maketh Ze President

   Rather than moving towards arguments or ideological standpoints, the politics in Ukraine has moved farther towards selling emotions, stories and images. This time it was the politics of mediatised emotion on steroids. Is this simply a new politics that can be used in a populist and non-populist ways, or for progressive as much as reactionary causes? It may look like it is a neutral tool but I would still argue that this kind of politics substitutes political mobilisation with political immersion by submerging the audience into a story, an emotional environment, an experience.

2. The “Good”, the “Bad” and the “Ugly”.  Anti-establishment populism and the Slovak presidential election

   On March 30, Zuzana Čaputová defeated Maroš Šefčovič in the second round of the Slovak presidential election. It looks like an important victory for those who want a “European” and socially liberal Slovakia - regardless of the fact that the country is a parliamentary republic with limited powers for the president. But the presidential race has also revealed more troubling aspects of Slovak politics, and exposed deep divisions within the Slovak society.

3. Path dependency and gender norms. Governance and “doing gender”

   Gendering postsocialism: old legacies and new hierarchies, Yulia Gradskova and Ildikó Asztalos Morell, Eds.. 2018. London ; New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

4. Writ in water. Reading Die Ostsee

   Die Ostsee. Berichte und Geschichten aus 2000 Jahren. Klaus-Jürgen Liedtke (ed.) Berlin: Galiani Verlag 2018, 650 pages.

5. Media reporting of the Ukrainian war. A comparison of ideals and outcome

   Ukraina och informationskriget – journalistik mellan ideal och självcensur [Ukraine and the information war – journalism between ideal and self-censorship] Gunnar Nygren and Jöran Hök (ed.), Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap. (2016), 279 pages.

6. Understanding the geography of Belarus 95 maps with comments

   Belarus in Maps, Edited by Dávid Karácsonyi, Károly Kocsis, and Zsolt Bottlik. Budapest: Geographical Institute, 2017, 194 pages.

7. Kaliningrad’s problematic exclave status

   The distinguishing feature of the Kaliningrad region is the fact that it is an exclave, part of but separated from Russia by two countries, Poland/Belarus or Lithuania/Latvia, though with access across the Baltic Sea (thus strictly speaking a semi-exclave). It is Russia’s only exclave and is the biggest in Europe. Seen from inside it is an enclave (or a semi-enclave).

8. Elections in Estonia: Winner Sidelined in Coalition Talks

   Immediate reactions to the election results focused largely on the triumph of EKRE which nearly tripled its number of mandates. EKRE holding nearly a fifth of the Riigikogu seats ushers in a new era in Estonian politics where the populist far-right is a force to be reckoned with.

9. Elections in Moldova: preservation of status-quo

   Regardless of what shape the future government will take, there is no doubt that it will remain under the control of Vlad Plahotniuc and Igor Dodon. This in turn means further deterioration of Moldova's relations with its Western partners, lack of structural reforms and deepening social collapse.

10. State integration vs. regional exceptionalism. A European predicament

    There is a significant discrepancy between the political potential of the EU and its actual position and role in the future development of Europe. In practice, the member states have maintained their power monopoly in the most essential policy areas.

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