1st Edition
Neighbourhood Perceptions of the Ukraine Crisis From the Soviet Union into Eurasia?
Recent events in Ukraine and Russia and the subsequent incorporation of Crimea into the Russian state, with the support of some circles of inhabitants of the peninsula, have shown that the desire of people to belong to the Western part of Europe should not automatically be assumed. Discussing different perceptions of the Ukrainian-Russian war in neighbouring countries, this book offers an analysis of the conflicts and issues connected with the shifting of the border regions of Russia and Ukraine to show how ’material’ and ’psychological’ borders are never completely stable ideas. The contributors – historians, sociologists, anthropologists and political scientists from across Europe – use an interdisciplinary and comparative approach to explore the different national and transnational perceptions of a possible future role for Russia.
1. Introduction
Gerhard Besier & Katarzyna Stokłosa
2. European Union Conflict Transformation as Cross-Border Cooperation: Potential and Limits
Cathal McCall
3. Reconceptualising European Neighbourhood beyond Geopolitics: Observations on Eastern Partnership
James Wesley Scott
Part I: Russia and Ukraine: An Ambivalent Neighbourhood
4. Russian Perceptions of the Ukrainian Crisis: From Confrontation to Damage Limitation?
Alexander Sergunin
5. A Squeezed Country: Ukraine between Europe and Eurasia
Mikhail A. Molchanov
Part II: Russian Borders in the Light of the Crisis
6. Shifting Borders: Unpredictability and Strategic Distrust at the Finnish–Russian Border
Jussi Laine
7. Russia–EU Borderlands after the Ukraine Crisis: The Case of Narva
Andrey Makarychev & Alexandra Yatsyk
8. Invested in Ukraine: The Struggle of Lithuania against Russia over the Future of Europe
Dovilė Jakniūnaitė
9. Fearing the Worst: A Latvian View on Russia and the Conflict in Ukraine
Ilvija Bruģe & Kārlis Bukovskis
10. The Return of Geopolitics: Georgia in the Shadow of Russian–Ukrainian Conflict
Kornely Kakachia
11. Having a Déjà Vu: The Perception of the Ukrainian Crisis in the Republic of Moldova
Corneliu Pintilescu & Onoriu Colăcel
12. Ukraine and Russia in Crisis: A Polish View
Katarzyna Stokłosa
13. The Caspian States Perception of the Conflict between Ukraine and Russia
Justyna Misiągiewicz
Part III: Ukrainian–Russian Conflict: World Views, Belief Systems and Ideologies as Sources and Instruments
14. Sources of Popular Support and Opposition to the Putin Regime
Cameron Ross
15. Expanding Religious Borders?
The New Influence of Some Old State Churches: The Russian Orthodoxy
Gerhard Besier
16. Ukraine: Historical Notes on Re-Unification of the Russian Lands
Jukka Korpela
Biography
Gerhard Besier is currently Director of the Sigmund Neumann Institute (Berlin, Dresden, Flensburg) and teaches at Stanford University, USA.
Katarzyna Stokłosa is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Management, Centre for Border Region Studies at the University of Southern Denmark, Denmark.
