Russia’s Casus Belli: Memory Politics or Political Propaganda?
The war in Ukraine has changed the political and security landscape. Modern political constructs have been developed for peace. Peace is considered normal, and war is an exceptional event. Tragically, this framework fails to explain physical and symbolic violence that has dominated early 21st century. Propaganda has effectively deconstructed the classical idea of casus belli: wars start with no understandable reason, and sometimes they end in a similar way. Revanchist versions of colonialism and imperialism differ from those of the past. Far from repentance or even resentment, revanchist subjectivities do not follow the postcolonial principle ‘never again’. Postimperial rather than postcolonial, these subjectivities identify with the former perpetrators and operate with a very different principle: ‘make it great again’, or rather, ‘let’s repeat it but in a new, better way’.
The talk will be given in the framework of the international conference "Historical Past and Contemporary Propaganda in the Global Context"presented by Gagarin Center at Bard College, Smolny Beyond Borders Initiative at Bard College Berlin and Center for Comparative Research on Democracy at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
When
8 June 2024, 5.00 pm — 6.30 pm
Where
Auditorium, Jacob-und-Wilhelm-Grimm-Zentrum, Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 1/3, 10117 Berlin
About the speaker
Alexander Etkind is a professor at the Department of International Relations at Central European University, Vienna. He previously taught at the European University Institute at Florence (2013-2022), the University of Cambridge (2004-2013), and the European University at St Petersburg (1999-2004).