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

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. Machine Generated Contents Note: Pt. I Olympic Perspectives -- Ch. One Snow, Ice, And Vertical Drops: What Is Different About The Sochi Winter Games? / Raymond Taras -- Ch. Two The Sochi Winter Games: Marketing And Sustainable Development -- Or Neither Nor? / Karin Book -- Ch. Three Environmental Ethics And The Olympics: On The Reconstruction Of Nature For Sport / Kutte Jonsson -- Pt. Ii Identity Matters -- Ch. Four Olympism And Empire: The Olympic Myth In The Contestation Of The Caucasus / Emil Persson -- Ch. Five Sochi As A Site Of Circassian Long-distance Memorialisation / Lars Funch Hansen -- Ch. Six The Symbols Of Sochi 2014: Searching For The Visual Signs Of New Russian Political Identity / Vitalii Volkov -- Pt. Iii Internal Order And Security -- Ch. Seven Russia's Olympic Discourses: Effects Of Unification And Diversification / Andrei Makarychev -- Ch. Eight Securitization In The North Caucasus On The Eve Of The Sochi Games / Uliana Hellberg -- Ch. Nine The Terrorist Threat Against Sochi 2014 / Jakob Hedenskog -- Pt. Iv Caucasian Knots -- Ch. Ten Security Of The Winter Olympics In Sochi From A Georgian Perspective / Alexandre Kukhianidze -- Ch. Eleven Abkhazia And The Preparations For The Sochi Games: Possibilities And Conditions / Revaz Tchantouria -- Ch. Twelve Disputed Frontiers: Abkhazia In Russia's Sochi 2014 Project / Helena Rytovuori-apunen. Edited By Bo Petersson And Karina Vamling. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.