No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Some Lessons from the Post-Soviet Era and the Russo-Ukrainian War for the Study of Nationalism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 January 2025
Abstract
This essay argues that Russia's war on Ukraine and the post-Soviet experience, more generally, reveal ethical, empirical, and theoretical problems in the study of nationalism in the region; namely, the tendency to designate anti-colonial, non-Russian nationalism as a “bad” ethnic type and the related tendency to see opposition to it as a “good” civic, nationalist agenda while in reality, the latter agenda can be imperial. Conflation of imperialism with civic nationalism and underappreciation of the democratic potential of non-Russian nationalism are problematic. The essay argues that these problems stem from theorizing about ethnic and civic nationalism that is rooted in abstract principles and does not take into account the empirical realities in which specific policies originate. I suggest that a more ethically and theoretically accurate characterization of types of nationalism as good or bad can be achieved by applying a methodology that takes into account not only formal markers of “ethnic” and “civic” policies but also the realities proponents and opponents of a given policy seek to establish and undo, the methods by which these realities come into being, and the constraints on employing illiberal methods that political actors face.
Keywords
- Type
- Roundtable: Russia's War against Ukraine: The Limits of Ethical Theorizing
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
Footnotes
*
I would like to thank the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies at Claremont McKenna College, the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York for their support of this project, as well as the participants and discussants in two conferences on the war in Ukraine hosted, respectively, by the Keck Center and the Korbel School; Rachel Epstein; Hilary Appel; and the editors of Ethics & International Affairs for helpful comments on earlier versions of this essay.
References
Notes
1 Calhoun, Craig J., Nations Matter: Culture, History, and the Cosmopolitan Dream (New York: Routledge, 2007), p. 37CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
2 Mylonas, Harris and Tudor, Maya, Varieties of Nationalism: Communities, Narratives, Identities (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2023), p. 61CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
3 Kohn, Hans, The Idea of Nationalism: A Study of Its Origins and Background (New York: Macmillan, 1944)Google Scholar.
4 Matti Jutila, “Taming Eastern Nationalism: Tracing the Ideational Background of Double Standards of Post-Cold War Minority Protection,” European Journal of International Relations 15, no. 4 (2009), pp. 627–51; and Taras Kuzio, “The Myth of the Civic State: A Critical Survey of Hans Kohn's Framework for Understanding Nationalism,” Ethnic and Racial Studies 25, no. 1 (2002), pp. 20–39.
5 Calhoun, Nations Matter, pp. 15, 136.
6 Ibid., p. 42.
7 Margaret Canovan, “Patriotism Is Not Enough,” British Journal of Political Science 30, no. 3 (July 2000), pp. 413–32, at p. 425.
8 Rogers M. Smith, Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions of Citizenship in U.S. History (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1997), p. 8.
9 Rogers Brubaker, “National Minorities, Nationalizing States, and External Homelands in New Europe,” Dædalus 124, no. 2 (Spring 1995), pp. 107–32.
10 Michael Johns, “‘Do as I Say, Not as I Do’”: The European Union, Eastern Europe and Minority Rights,” East European Politics and Societies 17, no. 4 (2003), pp. 682–99.
11 Brubaker, “National Minorities.”
12 Mark R. Beissinger, “A New Look at Ethnicity and Democratization,” Journal of Democracy 19, no. 3 (July 2008), pp. 85–97.
13 Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), p. 24.
14 Graham Smith, “The Ethnic Democracy Thesis and the Citizenship Question in Estonia and Latvia,” Nationalities Papers 24, no. 2 (June 1996), pp. 199–216.
15 Georgiy Kasianov, “Nationalist Memory Narratives and the Politics of History in Ukraine since the 1990s,” Nationalities Papers (2023), pp. 1–20.
16 Bernard Yack, “The Myth of the Civic Nation,” Critical Review 10, no. 2 (1996), pp. 193–211.
17 Mylonas and Tudor, Varieties of Nationalism, pp. 41–47.
18 Rogers Brubaker, “Language, Religion and the Politics of Difference,” Nations and Nationalism 19, no. 1 (January 2013), pp. 1–20, at p. 4.
19 Beissinger, “A New Look at Ethnicity and Democratization,” p. 86.
20 Arash Abizadeh, David Miller, Rainer Bauböck, and Joseph Carens, “Review Symposium: The Ethics of Immigration by Joseph Carens,” Political Theory 43, no. 3 (2015), pp. 380–411.
21 Ibid., p. 408.
22 Ibid.
23 Joseph H. Carens, The Ethics of Immigration (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), p. 9.
24 Joseph Carens, in Abizadeh et al., “Review Symposium,” p. 408.
25 Carens, Ethics of Immigration, p. 303.
26 Ibid., pp. 303–4.
27 Terry Martin, The Affirmative Action Empire: Nations and Nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1923–1939 (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2001).
28 Brian D. Silver, “Language Policy and the Linguistic Russification of Soviet Nationalities,” in Jeremy R. Azrael, ed., Soviet Nationality Policies and Practices (New York: Praeger, 1978), pp. 250–306; and Barbara A. Anderson and Brian D. Silver, “Estimating Russification of Ethnic Identity among Non-Russians in the USSR,” Demography 20, no. 4 (November 1983), pp. 461–89.
29 Roman Szporluk, “Dilemmas of Russian Nationalism,” Problems of Communism 38, no. 4 (July–August 1989), pp. 15–35, at p. 20.
30 Carens, Ethics of Immigration, pp. 55, 14.
31 Ibid., p. 55.
32 Brubaker, “Language, Religion and the Politics of Difference,” p. 11.
33 Ian Bremmer, “The Post-Soviet Nations after Independence,” in Lowell Barrington, ed., After Independence: Making and Protecting the Nation in Postcolonial & Postcommunist States (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006), pp. 141–61, at p. 143.
34 Igor Zevelev, Russia and Its New Diasporas (Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace, 2001); Igor Zevelev, “Russia in the Post-Soviet Space: Dual Citizenship as a Foreign Policy Instrument,” Russia in Global Affairs 19, no. 2 (April/June 2021), pp. 10–37; Oxana Shevel, “The Politics of Citizenship Policy in New States,” Comparative Politics 41, no. 3 (April 2009), pp. 273–91; and Oxana Shevel, “The Politics of Citizenship Policy in Post-Soviet Russia,” Post-Soviet Affairs 28, no. 1 (2012), pp. 111–47.
35 Anton Troianovski, Adam Entous, and Michael Schwirtz, “Ukraine-Russia Peace Is as Elusive as Ever. But in 2022 They Were Talking,” New York Times, June 15, 2024.
36 Maria Popova and Oxana Shevel, Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States (Cambridge, U.K.: Polity, 2024), pp. 105–12; and Volodymyr Kulyk, “Language Policy in Ukraine: What People Want the State to Do,” East European Politics and Societies 27, no. 2 (2013), pp. 280–307.
37 Popova and Shevel, Russia and Ukraine, ch. 3.
38 Sener Akturk, “Post-Imperial Democracies and New Projects of Nationhood in Eurasia: Transforming the Nation through Migration in Russia and Turkey,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 43, no. 7 (2017), pp. 1101–20, at p. 1110.
39 Halya Coynash, “Russia Destroys Almost All Ukrainian Literature in Occupied Donbas, Calling It ‘Extremist,’” Human Rights in Ukraine, December 12, 2023, khpg.org/en/1608813172.
40 Sergei Lavrov, quoted in “Kyrgyz President Defends Language Law following Kremlin Criticism,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, July 24, 2023, www.rferl.org/a/kyrgyzstan-language-law-russia/32516491.html.
41 Jan Dutkiewicz and Jan Smolenski, “Epistemic Superimposition: The War in Ukraine and the Poverty of Expertise in International Relations Theory,” Journal of International Relations and Development 26, no. 4 (December 2023), pp. 619–31; Mila O'Sullivan, Tereza Hendl, Olga Burlyuk, and Aizada Arystanbek, “(En)Countering Epistemic Imperialism: A Critique of ‘Westsplaining’ and Coloniality in Dominant Debates on Russia's Invasion of Ukraine,” Contemporary Security Policy 45, no. 2 (2023), pp. 171–209; and Kseniya Oksamytna, “Imperialism, Supremacy, and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine,” Contemporary Security Policy 44, no. 4 (2023), pp. 497–512.
42 “Ukraine: Russian Torture Center in Kherson; Unlawful Detention, Torture of Civilians during 8-Month Occupation,” Human Rights Watch, April 13, 2023, www.hrw.org/news/2023/04/13/ukraine-russian-torture-center-kherson.
43 Yulia Ioffe, “Forcibly Transferring Ukrainian Children to the Russian Federation: A Genocide?,” in “The Russian Invasion of Ukraine—Victims, Perpetrators, Justice, and the Question of Genocide,” special issue, Journal of Genocide Research 25, nos. 3–4 (2023), pp. 315–51.
44 Coynash, “Russia Destroys Almost All Ukrainian Literature in Occupied Donbas.’”
45 Lena Surzhko-Harned, “Decolonisation in Practice: Reconceptualising Ukrainian Nationalism,” The Loop (European Consortium for Political Research's political science blog), January 31, 2024, theloop.ecpr.eu/decolonisation-in-practice-reconceptualising-ukrainian-nationalism
46 Judith G. Kelley, Ethnic Politics in Europe: The Power of Norms and Incentives (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2004); and Milada Anna Vachudova, Europe Undivided: Democracy, Leverage, & Integration after Communism (Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2005).
47 Amendments to the Russian Criminal Code adopted by the Russian State Duma, quoted in Aleks Lokhmutov, “Russia Grants Immunity for Crimes Committed in State's Interests: New Law Focuses on Russia-Occupied Regions of Ukraine,” Human Rights Watch, July 24, 2023, www.hrw.org/news/2023/07/24/russia-grants-immunity-crimes-committed-states-interests.
48 Marcin Jędrysiak and Krzysztof Nieczypor, “Ukraine: Another Amendment to the Law on National Minorities,” OSW Centre for Eastern Studies, December 13, 2023, www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/analyses/2023-12-13/ukraine-another-amendment-to-law-national-minorities.
49 Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “We Will Guarantee Spiritual Independence to Ukraine—Address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy” (speech, December 1, 2022), www.president.gov.ua/en/news/mi-garantuyemo-ukrayini-duhovnu-nezalezhnist-zvernennya-prez-79577.
50 Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, “Iakoiu maie buty polityka vlady ta dovira do Ukrainskoi Pravoslavnoi Tservky (Moskovskoho Patriarkhatu): rezultaty telefonnoho oputuvannia, provedenoho uprodovzh 20–25 kvitnia 2024 roku” [What should be the government's policy towards, and what is the trust in, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate): The results of a telephone survey conducted on April 20–25, 2024], (survey, May 7, 2024), kiis.com.ua/?lang=ukr&cat=reports&id=1404&page=1
51 Alya Shandra, “Is Ukraine Banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church?,” Euromaidan Press, August 23, 2024, euromaidanpress.com/2024/08/23/is-ukraine-banning-the-ukrainian-orthodox-church/.
52 Valeriy Vorona and Mykola Shulha, eds., Ukrains'ke supil'stvo: monitorynh sotsial'nykh zmin. 30 rokiv nezalezhnosti [Ukrainian Society: monitor of social changes. 30 years of independence] (Kyiv: Institute of Sociology of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, 2021), p. 710.
53 Ibid., p. 711.
54 Razumkov Center, “Identychnist hromadian Ukrainy: Tendentsii zmin (cherven 2024r.)” [Identity of Ukrainian citizens: Trends of change (June 2024)], (survey, July 24, 2024), razumkov.org.ua/napriamky/sotsiologichni-doslidzhennia/identychnist-gromadian-ukrainy-tendentsii-zmin-cherven-2024r.
55 Democratic Initiatives Foundation and Razumkov Centre, “Natsional'na kul'tura ta mova v Ukraini: Zminy v hromadskii dumtsi pislia roku vijny” [National culture and language in Ukraine: Changes in public opinion after a year of war] (survey, March 10, 2023), dif.org.ua/article/natsionalna-kultura-ta-mova-v-ukraini-zmini-v-gromadskiy-dumtsi-pislya-roku-viyni.
56 Rating Group, “Simnadtsiate zahal'nonatsional’ne opytuvannia: Identychnist. Patriotyzm. Tsinnosti” [Seventeenth national survey: Identity. Patriotism. Values] (survey August 23, 2022), ratinggroup.ua/research/ukraine/s_mnadcyate_zagalnonac_onalne_opituvannya_dentichn_st_patr_otizm_c_nnost_17-18_serpnya_2022.html.
57 Rating Group, “Desiate zahal'nonatsional’ne opytuvannia: Ideolohichni markery viiny” [Tenth national survey: Ideological markers of war], April 27, 2022, ratinggroup.ua/research/ukraine/desyatyy_obschenacionalnyy_opros_ideologicheskie_markery_voyny_27_aprelya_2022.html
58 Oxana Shevel, “A Decade of Dramatic Change in Ukrainian Society,” Current History 122, no. 846 (October 2023), pp. 273–76.
59 Volodymyr Kulyk, “Shedding Russianness, Recasting Ukrainianness: The Post-Euromaidan Dynamics of Ethnonational Identifications in Ukraine,” Post-Soviet Affairs 34, nos. 2–3 (May 2018), pp. 119–38; and Ihor Stebelsky, “Ethnic Self-Identification in Ukraine, 1989–2001: Why More Ukrainians and Fewer Russians?,” Canadian Slavonic Papers 51, no. 1 (March 2009), pp. 77–100.
60 Ronald Grigor Suny, “Nationalism, Nation Making, & the Postcolonial States of Asia, Africa, & Eurasia,” in Barrington, After Independence, pp. 279–95.
61 Taras Kuzio, “Kravchuk to the Orange Revolution: The Victory of Civic Nationalism in Post-Soviet Ukraine,” in Barrington, After Independence, pp. 187–224.
62 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso, 1991); Ernest Gellner, Nations and Nationalism (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1983); and David D. Laitin, Identity in Formation: The Russian-Speaking Populations in the Near Abroad (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1998).
63 Herron, Erik S. and Pelchar, Khrystyna, “Undivided Ukraine: Evidence of Rallying Effects and an Emerging National Consensus,” Problems of Post-Communism 71, no. 4 (July 2023), pp. 1–13Google Scholar; Kulyk, “Shedding Russianness, Recasting Ukrainianness”; Kulyk, Volodymyr, “Identity in Transformation: Russian-Speakers in Post-Soviet Ukraine,” Europe-Asia Studies 71, no. 1 (January 2019), pp. 156–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kulyk, Volodymyr, “What Have We Learned about Ethnonational Identities in Ukraine?,” Nationalities Papers 51, no. 5 (September 2023), pp. 975–90CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kulyk, Volodymyr, “Language Shift in Time of War: The Abandonment of Russian in Ukraine,” Post-Soviet Affairs 40, no. 3 (2024), pp. 159–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Onuch, Olga and Hale, Henry E., “Capturing Ethnicity: The Case of Ukraine,” Post-Soviet Affairs 34, nos. 2–3 (May 2018), pp. 84–106CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Onuch, Olga, “European Ukrainians and Their Fight against Russian Invasion,” Nations and Nationalism 29, no. 1 (January 2023), pp. 53–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Sasse, Gwendolyn and Lackner, Alice, “War and State-Making in Ukraine: Forging a Civic Identity from Below,” Ideology and Politics Journal 12, no. 1 (2019), pp. 75–98Google Scholar.
64 Popova and Shevel, Russia and Ukraine, pp. 221–22; Jerrel Gilliam, “As Costs of War Mount, Ukrainian Demands for Inclusive Democracy Remain Strong,” National Democratic Institute, July 23, 2024, www.ndi.org/publications/costs-war-mount-ukrainian-demands-inclusive-democracy-remain-strong; and Onuch, Olga, “Why Ukrainians Are Rallying around Democracy,” Journal of Democracy 33, no. 4 (October 2022), pp. 37–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar.