Political Mythmaking and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi: Olympism and the Russian Great Power Myth
(2014) In East European Politics 30(2). p.192-209- Abstract
- The theoretical point of departure of this paper is that the perspective of political myth adds to the understanding of political developments in Russia. The upcoming Olympic Winter Games in Sochi in 2014 are discursively constructed as a manifestation of Russia's return to great power status. In official Russian discourse, there is an encounter between the Russian great power myth and the myth of Olympism, both of which are employed to strengthen the status of Russia and of President Putin personally. Thus, the Olympic values of humanism, internationalism, and progress are merged with Russian great power ideals. But there are also examples where the prevailing myths are turned around to criticise the regime and the Sochi Games. However,... (More)
- The theoretical point of departure of this paper is that the perspective of political myth adds to the understanding of political developments in Russia. The upcoming Olympic Winter Games in Sochi in 2014 are discursively constructed as a manifestation of Russia's return to great power status. In official Russian discourse, there is an encounter between the Russian great power myth and the myth of Olympism, both of which are employed to strengthen the status of Russia and of President Putin personally. Thus, the Olympic values of humanism, internationalism, and progress are merged with Russian great power ideals. But there are also examples where the prevailing myths are turned around to criticise the regime and the Sochi Games. However, the most serious challenge to the Putin regime may stem from the great power myth itself, should the regime prove unable to deliver what it requires. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4935153
- author
- Edenborg, Emil LU and Petersson, Bo LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2014
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- political myth, Russia, Olympic Winter Games, Sochi-2014, Putin, great power
- in
- East European Politics
- volume
- 30
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 192 - 209
- publisher
- Routledge
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:84900023521
- ISSN
- 1352-3279
- DOI
- 10.1080/21599165.2013.877712
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- dceaeb00-fa6e-4f6c-9292-6ec2104521bc (old id 4935153)
- alternative location
- http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21599165.2013.877712#.VLjVKyuG-lQ
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 11:08:08
- date last changed
- 2022-04-20 17:11:39
@article{dceaeb00-fa6e-4f6c-9292-6ec2104521bc, abstract = {{The theoretical point of departure of this paper is that the perspective of political myth adds to the understanding of political developments in Russia. The upcoming Olympic Winter Games in Sochi in 2014 are discursively constructed as a manifestation of Russia's return to great power status. In official Russian discourse, there is an encounter between the Russian great power myth and the myth of Olympism, both of which are employed to strengthen the status of Russia and of President Putin personally. Thus, the Olympic values of humanism, internationalism, and progress are merged with Russian great power ideals. But there are also examples where the prevailing myths are turned around to criticise the regime and the Sochi Games. However, the most serious challenge to the Putin regime may stem from the great power myth itself, should the regime prove unable to deliver what it requires.}}, author = {{Edenborg, Emil and Petersson, Bo}}, issn = {{1352-3279}}, keywords = {{political myth; Russia; Olympic Winter Games; Sochi-2014; Putin; great power}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{2}}, pages = {{192--209}}, publisher = {{Routledge}}, series = {{East European Politics}}, title = {{Political Mythmaking and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi: Olympism and the Russian Great Power Myth}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2013.877712}}, doi = {{10.1080/21599165.2013.877712}}, volume = {{30}}, year = {{2014}}, }