Competing Nationalisms, Euromaidan, and the Russian‐Ukrainian Conflict

By Taras Kuzio

Volume 15, Issue 1, pages 157-169

Abstract

Although Ukraine is a regionally diverse country, it had succeeded in peacefully managing inter‐ethnic and linguistic tension between competing nationalisms and identities. However, the rise of the openly pro‐Russian Party of Regions political machine after the Orange Revolution, whose leader came to power in 2010, and the evolution of Vladimir Putin’s regime from proponent of statist to ethnic nationalism, heightened Ukrainian inter‐regional and inter‐state conflict. Viktor Yanukovych’s policies provoked popular protests that became the Euromaidan. His unwillingness to compromise and his fear of leaving office led to violence and the breakdown of state structures, opening the way for Russia’s interventions in the Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. This article investigates the sources for the violence during and after the Euromaidan and Russia’s interventions. It argues that domestic and foreign factors served to change the dynamics of Russian speakers in Ukraine from one of passivity in the late 1980s through to the 2004 Orange Revolution; low‐level mobilization from 2005 to 2013; and high‐level mobilization, crystallization of pro‐ and anti‐Ukrainian camps, and violent conflict from 2014.

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On the Matter (and Materiality) of the Nation: Interpreting Casamance’s Unresolved Separatist Struggle

By Vincent Foucher

Volume 11, Issue 1, pages 82-103

Abstract

To understand both the persistence and the very low intensity of the ongoing Casamançais separatist conflict in southern Senegal, one has to take into account the longer history of the encounter between the Senegalese state and the community that the separatists claim to represent. This is not the history of an estrangement, but quite to the contrary, a history of a strong connection, one where ‘pilgrimages’ of education and state employment have played a key role. It is the intensity of the connection that explains both the vivacity of the sentiment that feeds separatism and the reluctance of many Casamançais to break these links entirely. The state’s success in maintaining and even revamping this connection, and the fact that many Casamançais enjoy a working relationship with Senegal and its capital city, Dakar, have been key factors. This case confirms that the materiality of experiences of nationhood matters. It also confirms the importance of education in the formation (and contestation) of nationhood.

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On the Problem of the Victim/Perpetrator Dichotomy: The Massacre of Kurds (Iran, 1979)

By Mehran M. Mazinani

Volume 14, Issue 2, pages 289-301

Abstract

This article recontextualizes the massacre that took place in the Kurdistan region of Iran in 1979. Through examining interviews with and articles by some of the leading actors involved in the massacre and analysing various alignments between Tehran and Kurdistan, the article concludes that the massacre was not an ethnic conflict. Rather, it was a political issue exacerbated by matters such as the turbulent transition from the Pahlavi dynasty to the Islamic Republic and idiosyncrasies of the involved actors. Framing the massacre in a primordially black and white fashion – Sunni Kurds versus Shiite Persians – is not only historically inaccurate but also empirically problematic.

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Gender and Nationalism in Latin America: Thoughts on Recent Trends

By Sarah A. Radcliffe and Megan Rivers-Moore

Volume 9, Issue 1, pages 139-145

Abstract

Relations between gender and nationalism are forged in the intersection between race, inter‐national relations, sexuality, and class in Latin America; the region’s gendered nationalisms reflecting specific histories and configurations of race, gender relations and projects of nationalism. The gendered nature of nations and nationalism in Latin America remains a vibrant research field (for reviews on gender, see Dore and Molyneux 2000; on nationalism, Miller 2006). For this reason, our piece can highlight only a few dimensions of a multifaceted dynamic set of processes, reflecting our research interests rather than a comprehensive review.

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