“Russia, Goodbye!”: An analysis of Russia-Ukraine geopolitical dynamics and competing narratives within the Eurovision Song Contest (2003-2023)

• Autor(a) principal: Pereira, Rita Fonseca
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/30517
• topic: Popular geopolitics; Geopolitical narratives; Soft power; Eurovision Song Contest; Russia; Ukraine; Geopolítica popular; Narrativas geopolíticas; Festival Eurovisão da Canção; Rússia; Ucrânia

Television has long proven to be the storyteller of contemporary world politics. The Eurovision Song Contest, an annual TV music competition, has been shown to be a microcosm of Europe and all the political friendships and enmities that characterize the European political landscape. Known as a kitsch and quirky pop show, Eurovision is the most popular event in Europe, gathering hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide. Despite being considered apolitical by the European Broadcasting Union, the singing competition has served as a platform for countries to spread their values, culture and several narratives to a broad audience and, consequently, enhance their soft power and influence. Russia and Ukraine have a longstanding tradition of political posturing around Eurovision as both countries have been narrating their hostile relations for the past 20 years through song lyrics, voting patterns, political speeches and statements. To understand the spill-over of Russia and Ukraine’s geopolitical tensions and conflict to the Eurovision stage, this study will explore this bilateral relation within the international event through the lens of popular geopolitics. This analysis will then provide valuable insights on how Russia and Ukraine are producing and disseminating their geopolitical narratives through a musical and entertainment platform and how these specific narratives are reflecting broader geopolitical dynamics between both countries. Through the Eurovision Song Contest, it is possible to study how popular culture and geopolitical issues intersect, which provides a distinctive perspective of Russia-Ukraine relations and how they are perceived on the international stage before a global audience.