Media Image of Russian Nationalism: the "Listva" Bookstore Case

Thе graduation thesis focuses on the representation of nationalist ideas and communities in the contemporary media and their own perceptions as members of political movements and participants in public events. The case study was taken of the opening of the bookstore Listva in Moscow 2020, which many media have referred to as a "right-wing" and "nationalist" shop. The main problem of the research is to explore aspects of how the concept of "nationalism" is being blurred in the media and confused with concepts such as "Nazism" and "fascism". The study is based on case study methods, an interpretative analysis of secondary data by examining publications about the bookstore opening and conducting in-depth interviews with the founders of Listva bookstore, journalists who covered the bookstore opening in Moscow and representatives of nationalism. The first chapter reveals the definitions of "Nazism" and "nationalism", examines the typology and theories of nationalism, the communities and media resources of nationalists, and the history of Russian nationalism up to the present day. The second chapter examines the general notion of the media image of Russian nationalism and how it has been studied by domestic and foreign researchers. The third chapter examines the case study of the bookstore Listva, as well as an analysis of in-depth interviews and publications. The results of the study can be useful for those who study the media image of nationalist cultural spaces and the phenomenon of the media image of Russian nationalism in a historical perspective.