Books by Julie Wilhelmsen
Dissertation for the Degree of PhD , 2014
This dissertation investigates how violence against a given territory or group of people becomes ... more This dissertation investigates how violence against a given territory or group of people becomes acceptable to leaders and their publics. Some wars are launched only reluctantly, and support dwindles once the high human costs are revealaed. Others, however, are undertaken with a sense of urgency and righteousness. The brute violence employed appears not only acceptable, but even necessary. The second post-soviet war which was launched against Chechnya in 1999 was such a war. The thesis employs and develops a post-structuralist version of securitization theory. This approach emphasises securitization as an intersubjective and ongoing process of legitimation, not an instance or a moment. The social construction of Chechnya and Chechens as 'terrorist' is conceptualized as a collective endeavour. Not only statements by the Russian leadership, but also historical representations as well as those of the wider political elite, journalists and experts contributed to this rough categorization. In the final chapter the thesis investigates how this linguistic categorization materialized in the brutal practices employed during the Second Chechen War.
About the Book
This book provides an in-depth analysis of how mobilization and legitimation for... more About the Book
This book provides an in-depth analysis of how mobilization and legitimation for war are made possible, with a focus on Russia's conflict with Chechnya.
Through which processes do leaders and their publics come to define and accept certain conflicts as difficult to engage in, and others as logical, even necessary? Drawing on a detailed study of changes in Russia’s approach to Chechnya, this book argues that ‘re-phrasing’ Chechnya as a terrorist threat in 1999 was essential to making the use of violence acceptable to the Russian public. The book refutes popular explanations that see Russian war-making as determined and grounded in a sole, authoritarian leader. Close study of the statements and texts of Duma representatives, experts and journalists before and during the war demonstrates how the Second Chechen War was made a ‘legitimate’ undertaking through the efforts of many. A post-structuralist reinterpretation of securitization theory guides and structures the book, with discourse theory and method employed as a means to uncover the social processes that make war acceptable. More generally, the book provides a framework for understanding the broad social processes that underpin legitimized war-making.
This book will be of much interest to students of Russian politics, critical terrorism studies, security studies and international relations
An analysis of Russia's response to globalization. This book explores how Russian domestic politi... more An analysis of Russia's response to globalization. This book explores how Russian domestic politics shape this international engagement. Thematically, the focus is on Russia's external engagement with areas of policy relating to globalization, namely energy, climate, health, direct foreign investment, finance, and international terrorism
Papers by Julie Wilhelmsen
Introduction and overview over violent mobilization in the North Caucasus: Recent developments an... more Introduction and overview over violent mobilization in the North Caucasus: Recent developments and context, conflicting identities, state and sub-state violence, causes and limits of violent mobilization in the region
The report analyses freedom of the press in Russia as a litmus test of the development of liberal... more The report analyses freedom of the press in Russia as a litmus test of the development of liberal democratic norms under Putin. It addresses both the question of why freedom of the press has deteriorated and what kind of impact the international society has had on this development. It is found that restricting freedom of the press has been a rational tool employed by a Russian president aiming to secure his own position, strengthen state power and win a war in Chechnya. However, the deterioration of freedom of the press is also attributed to Russian political culture and the growing influence and assertiveness of the security structures under Putin. Further, the report concludes that the Western states' response to this development has been muted and has only to a limited degree contributed to promote freedom of the press in Russia. The report is part of an FFI project that analyses the prospects of a Russian-Western "security community". A prerequisite for such a community is the development of common norms. The report reveals a mismatch between closer cooperation and institutional integration between Russia and the West on the one hand and the weak and even deteriorating standing of liberal democratic norms under Putin.
Journal of Global Security Studies, Sep 30, 2020
In current popular analysis, Russian foreign policy is explained from within: even in our present... more In current popular analysis, Russian foreign policy is explained from within: even in our presentations today, it is Russia’s relations to Europe, to the West, to China etc, that we address – it is not how these entities relate to Russia - As if Russia’s every move can be explained solely with reference to Russia itself. Identity scholarship often has a similar problem: we dissect the articulation of identity in one political entity and then look at what conditions of possibility such identifications create for foreign policy action This is a very useful exercise. But somehow - when watching developments - you get the sense that the processes of othering (-of construing the other as a threat-) in one political entity is tied to such processes in other political entities. We miss something if we study what the states do in isolation from each other. There are probably important interaction effects that we need to take into account if we want to explain the direction of Russian foreign policy
19, 2015
"The Nordic Pearls" - independent bilateral cooperation institutions - will, in a confe... more "The Nordic Pearls" - independent bilateral cooperation institutions - will, in a conference series in the course of 2015 and 2016, address different aspects of Nordic-Russian relations int the past and present.
Arctic Review on Law and Politics, 2018
Internasjonal Politikk, Dec 13, 2012
Nordisk øst-forum, Jan 10, 2011
Nordisk øst-forum, Nov 17, 2020
Nordisk øst-forum, May 17, 2005
Internasjonal Politikk, Jul 19, 2004
Europe-Asia Studies, 2005
... In the case of Movsar Baraev, war and violence totally dominated his experience of adult life... more ... In the case of Movsar Baraev, war and violence totally dominated his experience of adult life. ... invasion of Afghanistan many had rallied to defend their fellow Muslims, inspired by the ... Faced with growing opposition from the radical warlords who could subsidise their small armies ...
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Books by Julie Wilhelmsen
This book provides an in-depth analysis of how mobilization and legitimation for war are made possible, with a focus on Russia's conflict with Chechnya.
Through which processes do leaders and their publics come to define and accept certain conflicts as difficult to engage in, and others as logical, even necessary? Drawing on a detailed study of changes in Russia’s approach to Chechnya, this book argues that ‘re-phrasing’ Chechnya as a terrorist threat in 1999 was essential to making the use of violence acceptable to the Russian public. The book refutes popular explanations that see Russian war-making as determined and grounded in a sole, authoritarian leader. Close study of the statements and texts of Duma representatives, experts and journalists before and during the war demonstrates how the Second Chechen War was made a ‘legitimate’ undertaking through the efforts of many. A post-structuralist reinterpretation of securitization theory guides and structures the book, with discourse theory and method employed as a means to uncover the social processes that make war acceptable. More generally, the book provides a framework for understanding the broad social processes that underpin legitimized war-making.
This book will be of much interest to students of Russian politics, critical terrorism studies, security studies and international relations
Papers by Julie Wilhelmsen
This book provides an in-depth analysis of how mobilization and legitimation for war are made possible, with a focus on Russia's conflict with Chechnya.
Through which processes do leaders and their publics come to define and accept certain conflicts as difficult to engage in, and others as logical, even necessary? Drawing on a detailed study of changes in Russia’s approach to Chechnya, this book argues that ‘re-phrasing’ Chechnya as a terrorist threat in 1999 was essential to making the use of violence acceptable to the Russian public. The book refutes popular explanations that see Russian war-making as determined and grounded in a sole, authoritarian leader. Close study of the statements and texts of Duma representatives, experts and journalists before and during the war demonstrates how the Second Chechen War was made a ‘legitimate’ undertaking through the efforts of many. A post-structuralist reinterpretation of securitization theory guides and structures the book, with discourse theory and method employed as a means to uncover the social processes that make war acceptable. More generally, the book provides a framework for understanding the broad social processes that underpin legitimized war-making.
This book will be of much interest to students of Russian politics, critical terrorism studies, security studies and international relations