From Offense to Defense : The Political Discourse and Use of Sports in Putin’s Russia from a Historical Perspective
Journal: Lund University Publications Student Papers (Lund University)
Year: 2017

This thesis looks into the political discourse surrounding the doping scandal that has developed in Russian sport over the last two years. The paper hypothesizes that because of the importance of nationalism and Russia’s great power status, the Putin regime has, despite publicly stating the opposite, actively contributed to the further politicization of sport by returning to a sport discourse closely resembling that of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. By taking a historical perspective, com