The Sochi Predicament: Contexts, Characteristics and Challenges of the Olympic Winter Games in 2014 - Hardcover

For a variety of political, climatic, ecological, security-related and other reasons, the Russian summer resort of Sochi by the Black Sea would seem a most unlikely candidate for the Olympic Winter Games. Despite this, the Games will be held there in February 2014, and the Russian leaders regard the Games as a highly prestigious project underlining Russia's return to a status of great power in the contemporary world. This book conducts a thorough inventory of the contexts, characteristics and challenges facing the Sochi Games. It deals with the problems from Russian, Georgian, Abkhazian and Circassian perspectives and makes in-depth analyses of profound challenges related to matters such as identity, security, and ethnic relations. The book brings together an international group of eminent scholars representing different disciplinary perspectives, including political science, sports science, ethics, ethnology, and Caucasian studies.

Bo Petersson is Professor of Political Science and International Migration and Ethnic Relations and Vice Dean for Research at the Faculty of Culture and Society at Malmo University, Sweden. His special areas of interest include nationalism, political myth, enemy images, stereotyping, and xenophobia. In geographical terms, he has often come to specialise in political developments in Russia and the former Soviet Union. Karina Vamling is Professor of Caucasus Studies at Malmo University, Sweden. Her special expertise is on the Caucasus region and Russia with a focus on Caucasian languages, language and identity, language policy and ethnic minorities. More specifically, she has published on the Circassian language in English and Russian, as well as on the language situation in Georgia.