 | Popular Geopolitics and Nation Branding in the Post-Soviet Realm Subjects: Area Studies; Geography; Humanities; Politics & International Relations; Central Asian Russian & Eastern European Studies; Politics & the Media; Human Geography; Cultural Studies; Media & Film Studies; European Politics; International Relations; Political Philosophy; Regulatory Policy; Cultural Geography; Political Geography; Social Geography; Regional Geography - Human Geography; Cultural Theory; Media & Communications; Journalism & Professional Media; Russian & Soviet Politics; International Relations Theory; Public Diplomacy; Democracy; Nationalism; Social Democracy; Organizational Theory & Behavior; This seminal book explores the complex relationship between popular geopolitics and nation branding among the Newly Independent States of Eurasia, and their combined role in shaping contemporary national image and statecraft within and beyond the region. It provides critical perspectives on international relations, nationalism, and national identity through the use of innovative approaches focusing on popular culture, new media, public diplomacy, and alternative "narrators" of the nation. By positing popular geopolitics and nation branding as contentious forces and complementary flows, the study explores the tensions and elisions between national self-image and external perceptions of the nation, and how this complex interplay has become integral to contemporary global affairs. Robert A. Saunders is Professor in the Department of History, Politics, and Geography at Farmingdale State College, a campus of the State University of New York, where he teaches courses on Russia, Central Asia, and world religions. His research interests include post-totalitarian states, geopolitics, popular culture, and the mass-mediation of national identity. |
