Symbolism, moralism och bojkotter : En teoriprövande fallstudie om Eurovision Song Contest som arena för internationell konflikt

Sammanfattning: The use of cultural boycotts motivated by international conflicts between countries or regions has long been observed within sports. However, so far it has not been studied in other context of international competition like the Eurovision Song Contest. This essay aims to evaluate if we can understand political actions like boycotts or political symbolism through existing theories regarding political symbolism. This case study has chosen three withdrawals during the 21th century, which have been made due to conflict with another competing country. The withdrawals studied are Lebanon in 2005, Georgia in 2009 and Armenia in 2012. Through the use of political symbolism and boycotts as a political mean the three cases have been studied and classified. The result shows that current theories regarding political symbolism can be applied to understand two out of the three cases. The Lebanese withdrawal can be understood as a classic political boycott against Israel and the Georgian withdrawal as protest against Russia and therefor a case of political symbolism. The Armenian withdrawal has been characterized as a different kind of political symbolism than previously has been observed within the field of study. This essay has chosen to identify the case of Armenia as morally motivated political symbolism.