Neo-Authoritarian Nation Projection Strategies and Media Events in the 2010s: The Russian Case

我的研究调查了新威权国家的国家投射活动，重点是当代俄罗斯。“国家投射”的概念包括经典的文化外交努力和软实力活动，如举办体育和娱乐活动，包括奥运会。这一术语还指国家支持的具有外部影响的活动，例如俄罗斯被指在媒体驱动下干涉外国事务。因此，新威权国家的国家投射活动经常被描述为旨在掩盖国内政治和经济问题，另一方面加剧民主国家社会和政治紧张局势的宣传活动。国家投射和备受瞩目的媒体事件之间的接口是探索当代世界的意义是如何由政客、媒体和公众共同创造的肥沃土壤。然而，从体育赛事到政治竞选和选举，国家通过媒体活动对狭隘国家进行投射的战略和结果都没有得到充分的理解。以当代俄罗斯为例，我的研究有助于我们更好地理解非自由主义国家通过媒体事件与国际公众沟通的方式。我的工作直面了政治、媒体专家和公众对这种努力过于简单化和过时的看法，认为这种努力是协调良好、恶意和有效的。我的博士论文关于俄罗斯在2014年索契冬奥会期间的国家投射以及随后的研究项目《重塑俄罗斯》为解决这些误解做出了重要贡献。该奖学金将使我能够巩固、传播和确保我对实地调查的影响，以便为这一研究问题提出适当的解决方案。PDF还将使我能够处理有关最近涉及俄罗斯的媒体事件的采访和社交媒体数据，这些数据是在我的博士和博士后工作期间收集的，我还没有充分利用这些数据。该奖学金将使我能够将我的研究成果传达给各种利益相关者，并影响相关学者、政治顾问和政府部门、媒体专家和其他专业研究用户以及普通公众的研究、决策和看法。该奖学金的结果将促使重新评估和更好地理解当代新威权国家通过媒体活动采用的吸引战略。我将挑战这样一种观点，即此类事件提供了一个通用模板，新威权政治制度可以很容易地将其用作软实力和政权合法化工具。我将以我的论文为基础写一本书，并在学术期刊上发表文章，以实现这一目标。我的工作还将包括针对主要政策制定者和顾问的以政策为重点的简报，以及对国际奥委会奥林匹克研究中心和智库Play the Game的专业发展和知识交流访问。该奖学金还将帮助我与从事相关课题的研究人员建立联系，并在他们之间更广泛地分享我的发现。我将在世界顶尖学者约瑟夫·麦格和斯蒂芬·哈钦斯的指导下专业成长，并有机会利用他们的人脉。PDF还将允许我在由民主和新威权的欧洲国家共同主办的媒体活动期间，就国家投射及其结果制定一项新的研究计划的提案。总体而言，该奖学金将在我从博士生转变为国家投射和媒体活动领域的新兴领导者的过程中发挥无价的作用。这将确保我迄今的工作成果取得最大影响。

My research investigates the nation projection activities of neo-authoritarian states, with a focus on contemporary Russia. The concept of 'nation projection' subsumes classic cultural diplomacy efforts and soft power activities such as the hosting of sport and entertainment events, including the Olympic Games. The term also refers to state-sponsored campaigns of external influence such as Russia's alleged media-driven meddling in the affairs of foreign states. As such, the nation projection activities of neo-authoritarian states are often depicted as 'propaganda' designed to conceal domestic political and economic problems on the one hand and exacerbate social and political tensions in democratic states on the other. The interface between nation projection and high-profile media events is fertile ground for the exploration of how meaning in the contemporary world is co-created by politicians, the media, and the publics. Yet neither the strategies nor the outcomes of the nation projection of illiberal states through media events, from sports tournaments to political campaigns and elections, have been understood adequately. Using contemporary Russia as a case study, my research better informs our understanding of the ways illiberal states communicate with international publics through media events. My work confronts the oversimplistic and outdated perceptions of such efforts as well-coordinated, malicious, and effective 'propaganda' that persist among political and media specialists and members of the public.My PhD thesis on Russia's nation projection through the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games and subsequent work on the research project "Reframing Russia" make an important contribution to addressing these misconceptions. The Fellowship will allow me to consolidate, disseminate, and ensure the impact of my investigation of the field to propose adequate solutions to this research problem. The PDF will also enable me to work with sets of interview and social media data regarding recent media events involving Russia, gathered during my doctoral and postdoctoral work, which I have yet to fully exploit. The Fellowship will enable me to communicate my research findings to a variety of stakeholders, and influence research, decision-making, and perceptions among relevant academics, political advisors and government departments, media specialists and other professional research users, as well as the general public. The outcomes of the Fellowship will prompt a re-evaluation and better understanding of the strategies of attraction employed by contemporary neo-authoritarian states through media events. I will challenge the notion that such events provide a universal template that neo-authoritarian political systems can easily utilise as soft power and regime legitimation tools.I will achieve this goal by writing a book based on my thesis and producing an academic journal article. My work will also include a policy-focused brief targeted for key policy-makers and advisors, and professional development and knowledge exchange visits to the International Olympic Committee's Olympic Studies Centre and the thinktank Play the Game. The Fellowship will also help me connect with researchers working on related topics and share my findings more widely among them. I will grow professionally under the mentorship of world-leading scholars Joseph McGonagle and Stephen Hutchings and have a chance to utilise their networks. The PDF will additionally allow me to develop a proposal for a new research programme on nation projection and its outcomes during media events co-hosted by democratic and neo-authoritarian European states, such as the Pan-European UEFA 2021 Football Championship.Overall, the Fellowship will be invaluable in my transition from doctoral student to emerging leader in the field of nation projection and media events. It will ensure the results of my work to date achieve maximum impact.