The 2022 Invasion of Ukraine and its Lessons for Nationalism Studies
The 2022 Invasion of Ukraine and its Lessons for Nationalism Studies

Summary/Abstract: The field of nationalism studies encompasses many subfields, reflecting the multi-faceted nature of nationalism itself, but understanding war lies at the heart of the discipline. Indeed, two books with the exact title Nationalism and War have been published in the last decade (Hall and Malešević 2013; Hutchinson 2017). While the horror of the Second World War haunts European imaginations, the horror of war in contemporary Ukraine has focused European attention on the problem of nationalist violence even more forcefully than the Yugoslav wars, if only because the Ukrainian confl ict seems to have more potential to spread. If the NATO alliance or the European Union fails to act, it sets a precedent for further territorial aggression; yet if it intervenes too forcefully, it may fi nd itself in a shooting war with a nuclear power. How did we end up here? How should policy makers analyze their options? Nationalism studies, perhaps, off ers tools for understanding the forces at play.

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