CENTER FOR FOREIGN POLICY AND PEACE RESEARCH
\nPEACETALK: YOUNG SCHOLAR SERIES<\/p>\n
“The Importance of Being Soft: Russian Soft Power Identity Narratives”<\/p>\n
Eleonora Tafuro Ambrosetti
\nMarie Curie Early Stage Researcher, Middle East Technical University<\/p>\n
6 December 2016 Tuesday at 12:30
\nBilkent University Main Campus, G Building, Room: 160<\/p>\n
“One of the most pressing issues that soft power scholars face nowadays is the problematic
\napplication of the concept to non-Western, sometimes illiberal, rising powers. As a contribution to
\nthis debate, this research looks into the triangular relationship between soft power, identity and
\ndiscourse, and presents an analytical framework to assess Russia’s soft power through its three
\nmain identity narratives (‘Russia as a champion of multilateralism and multipolarity’, ‘Russia as a
\nconservative power’, and ‘Russia as an elder brother’) constructed through official discourse, i.e.
\nspeeches, foreign policy concepts et cetera. These narratives have very different effects
\ndepending on where they are employed. In Russia’s neighbourhood, they tend to appeal to likeminded
\npolitical elites and those segments of the society more refractory to change, such as those
\nnostalgic of Soviet Union, and they can also give way to hard policies, as the crisis in Ukraine
\nshows. In the West, on the other hand, these narratives tend to appeal to forces that challenge
\nthe existent order. The presentation will draw upon a forthcoming book chapter and primary data
\ngathered during a fieldwork in Russia.”<\/p>\n