Revolution and War in Contemporary Ukraine

What are the reasons behind, and trajectories of, the rapid cultural changes in Ukraine since 2013? This volume highlights: the role of the Revolution of Dignity and the Russian-Ukrainian war in the formation of Ukrainian civil society; the forms of warfare waged by Moscow against Kyiv, including information and religious wars; Ukrainian and Russian identities and cultural realignment; sources of destabilization in Ukraine and beyond; memory politics and Russian foreign policies; the Kremlin’s geopolitical goals in its 'near abroad'; and factors determining Ukraine’s future and survival in a state of war. The studies included in this collection illuminate the growing gap between the political and social systems of Ukraine and Russia. The anthology illustrates how the Ukrainian revolution of 2013–2014, Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula, and its invasion of eastern Ukraine have altered the post-Cold War political landscape and, with it, the regional and global power and security dynamics.

Olga Bertelsen, Ph.D. (University of Nottingham), is a writer in residence at New York University and research fellow of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. She held fellowships at the Harriman Institute (Columbia University) and the Munk School of Global Affairs (University of Toronto) and has published monographs on the Ukrainian theater “Berezil” (Smoloskyp, 2016) and Ukraine’s House of Writers in the 1930s (Pittsburgh, 2013) as well as translated documents on the persecution of Zionists in Ukraine (On the Jewish Street, 2011). She is currently preparing books for publication on Stalin’s terror in Ukraine, post-Soviet imperial consciousness among Russian writers, and the social history of Ukraine’s 1932-1933 famine.

“This excellent collection brings together specialists on contemporary Ukraine to provide an erudite, interdisciplinary, and up-to-date portrait of the nation confronting a hybrid war—and an assault on its very identity. The topics covered include the Euromaidan Revolution, the Russian takeover of the Crimea, the reform attempts by the new Ukrainian government, and the lingering war in the Donbas. This book’s special strength is the attention that the authors pay to the language and representations, as well as to the cultural sphere in general, including religion and historical mythologies. Olga Bertelsen’s insightful introduction and epilogue complement her remarkable editorial achievement of putting together such a comprehensive collection so soon after the events took place.“ —Prof. Dr. Serhy Yekelchyk, Professor of History and Slavic Studies, University of Victoria