Keywords
civilization
cultural heritage
Ukraine
war for identity
failed state
Russia
How to Cite
Abstract
The article analyzes Russia’s current war in Ukraine through the perspective of Francis Fukuyama’s concept of identity politics based on Samuel Huntington’s civilization approach. We argue that Russia’s war against Ukraine is a new type of war – a “war for identity” – a war that is waged primarily for the appropriation of Ukrainian cultural identity and historical heritage, rather than for political or economic resources. We believe that an effective explanatory framework for its consideration is provided by Huntington’s civilizational concept of the world order, in which the most widespread and dangerous conflicts will be between peoples belonging to different civilizations (and cultures). The article emphasizes that the Russian war in Ukraine is a direct consequence of two factors: on the one hand, Russia is not satisfied with its own cultural tradition and seeks to appropriate Ukrainian cultural identity and historical heritage in order to restore the “lost empire”; on the other hand, Russia is historically a region of civilizational fault line between the countries of Western civilization and the countries of Eastern civilizations, it is a “torn” state in terms of cultural identity and has maintained its integrity for centuries only due to its authoritarian political regime, but constantly produces numerous conflicts around its borders.
References
Avramenko A. 2023. “Anti-Russia: How Kremlin Labels its Neighbors to Justify Aggression,” UkraineWorld, February 17. Available online at: https://ukraineworld.org/articles/infowatch/anti-russia
Brubaker R. 2006. Ethnicity without Groups. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Bugajski J. 2022. Failed State: A Guide to Russia’s Rupture. Washington, DC: The Jamestown Foundation.
Bykova M. 2022. “Russia and Power: Unmasking the Historical Origins of the Present Crisis,” Studies in East European Thought 74:439–446. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-022-09532-8
Castells M. 2011. The Power of Identity. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Jenkins R. 2008. Social Identity. London – New York: Routledge.
Fromm E. 1994. Escape from Freedom. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Fukuyama F. 2018. Identity. The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Guliczyk D. 2023. “OCU i UGCC perekhodyat’ na novyy kalendar: yak zminyat’sya daty relihiynykh svyat (infohrafika) [OCU and UGCC switch to a new calendar: how the dates of religious holidays will change (infographic)],” TSN, May 24. Available online at: https://tsn.ua/ukrayina/pcu-i-ugkc-perehodyat-na-noviy-kalendar-yak-teper-vidznachatimemo-religiyni-svyata-2335861.html (in Ukrainian).
Harding A. 2022. “Yak zhyve rozlyuchenyy i neskorenyy Kherson” [How angry and unconquered Kherson lives], ВВС NEWS UKRAINE. March 17. Available online at: https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/features-60777420 (in Ukrainian).
Herasymenko O. & Soroka A. 2022. “’Os’ take dyvne zhyttya v okupatsiyi’. Yak zhyve Kherson, zaynyatyy rosiys’kymy viysʹkovymy” [This is such a strange life in the occupation.’ How does Kherson live, occupied by the Russian military], ВВС NEWS UKRAINE. March 22. Available online at: https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/features-60834436 (in Ukrainian).
Hordiichuk O. 2021. Mentality in the Age of Globalization: A Monograph. Zhytomyr: NOVOhrad Publishing.
Hordiichuk O. 2023. “The Ideological and Ontological Causes of Russia’s War on Ukraine. West versus East; Tyranny versus Democracy,” Ethics in Progress 14(1):4–23. https://doi.org/10.14746/eip.2023.1.1
Hrushevsky M. 1997. History of Ukraine-Rus’. Toronto: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press.
Hrytsak Y. 2019. Narys istorii Ukrainy. Formuvannia modernoi natsii XIX–XX st. [Essay on the history of Ukraine. Formation of a modern nation XIX-XX centuries]. Kyiv: Yakaboo Publishing (in Ukrainian).
Huntington S. P. 1993. “The Clash of Civilizations?,” Foreign Affairs 72(3):22–49. https://doi.org/10.2307/20045621
Huntington S. P. 1996. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Huntington S. P. 2004. Who Are We? The Challenges to America’s National Identity. New York – London – Toronto – Sydney: Simon & Schuster.
HURI 2021. “Contextualizing Putinʼs ‘On the Historical Unity of Russian and Ukrainians’,” HURI, August 2. Available online at: https://huri.harvard.edu/news/putin-historical-unity
Ilyshina M. 2022a. “Putin Declares «War» – Aloud – Forsaking His Special Euphemistic Operation,” The Washington Post, December 22. Available online at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/22/putin-war-ukraine-special-operation/
Ilyshina M. 2022b. “Russia Criminalizes Independent War Reporting, Anti-War Protests,” Human Right Watch, March 7. Available online at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/07/russia-criminalizes-independent-war-reporting-anti-war-protests
Karamzin N. M. 2021. Istoriya gosudarstva Rossijskogo [History of Russian Goverment]. Moskva: Eksmo (in Russian).
Kulyk V. 2023. “What Have We Learned about Ethnonational Identities in Ukraine?,” Nationalities Papers 51(5):975–990. https://doi.org/10.1017/nps.2023.41
Kuzio T. 2006. “National Identity and History Writing in Ukraine,” Nationalities Papers 34(4):407–427. https://doi.org/10.1080/00905990600842080
Laruelle M. 2015. The “Russian World”: Russia’s Soft Power and Geopolitical Imaginations. Washington, DC: Center on Global Interest.
Lubynets H. 2023. “Tak vyhlyadaye shyzofreniya: u Peterburzi odnochasno vyvisyly impers’kyy, rosiysʹkyy ta radyans’kyy prapory” [This is what schizophrenia looks like: in St. Petersburg, the imperial, Russian, and Soviet flags were displayed at the same time], Telegraf, June 17. Available online at: https://telegraf.com.ua/ukr/novosti-rossii/2023-06-17/5796032-tak-viglyadae-shizofreniya-u-peterburzi-odnochasno-vivisili-imperskiy-rosiyskiy-ta-radyanskiy-prapori; https://twitter.com/Biz_Ukraine_Mag/status/1670355734565986304 (in Ukrainian).
Lubinets D. 2023. “Muzeyi, teatry, tserkvy… Shcho okupantam zrobyly ob’yekty kul’tury?” [Museums, theaters, churches... What cultural objects did to the occupiers?], August 17. Available online at: https://lb.ua/blog/dmytro_lubinets/570434_muzei_teatri_tserkvi_shcho_okupantam.html
Malesevic S. 2006. Identity as Ideology: Understanding Ethnicity and Nationalism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Mishalova O. 2021. “National Idea, National Identity and Historical Narrative of Cultural Convergence,” Actual Problems of Mind. Philosophy Journal 22:195–214. https://doi.org/10.31812/apd.v0i22.4528
Osborn A. & Osrtroukh A. 2021. “Putin rues Soviet collapse as demise «historical Russia»,” Reuters, December 12. Available online at: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-rues-soviet-collapse-demise-historical-russia-2021-12-12/
Plokhy S. 2017. Lost Kingdom: The Quest for Empire and the Making of the Russian Nation. New York: Basic Books.
Putin V. 2005. “Soviet collapse a «genuine tragedy»,” NEWS, April 25. Available online at: https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7632057
Shcherba D. 2023. “The War on Culture: How Russia is Destroying Ukraineʼs Cultural Heritage,” UkraineWorld, February 1. Available online at: https://ukraineworld.org/articles/analysis/war-culture
Smith A. D. 2001. “Interpretations of National Identity,” in A. Dieckhoff & N. Gutierrez (Eds.), Modern Roots: Studies of National Identity (pp. 21–42). London – New York: Routledge.
Smith A. D. 2008. The Cultural Foundations of Nations: Hierarchy, Covenant, and Republic. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Snyder T. 2023. “Testimony to the United Nations Security Council on Russian Hate Speech,” March 14. Available online at: https://www.iwm.at/news/timothy-snyders-testimony-to-the-united-nations-security-council-on-russian-hate-speech
Solovyov S. 1959. Istoriya Rossii s drevnejshikh vremen [History of Russia since ancient times]. 15 books. Book I, Vols. 1–2. Moskva: Izdatel’stvo social’no-ekonomicheskoj literatury.
Stępniewski T. 2017. “Russia-Ukraine War: Remembrance, Identity and Legacies of the Imperial Past,” Yearbook of Polish European Studies 20:169–178. https://doi.org/10.36874/RIESW.2022.2.1
Szporluk R. 2000. Russia, Ukraine and the Breakup of the Soviet Union. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press.
Wilson A. 2015. The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation. New Haven – London: Yale University Press.
Wódka M. 2019. “Anthony D. Smith’s Idea of the Nation. Controversy around Definitions,” Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 4(13):131–144. https://doi.org/1015584/johass.2019.4.8
Yermolenko V. 2019. “Understanding Ukrainian History: Interview with Yaroslav Hrytsak,” UkraineWorld, March 15. Available online at: https://ukraineworld.org/articles/ukraine-explained/history-hrytsak
Zabirko O. 2023. “Russkij mir. Vom kulturellen Konzept zur geopolitischen Ersatzideologie,” Die bpb: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, June 15. Available online at: https://www.bpb.de/themen/europa/russland/522375/russkij-mir/?fbclid=IwAR0bqT-niLF_X8-k1pXWqX8B5saec6h3g6RWH1QSx8QwzTKjBmpewweMdQ0_aem_AUzy7ITihn2h4rtYAazBn8T4_72HLfS5d122afAjJAaebzV3TSWB2S-kFcqkdA_wuBZFz8xkm5AEfNN1Vvd0sHqb
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Olena Mishalova, Olha Hordiichuk, Oleh Sokolovskyi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.