Bo Petersson

Bo Petersson has been a Professor of Political Science and IMER at the Department of Global Political Studies (GPS) since 2010. He is the director of the research platform RUCARR – Russia, Ukraine and the Caucasus Regional Research – at the Faculty of Culture and Society (during the period 2016-2024 together with Professor Karina Vamling). Petersson is also a member of the board of the Swedish Network for European Research in Political Science (SNES).

His areas of expertise include contemporary Russian politics, area studies, political myth, political language, legitimacy and legitimation strategies, authoritarian systems, and the spread of non-democratic and illiberal norms. His major publications include The Putin Predicament: Problems of Legitimacy and Succession in Russia, Stories about Strangers: Swedish Media Constructions of Socio-Cultural Risk, National Self-Images and Regional Identities in Russia, Majority Cultures and the Everyday Politics of Difference, and The Sochi Predicament: Contexts, Characteristics and Challenges of the Olympic Winter Games in 2014.

In recent years he has published articles in journals such as Demokratizatsiya, East European Politics, Europe-Asia Studies, Forum for EthnoGeopolitics, International Journal of Cultural Studies, NordeuropaForum, Problems of Post-Communism, Post-Soviet Affairs, Slavonic and East European Review, and Sport in Society.