Russia and Latvia: A Case of Sharp Power скачать в хорошем качестве

Russia and Latvia: A Case of Sharp Power

This book explores Russia’s relations with Latvia, arguing that Latvia, with a higher proportion of Russian speakers than other Baltic states, is especially vulnerable to Russia’s “sharp power”. The book highlights how authoritarian and totalitarian regimes are unable to exercise soft power based on the attractiveness of the country's culture and values, which would help them gain the favor of the audience of the target countries, but instead, as in the case of Russia, use public diplomacy, compatriot policy, media policy, propaganda, and disinformation to produce a destructive effect, distorting the democracies of target countries and increasing national security risks. The book provides in-depth detail on how Russia is making use of this “sharp power” in Latvia, examines the consequences and assesses the dangers for the future. Author Andis Kudors (PhD candidate) is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Latvia. He was also a Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Centre for East European Policy Studies from 2006 - 2019. His research interests include Russian foreign policy, sharp power, propaganda, disinformation, and informational warfare, and he is the author of many analytical articles about Russian foreign policy and Latvian security. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (2014-2015) and a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs (2021-2022). Since 2011, he has been a member of Foreign Policy Council at Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in 2021 he was appointed Commander of The Cross of Recognition by Egils Levits, former President of the Republic of Latvia, for his contribution to the research of Latvian national security. He is a 1996 graduate of the International Law and Economics Program at the University of Latvia’s Institute of International Affairs and studied political science at the University of Latvia, specializing in Latvian-Russian relations and earning a BA and an MA in political science. Discussants Andrea Kendall-Taylor is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Transatlantic Security Program at CNAS. She works on national security challenges facing the United States and Europe, focusing on Russia, authoritarianism and threats to democracy, and the state of the transatlantic alliance. Prior to joining CNAS, Kendall-Taylor served for eight years as a senior intelligence officer. From 2015 to 2018, she was deputy national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council (NIC) in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Christopher Walker is Vice President for Studies and Analysis at the National Endowment for Democracy. In this capacity, he oversees the department that is responsible for NED’s multifaceted analytical work. He is co-editor (with Larry Diamond and Marc Plattner) of Authoritarianism Goes Global: The Challenge to Democracy (2016), and co-editor with William J. Dobson and Tarek Masoud of the book Defending Democracy in an Age of Sharp Power (2023). Moderator Robert W. Orttung is Professor of Sustainability and International Affairs at the Elliott School and Director of the Sustainability Research Institute. Prof. Orttung is an expert on Comparative politics, Democracy, Energy security, and Sustainability. He is a visiting fellow at the Center for Security Studies of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich. Prof. Orttung's most recent research is focused on urban sustainability and its intersections with democracy and global affairs, using Russia as his case study. Prof. Orttung has a Ph.D. from University of California–Los Angeles.