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The CEPSI Working Papers series provides a forum for presentation of high quality work-in-progress on all aspects of politics, security and integration in contemporary Europe and related theoretical perspectives.
Please send relevant submissions (of no more than 10,000 words) and/or enquiries about possible submissions to Dr Andrew Wilson (Convener of CEPSI Seminars).
- 2013-2014
Peter J.S. Duncan: 'Batman and Robin? Exploring Foreign Policy Differences between Putin and Medvedev during the Medvedev Presidency'
Following the return of Vladimir Putin to the Russian presidency, the specific features of Russian foreign policy under the 2008-12 presidency of Dmitrii Medvedev can now be analysed. This paper investigates how significant the foreign policy differences were between Medvedev and Putin; the importance of Medvedev's influence and the achievements of Russian foreign policy under his presidency.
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Alena Ledeneva: 'Beyond Russia’s Economy of Favours: The Role of Ambivalence'
In this paper I suggest a network-based typology of favours that seeks to reflect their substantive ambivalence. I argue that a common exchange of favours differs from an ‘economy of favours’ in a number of ways. An economy of favours operates on the basis of favours of access, originating in the re-distribution of public resources. It can also be differentiated by its scale and the magnitude of ambivalence: substantive, functional and attitudinal.
- 2010-2011
Richard Mole: 'Sexuality and Nationality: Homophobic Discourse and the "National Threat" in Contemporary Latvia'
Attitudes towards gays and lesbians in Latvia appear to be more intolerant than in almost all other EU member states. While the legacy of communist discourses on homosexuality and the impact of transition have played a role in shaping attitudes towards sexuality and sexual minorities, the paper argues that homosexuality has become particularly reviled in Latvia because it has been widely discursively constructed as a threat to the continued existence of the Latvian nation.
- 2009-2010
Allan Sikk: 'Parties and Populism'
Populism is a fashionable concept in comparative politics despite its ambiguity and new political parties have therefore often been dubbed populist. Many new parties in Central and Eastern Europe, however, have appeared in niches already occupied by old parties. This paper discusses three such cases in the Baltic states and argues that equating a critical style with populism risks both overstretching the concept and a serious normative bias in favour of the status quo.
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