Разделена нация? Преосмисляне на ролята на политиките на идентичност в украинската криза
A Divided Nation? Reconsidering the Role of Identity Politics in the Ukraine Crisis

Summary/Abstract: With the new frozen confl ict in the separatist region of Donbas, the popular discourse about Ukraine as a ‘divided nation’ looks like a self-fulfi lling prophecy. This discourse juxtaposes the Ukrainian-speaking pro-European west and the pro-Russian, Soviet-nostalgic east as two historical and cultural entities, informed by conflicting collective memories and antagonistic identities, that have little chance of coexisting peacefully as a united country. The armed confl ict in the east of the country appears now as a logical outcome of this deep cultural and political division of the Ukrainian nation. This article attempts to break the vicious circle of Ukrainian debates on national identity and seeks to reconsider the role of identity politics in the current Ukrainian crisis. It shows how Ukraine’s divided political elite has used identity politics as a tool for mass mobilization, and how Russia has profi ted from the ‘war of identities’ in its efforts to prevent the country’s orientation to Europe. The article also outlines the main shifts in collective identities after Maidan and the annexation of Crimea, and the dilemmas of a new identity politics.

• Details
• Contents