With friends like these: foreign policy as personal relationship

Governments are run by humans who have sympathies and moods. The study of leaders' personalities, albeit not widespread, is an important tool for foreign policy analysis. Plus, friendship is a feeling that decision-makers like to express for each other. This paper analyses the activity of Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's three times premier, who has made ‘friendship’ a central tenet of his personal foreign policy. Three cases are considered, namely, Berlusconi's relationship with George W. Bush, Tony Blair and Vladimir Putin. The paper concludes that his friendship-based foreign policy has somehow worked; but, because he decided to ignore Italy's structural constraints in the international arena, he ended up wasting opportunities and resources.     

Stability and Change in Putin's Political Image During the 2000 and 2012 Presidential Elections: Putin 1.0 and Putin 2.0?

There has been a lot of research done on “Western” politicians and political systems with regard to political marketing. But what about other countries, especially those that possess a different political standard? This article seeks to address one particular Russian politician: Vladimir Putin. He rose from obscurity to become Russia's second president (after Boris Yeltsin). Two presidential elections form the focus of attention, 2000 Putin, V. (2000). First person. London, UK: Hutchinson. [Google Scholar] and 2012. The aim is to discover the consistencies and breaks in the manufacturing of Putin's political image and reputation. A number of breaks and continuities were discovered in terms of how Putin is marketed. This seems to be a reflection of the changes taking places in Russia's political environment, which then needs to be taken into consideration when political marketing is conducted.     

Soviet conspiracy theories and political culture in Ukraine: Understanding Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions

Conspiracy theories in Ukraine draw on inherited Soviet political culture and political technology imported from Russia where such ideas had gained ascendancy under President Vladimir Putin. Eastern Ukrainian and Russian elites believed that the US was behind the 2000 Serbian Bulldozer, 2003 Georgian Rose and 2004 Orange democratic revolutions. The Kuchmagate crisis, impending succession crisis, 2004 presidential elections and Orange Revolution – all of which took up most of Leonid Kuchma’s second term in office – were the first significant domestic threats to Ukraine’s new, post-communist ruling elites and in response Ukraine’s elites revived Soviet style theories of conspiracies and ideological tirades against the US and Ukrainian nationalism. Opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko became the focal point against which the conspiracies and tirades were launched because his support base lay in ‘nationalist’ Western Ukraine and he has a Ukrainian-American spouse. The revival of Soviet style conspiracy theories has become important since Viktor Yanukovyc’s election as Ukrainian president in 2010 because this political culture permeates his administration, government and Party of Regions determining their worldview and influencing their domestic and foreign policies.     

Mediated political masculinities: the commander-in-chief vs. the new man

The media play a very influential role in our perceptions of our political leaders, irrespective of where in the world they appear. Since the latter part of the twentieth century, our leaders’ personalities came to play an increasing role in their appeal, in particularly their gendered performances. As Barack Obama's presidency draws to the end of its second term, this paper will examine the representation of his persona in the context of the election in 2008 when he became the first Black US president. Much has been written of him being the first Black president of the USA, however, if we explore his campaign through a gendered lens, we can see that he is equally revolutionary. This contrasts with the gendered construction of male political leaders in other parts of the world, particularly that of Vladimir Putin in Russia. Building on work carried out in relation to the mediatisation and personalisation of politics in the last 50 years, this article shows how gendered performances can be seen to mirror changes in society.     

Russian and Ukrainian elites: A comparative study of different identities and alternative transitions

The deterioration in Russian-Ukrainian relations heightened in 2014 but did not begin then and has deeper roots. Both Russian presidents have had troubled relations with all five Ukrainian presidents irrespective if they were described as ‘nationalist’ or ‘pro-Russian.’ This article is the first to explain why the roots of the crisis go deeper and it does this by investigating three areas. The first is the different sources of elites in 1991 when independent Russia captured Soviet institutions and undertook top-down state building while Ukraine inherited far less and set course with bottom up state-building. The second is divergent Russian and Ukrainian national identities. The third is the resultant different transitions with Russia reverting to great power imperial nationalism and Ukraine quadruple and post-colonial transitions.     

批判与建构:列宁在意识形态领域的斗争策略

列宁坚持马克思恩格斯处理意识形态问题的基本原则和方法,将马克思主义同历史时代、俄国具体实际的发展相结合,对资产阶级意识形态的理论挑战和受伯恩施坦主义影响的俄国内部错误思潮进行了坚决地批驳和澄清。他批判了资产阶级哲学意识形态的荒谬性、政治意识形态的虚假性、宗教意识形态的欺骗性,同时对无产阶级内部机会主义和修正主义进行了清算,加强了党对意识形态的领导与实践,探讨了无产阶级政党加强自身意识形态建构的策略,建构了社会主义的意识形态,从理论和实践上将马克思恩格斯意识形态思想发展提升到了一个新的高度。列宁意识形态批判与建构思想启示我们:一是要想建设好、发挥好社会主义意识形态的凝聚力和引领力,必须高度重视意识形态工作,重视党的领导。二是要与错误思潮作坚决的斗争。三是要在把握时代、创新方法中不断丰富和发展社会主义意识形态。     

Improving BRICS Cooperation

正The Sixth BRICS Summit,themed"BRICS:Inclusive Growth,Sustainable Solutions,"was held in Brazil’s northeastern city Fortaleza.Chinese President Xi Jinping,Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff,Russian President Vladimir Putin,Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South African President Jacob Zuma attended the summit.The emerging-market bloc of BRICS announced to establish a development bank and a contingent reserve     

A Historic Deal

正Putin’s visit upgrades China-Russia energy and security cooperation Chinese and Russian leaders have proclaimed to the world that their relationship is at a high point.The two major neighboring powers have now illustrated this claim by expanding ties in the fields of energy and security.Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin jointly released a statement on May 20 during the     

China Performs Well in Sochi Winter Olympics

正The XXII Winter Olympic Games opened on February 7 in a spectacular ceremony which was attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the invitation of his Russian counterpart,Vladimir Putin.Xi’s appearance at the Sochi Olympic opening ceremony was the fi rst attendance by a Chinese president at a major overseas sports event,signaling China’s strong support for the Olympics and Russia’s efforts to host the Games.     

Russia’s New Old President

正Vladimir Putin is elected Russian president for a third term The West and the opposition have denounced him as an "autocrat." But many Russians regard him as the hero of Russia and are crazy about him. Vladimir Putin declared victory in