Researcher
Matthew Blackburn
Contactinfo and files
Summary
Matthew Blackburn is a Senior Researcher in NUPI's Research group for Eastern Europe and Asia. He is also an affiliated researcher at the Institute of Russian and Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University. His main research agenda addresses politics in Russia and Eurasia, including both domestic politics and interstate relations. He has researched political legitimation and popular responses to state discourses, with a particular focus on how regimes mobilise on the ideational level and cope with the challenges of nationalist and populist opposition. Currently he is researching wartime developments in Russian politics including the new state-society relationship and public opinion, nationalist dissent and new state ideological projects.
He is also engaged in research on Iran-Russia-China cooperation for the Norwegian Geopolitics Centre and is a research coordinator for the Civilizationalism Project based at Stanford University.
Expertise
Education
2018 PhD, (Russian and East European Studies Programme) University of Glasgow.
2013 International Masters in Russian and Eastern European Studies and International Relations, Glasgow University and KIMEP University (Almaty
Work Experience
2023- Senior Researcher, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI)
2021-2023 Ulam Research Fellow, University of Warsaw
2018-2021 Postdoctoral researcher, Institute of Russian and Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University
Aktivitet
Filter
Clear all filters
The Russia Conference 2026: Violence in Russia
Why are the levels of violence in Russia so high, and how do they impact the country's political and economic development and its international relations? These are among the topics we will discuss at the Russia Conference 2026.
The Battle for Russia’s Rebirth: Interpreting Pro-War Critical Patriotism and Imperial-Nationalism on Telegram
The Putin regime has developed an ambiguous relationship with Russian nationalism, which has been both a threat and a resource to the maintenance of its power. With the launch of the “Special Military Operation,” Russia’s national-patriot groups increased their profile as commentators on – and critics of – the war effort. This article analyses their content on Telegram – whose use has exploded inside Russia – and maps the discourses of this reinvigorated and politicized pro-war imperial-nationalist network. Our findings show that these channels share important commonalities in both their critiques of state policy — “critical patriotism” — and their propagation of an imperial-nationalist imaginary. Their hardline illiberal demands put pressure on the Kremlin to be less pragmatic and more ideologically consistent – at home and abroad. The key difference among the clusters within the network was between those still engaging in serious anti-regime dissent and those moderating their criticism to secure new niches in wartime conditions. We underscore the agency of these actors in their wartime stances toward the regime, interpret their radical pro-war positions, and consider their overall role in wartime Russia's information environment.
Nationalism, populism, and political community: Alexei Navalny’s legacy amid the crisis of liberal globalism
Weaving together theories of political community and social imaginaries with the idea that populism and nationalism anchor the democratic principles of political representation and popular sovereignty in the modern state, this essay reexamines Alexei Navalny’s political trajectory and its implications at a time when illiberal forces are gaining ground.
National network for competence on Russia (RUSSNETT 2026)
The national network for competence on Russia aims to preserve and further develop Norwegian knowledge of Russia across sectors in Norway. ...
The ideological production, policy outcomes and practices of wartime Putinism (WARPUT)
In WARPUT, researchers examine the wartime transformation of Russian politics and society through the prism of ideology. ...
Reacting to a geopolitical setback: NATO expansion in Sweden and Finland through the lens of Russian geopolitical culture”
The accession of Sweden and Finland to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is typically seen as a serious geopolitical setback for Russia, the opposite of its goals to limit the alliance’s spread eastwards. In contrast to Moscow’s stances on Ukraine and Georgia, however, its reaction to NATO’s Nordic expansion is more ambiguous. This article uses the framework of critical geopolitics to analyse several layers of Russia’s discursive reaction: practical, formal, and popular. This study finds that much of the popular geopolitics continues pre-2022 trends, presenting a securitised and nationalistic construction of NATO as a threatening ‘Other’. On the other hand, more moderate and pragmatic assessments in formal geopolitics balance against bellicosity and highlight the agency of the Nordic states, suggesting Russia may return to peaceful cooperation. In practical geopolitics, there is a gap between discourse and practice. Alongside more negative official discourse on NATO Nordic expansion, there was also reduced Russian military activity and an avoidance of provocative steps. These two faces – realism and pragmatism as opposed to securitised and nationalistic threat deterrence – reflect the structure of Russian geopolitical culture when it is applied to the North and Nordic NATO expansion.
National network for competence on Russia (RUSSNETT 2025)
The national network for competence on Russia aims to preserve and further develop Norwegian knowledge of Russia across sectors in Norway. ...
Norway and Romania: Navigating Information Warfare
The study „Norway and Romania: Navigating Information Warfare” explores the use of disinformation, propaganda, and interference to manipulate public discourse amid the Ukraine war. It discusses how these tactics exploit historical and border sensitivities to delegitimize Ukraine and distract from the global economic impacts of Russian aggression. The research highlights how such strategies shift blame and reshape international perceptions favorably towards Russia. The study analyzes how Russian political warfare manifests itself in both Norway and Romania, dwelling on the particularities of each country. This study is one of deliverables of the FLANKS II project conducted jointly by New Strategy Center in Romania and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) in Oslo.