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Narrative Escalation

Moving Pictures – Movements in Pictures. Protest Photography in Germany and Sweden, 1880-1918

Photos of protests evoke different associations. Whether they are blurry photos on social media or Pulitzer Prize-winning photo documentation, they share the commonality of transcending spatial boundaries and their potential to become history themselves. This project investigates how photographs related to protest movements for labor rights, women’s suffrage, and conservation between 1880 and 1918 in Germany and Sweden generated narratives and counter-narratives of the protesters, complementing or undermining written reports.

- Olga Syrova, 22.11.2025

European Memory Conflicts Reflected in the Baltic Sea Region on the Example of “August 23rd”

"August 23rd", commemorating the historic date of the so-called Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, an agreement between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, is both known as the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes as well as the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and National Socialism. My project determines the debates surrounding “August 23rd” as an example for memory conflicts and for competitions over the (historical) authority of interpreting Europe’s violent history of the 20th century.

- Olga Syrova, 21.11.2025

Building a Union through Crises: The EU, Crisis-induced Policy Learning and the European Integration Process, 2008-2022

Since the late 2000s, the EU has faced an abundance of external and internal crises, from the Sovereign Debt Crisis to Russia’s current war on Ukraine and the subsequent energy crisis. To understand how these crises affect the EU, it is essential to understand how the Union deals with and, crucially, learns from crises.

- Olga Syrova, 21.11.2025

The Influence of Russia-related Critical Junctures on Its Standing in the Baltic Sea Region

- Olga Syrova, 21.11.2025

From Ideology to Politics – German Occupation of Sámi Everyday Life 1940–45

During the occupation of Norway by the Nazis, Norway was granted a special position in the Nazi regime’s imagined post-war world order, based on a fabricated “Germanic shared destiny”. But how were the Sámi people viewed by Norwegian and German National Socialists within the framework of National Socialist racial ideology? What kind of contact was there between Sámi communities and the German occupying forces during the war, and how were the meetings influenced by this racial ideology?

- Olga Syrova, 21.11.2025

From Pariah to Partner? Shifting Narratives about Swedish Right-wing Populists

This project examines how the way established parties in Sweden referred to the right-wing populist party Sverigedemokraterna (Sweden Democrats) has changed between 2010 and 2024, thereby highlighting the agency of mainstream political actors in determining what ideas and discourses are deemed acceptable.

- Olga Syrova, 21.11.2025

The Flow of Time. The Alta-Controversy as a Historical Turning Point

In 1970 the Norwegian government publicly announced plans for a monumental dam and hydropower-station located in the far north of the country. The Sámi minority played an important role in the numerous oppositional movements formed against these plans. The Alta-saken was a definite turning point in the history of the indigenous Sámi-population in northern Europe. Drawing on Jurij Lotman’s work, I analyse the narrative construction of this crucial event to explain the cultural negations surrounding the Alta-river.

- Olga Syrova, 21.11.2025

Democracy in Competing Stories: A Mixed-Methods Study of Liberal and Illiberal Regime Perceptions among the German Public

Using Germany as a case study, I examine public attitudes towards competing narratives about democracy within the German political discourse, alongside externally promoted counter-narratives from the Russian state.

- Olga Syrova, 21.11.2025