Russian Norm Entrepreneurship in Crimea: Serious Contestation or Cheap Talk?

In the second session of a new workshop series on Authoritarian Politics and International Relations at WZB, Christoph Stefes will speak about whether and how Russia attempts to introduce an new set of norms into international politics. He will present his paper “Russian Norm Entrepreneurship in Crimea: Serious Contestation or Cheap Talk?”, co-authored with Betcy Jose. In their paper, the authors analyse how Russia justifies its annexation of Crimea and discuss whether framing it as a humanitarian intervention is genuine or simply an attempt to disguise regional power politics. Initial findings indicate that the Ukrainian intervention enabled Russia to contest Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and to champion an alternative version of humanitarian intervention with some limited success.

The seminar series aims at bringing together scholars from Comparative Politics and International Relations. We invite papers combining comparative authoritarianism and IR, as well as contributions that help clarify important theoretical concepts and empirical patterns in either discipline. Colleagues interested in presenting in the workshop series should email Alex Tokhi (alexandros.tokhi [at] wzb.eu) or Alex Schmotz (alexander.schmotz [at] wzb.eu).

When:
Once a month on a Tuesday afternoon

Where:
WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Reichpietschufer 50, 10785 Berlin, Room A305

What:
A classic format: 90 minute research seminar with one paper presentation (15 min), one discussant (10), and plenty of time for Q&A

Who:
All scholars from WZB and the Berlin area and anyone interested in authoritarian politics and/or international relations

Organized by Alexandros Tokhi (Department Global Governance) and Alexander Schmotz (Department of Democracy & Democratisation)