The Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies is pleased to announce that Stanislav Budnitsky has been awarded the 2023-2024 Research Grant for Emerging Scholars.
The research grants of up to $6,000 support early-career scholars in any field of the Baltic studies. Proposals are evaluated according to the scholarly potential of the applicant and the quality and scholarly importance of the proposed work, especially to the development of Baltic Studies. Funds may be used for travel, duplication, materials, equipment, or other needs as specified.
The 2023 applications were evaluated by the AABS 2023-2024 Grants and Awards Committee consisting of AABS VP for Professional Development Dr. Kaarel Piirimäe, AABS President Dr. Dovilė Budrytė, and AABS Director-at-Large Dr. Daunis Auers. You can find a full list of 2023 awardees here.
Stanislav Budnitsky is a global communication scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (The Wilson Center) in Washington, D.C. His current book project examines the history of post-Cold War struggles over the global digital order.
Before the Wilson Center, Budnitsky held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Indiana University in Bloomington, and the University of Pennsylvania. Budnitsky’s academic writings have appeared in the International Journal of Communication, Internet Policy Review, and European Journal of Cultural Studies, among other publications.
Budnitsky received his Ph.D. in Communication from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He holds Master’s degrees in Nationalism Studies from Budapest’s Central European University and in Journalism from Moscow’s Higher School of Economics. Before graduate studies, Budnitsky assisted Western outlets in reporting from Russia as a Moscow-based media producer.
Project Overview
My monograph-in-progress explores the ongoing geopolitical struggle over the internet’s governing principles, in which Estonia and Russia have emerged as leading voices. The project employs a cultural-historical lens to show how Estonian and Russian national identity constructions direct their digital governance agendas. Russia’s aggrieved great power identity underlies its challenge to the perceived US digital hegemony. By contrast, Estonia’s self-image as a liberal Nordic nation has guided its support for the US-led digital order. As an AABS Emerging Scholar Grant recipient, I will contextualize Estonia’s rise as a recognized digital innovator and policymaker within Tallinn’s national imperative of distancing from the Soviet/Russian Other and reaffirming its belonging within the Euro-Atlantic community.