Next UPTAKE lecture on the humiliation motif in Russian foreign policy
On Tuesday, 15 November, Dr Tom Casier from the University of Kent Brussels School of International Studies is giving a public lecture titled “The humiliation motif in Russian foreign policy”.
The lecture focuses on humiliation as a powerful motif in international relations. It has obtained a central place in Russian foreign policy, mirrored by ambitions to obtain great power status. This talk looks at how the humiliation motif took shape in Moscow’s foreign policy. It will be argued that perceptions of humiliation do not automatically become a political factor. They need to be mobilised by certain agents for certain purposes. This mobilisation is a complex process, not steered by the Russian government solely, and taking widely diverging forms.
The humiliation motif plays an important role in justifying certain foreign policy choices and has arguably obtained a new dimension with the Ukraine crisis, legitimising strongly assertive strategies to counter Western hegemony and delegitimising alternative discourses. This raises questions about power both within Russia and in its external relations, and forces us to reflect on implications for relations with ‘the West’.
Dr Tom Casier is Academic Director of the Brussels School of International Studies as well as Jean Monnet Chair and Senior Lecturer in International Relations at Kent University. He is Deputy Director of the Global Europe Centre. He obtained his PhD in Political Science from the University of Leuven with a dissertation on the transformation process in Central and Eastern Europe. From 1990 to 1999 he worked at the University of Leuven, in the following years as Lecturer at EIPA (European Institute of Public Administration) in Maastricht and at EHSAL in Brussels. From 2003 to 2007 he was Assistant Professor at the University of Maastricht, where he was also founding Director of the MA in European Studies. Please refer to the BSIS website for more information.
The lecture takes place on 15 November at 14.15 in the UT Social Sciences building, Lossi 36-214.
The lecture is organized in the framework of the project “Building Research Excellence in Russian and East European Studies at the Universities of Tartu, Uppsala and Kent” (UPTAKE), funded from the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
More information: Dr Piret Ehin, Senior Researcher at the University of Tartu, piret.ehin@ut.ee
Forwarded by:
Maili Vilson
Research Communication Specialist
Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies
University of Tartu
737 6584
maili.vilson@ut.ee