Academic Centre
The book ‘Russia and Latvia: A Case of Sharp Power’ is dedicated to the study of the implementation of Russia's sharp power in Latvia, paying special attention to Russian foreign policy during the rule of Vladimir Putin. ‘Sharp power’ refers to the informational influence of authoritarian and totalitarian states on social and political processes in democratic countries. The founders of the sharp power theory, Christopher Walker and Jessica Ludwig, point out that although most of the methods used by soft power and sharp power are similar, sharp power “pierces, penetrates, or perforates the political and information environments in the targeted countries”.
In his book, the author pays attention both to the study and development of the theory of sharp power, and to the analysis of a wide range of instruments of Russia’s destructive influence in Latvia. “Double standards and hypocrisy are not categories that are easy to study with Joseph Nye’s attractiveness-based soft power research approach. On the other hand, the concept of sharp power deals with it very effectively, because the analysis of deception methods is at the core of its research” explains the author of the book, political scientist Andis Kudors.
The book ‘Russia and Latvia: A Case of Sharp Power’ was written during Andis Kudor’s internship at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University (Washington, US) in 2021-2022. The book, published by the British publishing house Routledge, is intended for a wide range of readers: political scientists, historians, researchers of communication science and national security, students, diplomats, politicians and journalists.
The opening event of the book will be led by Armands Astukevičs, a researcher at the Centre for East European Policy Studies, while its author Andis Kudors and Toms Rostoks, associate professor of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Latvia, director of the Diplomacy master's study program, will speak about what is expressed in the book. At the beginning of the presentation, a video greeting by the founder of the theory of sharp power Christopher Walker, Vice President of Studies and Analysis of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) to the participants of the event and a comment about the book will be played.
Language of the event: Latvian, with simultaneous translation into English.
All interested individuals are welcome to the book opening event by writing in advance to: info@appc.lv
About the author:
Andis Kudors is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Latvia. He has been the Executive Director and Researcher of the Centre for East European Policy Studies (APPC) from 2006 to 2019. A. Kudors graduated from the Institute of International Affairs of the University of Latvia in 1996, where he studied international economics and international law. Between 2005 and 2011, A. Kudors studied at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Latvia, where he obtained a bachelor's degree and then a master's degree in political science. Currently, he continues to work on his doctoral thesis at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Latvia. Kudors is the author and editor of several publications devoted to the analysis of Russian foreign policy. 2014-2015 g. Kudors, as a scholarship holder of the US
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