Anna Popkova, “Indigenous Dissent and Public Diplomacy during Russia’s War in Ukraine: The Case of Free Buryatia Foundation,”
January 7, 2025
Intended for teachers of diplomacy and related courses, here is an update on resources that may be of general interest. Suggestions for future updates are welcome.
Bruce Gregory
Affiliate Scholar
Institute for Public Diplomacy
and Global Communication
George Washington University
BGregory@gwu.edu | BGregory1@
January 7, 2025
Intended for teachers of diplomacy and related courses, here is an update on resources that may be of general interest. Suggestions for future updates are welcome.
Bruce Gregory
Affiliate Scholar
Institute for Public Diplomacy
and Global Communication
George Washington University
BGregory@gwu.edu | BGregory1@
Anna Popkova, “Indigenous Dissent and Public Diplomacy during Russia’s War in Ukraine: The Case of Free Buryatia Foundation,” CPD Perspectives, USC Center on Public Diplomacy, November 2024. Popkova (Western Michigan University) develops two claims in this study. First, she advances the theoretical claim that indigenous non-state actors engaged in political dissent and disruption of state-sponsored public diplomacy can be considered public diplomacy actors by virtue of their reliance on “diplomatic capabilities in the absence of diplomatic status.” Second, she defends the empirical claim that the Free Buryatia Foundation (FBF), institutionally located in the United States, is a non-state public diplomacy actor. The FBF engages in “dissenting public diplomacy” through its construction and dissemination of strategic narratives that challenge (1) Russia’s hegemonic narratives about the war in Ukraine and (2) the vilification of “savage Buryat warriors” disseminated by international media. Her article provides an instructive overview of recent discussion of diplomacy’s boundaries and the rationale for treating some non-state actors as diplomatic actors. Through her focus on actors attentive to conflict and dissent, she broadens a discourse dominated by finding collaborative solutions to problems. Her article usefully contributes to a fundamental question in diplomacy’s boundaries agenda. How should we distinguish between diplomacy and the interactions of large numbers of activists, political factions, and other groups engaged in domestic politics and forms of cross-cultural communication apart from diplomacy?
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