Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SMERUPOL (Analysing Politicisation around Sports Mega Events (SME) in contemporary Russia)
Reporting period: 2020-09-01 to 2022-08-31
Sports mega events (SME) have raised major interest in Russia and were massively invested by the political power, as demonstrated by the personal implication of V. Putin in the Russian application to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games and the 2018 Football World Cup. SME are efficient tools of legitimacy for the political power; however, they are also an object of controversy. While the hosting of the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the good performance of the Russian football team generated enthusiasm within the Russian society, doping and corruption scandals have tarnished Russia in the international sporting arena. Additionally, the pension reform adopted during the last World Cup resulted in vivid criticism within the Russian society. Following these observations, SMERUPOL aimed at answering the following question: to what extent and how do Russians politicise their point of view around the theme of SME? This research follows a qualitative methodology based on collective interviews, which give access to the interactive level of politicization and allow the observation of tensions and contradictions within the discourses. Thus, SMERUPOL aimed at filling a gap in the literature on the construction of the relationship towards politics in contemporary Russia; a field that remains widely understudied. More broadly, it intended to contribute to the study of the politicization processes in authoritarian contexts.
The initial project and the related objectives have been substantially modified because of the Covid 19 pandemic on the one hand, and a dramatic change in the Russian political context on the other hand. Given the impossibility to travel to Russia and carry out the initially planned fieldwork, the methodology of the project has been redesigned to adapt to the new political and sanitary context.
First, I organised a focus group with members of the Russian diaspora living in France, Belgium and Luxembourg. Second, I externalized the recruitment and the organization of 4 focus groups in Saint-Petersburg by collaborating with Russian researchers. The sampling followed the classic rule of focus groups, mixing social homogeneity and political heterogeneity. We organized 4 discussion groups of 6 people each. Social homogeneity, which aimed at facilitating the expression of all participants, was guaranteed by recruiting, in each group, people of equivalent level of education and age class (-35 and +55), with at least 50% women. Political heterogeneity, which was supposed to stimulate the debate, has been ensured by a recruitment survey relating to media consumption (state television or internet) and by the mixing of the different profiles in each group. The participants were not asked direct political questions, rather they were invited to talk about their fears, the way they imagine their future and the future of Ukraine or were asked to express their ideas in drawing form.
Since the data collection was strongly delayed (the focus groups took place on the 2 and 3 March 2022), the dissemination of the results is still to come. The first results of the research were presented on 28/10/2022 at the 21st annual Aleksanteri Conference, “The New Era of Insecurity”, held in Helsinki (title of the paper: “Russians’ political opinions through a qualitative lens: An analysis of political discussions after 24 February 2022”, panel “7C – Measuring and Interpreting Political Surveys in Russia and Europe”).
First, I organised a focus group with members of the Russian diaspora living in France, Belgium and Luxembourg. Second, I externalized the recruitment and the organization of 4 focus groups in Saint-Petersburg by collaborating with Russian researchers. The sampling followed the classic rule of focus groups, mixing social homogeneity and political heterogeneity. We organized 4 discussion groups of 6 people each. Social homogeneity, which aimed at facilitating the expression of all participants, was guaranteed by recruiting, in each group, people of equivalent level of education and age class (-35 and +55), with at least 50% women. Political heterogeneity, which was supposed to stimulate the debate, has been ensured by a recruitment survey relating to media consumption (state television or internet) and by the mixing of the different profiles in each group. The participants were not asked direct political questions, rather they were invited to talk about their fears, the way they imagine their future and the future of Ukraine or were asked to express their ideas in drawing form.
Since the data collection was strongly delayed (the focus groups took place on the 2 and 3 March 2022), the dissemination of the results is still to come. The first results of the research were presented on 28/10/2022 at the 21st annual Aleksanteri Conference, “The New Era of Insecurity”, held in Helsinki (title of the paper: “Russians’ political opinions through a qualitative lens: An analysis of political discussions after 24 February 2022”, panel “7C – Measuring and Interpreting Political Surveys in Russia and Europe”).
The expected results should allow to explore the processes of politicization of ordinary citizens around sports themes, but also to give access to their opinions concerning the latest political events and their relationship to politics. Given the unprecedented repressive context in Russia after 24 February 2022, sports themes turned out to be an interesting entry point for addressing some political representations (such as the relationship to the nation, to patriotism, to other states, or to the “West”).