From mercenary to legitimate actor? Russian discourses on private military companies.
In: Post-Soviet Affairs, Jg. 39 (2023-11-01), Heft 6, S. 420-439
academicJournal
Zugriff:
The Russian private military company (PMC), the Wagner Group, went from being a public secret to openly fighting alongside Russian forces in Russia's war in Ukraine. By looking at Russian pro-government media discourses on PMCs, this paper argues that this development is largely made possible by a discursive shift, which happened before the war. Two basic discourses are found in the period leading up to the war – a discourse that denies the existence of Russian PMCs, and a discourse of normalization, which constructs PMCs as legitimate businesses and Russia as a great power. The two discourses previously kept the PMCs in a grey zone, allowing the Russian political elite deniability, while also taking credit for the foreign policy successes the PMCs achieved. However, this paper shows a discursive shift of recognizing PMCs as legitimate actors, which allowed for the Wagner Group to play a key role in Russia's war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Post-Soviet Affairs is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Titel: |
From mercenary to legitimate actor? Russian discourses on private military companies.
|
---|---|
Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Larsen, Karen Philippa |
Zeitschrift: | Post-Soviet Affairs, Jg. 39 (2023-11-01), Heft 6, S. 420-439 |
Veröffentlichung: | 2023 |
Medientyp: | academicJournal |
ISSN: | 1060-586X (print) |
DOI: | 10.1080/1060586X.2023.2247782 |
Schlagwort: |
|
Sonstiges: |
|