Det föränderliga Sovjetunionen

Sammanfattning: The objective of this essay has been to show how the image of the Soviet Union in “Alla tiders historia” differs in the 1989 and 2004 editions of the book. To explain these differences I have used a discourse analytic perspective, mainly inspired by Michel Foucault and his philosophical theories of the constructions of objects, and also Faircloughs critical discourse analysis inspired by Gramsci. In this paper the two editions of “Alla tiders historia” are presented with quotes which are then analysed from using my theoretical framework. In the 1989 edition three themes emerged: continuity, undecidability and ambivalence, which together present an image of a Soviet Union which is not clearly defined within the political discourse. In the 2004 edition this struggle over the discourse has been settled and the Soviet Union’s position as a dictatorship has been determined, at the same time as the Soviet Union is put in a negative relationship with Czar Russia and is connected with Nazi Germany. The hypothesis which this essay presume, that these differences reflect a greater discoursive shift on a social level has taken place since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 is in a sense confirmed.