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Ukraine's Unnamed War

Before the Russian Invasion of 2022

Dominique Arel author Jesse Driscoll author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:5th Jan '23

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Ukraine's Unnamed War cover

A concise account of the roots of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, describing how the 2013–14 intra-Ukrainian political clashes were exploited by Russia.

This timely and concise account of the roots of Russia's invasion of Ukraine explains how the 2013–14 protests in Ukraine unleashed seditionist movements in Crimea and Eastern Donbas. It analyzes why no political solution to this war was found prior to the catastrophic Russian attack of 2022.The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has its roots in the events of 2013–2014. Russia cynically termed the seditionist conflict in Crimea and Eastern Donbas a 'civil war' in order to claim non-involvement. This flies in the face of evidence, but the authors argue that the social science literature on civil wars can be used help understand why no political solution was found between 2015 and 2022. The book explains how Russia, after seizing Crimea, was reacting to events it could not control and sent troops only to areas of Ukraine where it knew it would face little resistance (Eastern Donbas). Kremlin decisionmakers misunderstood the attachment of the Russian-speaking population to the Ukrainian state and also failed to anticipate that their intervention would transform Ukraine into a more cohesively 'Ukrainian' polity. Drawing on Ukrainian documentary sources, this concise book explains these important developments to a non-specialist readership.

'The 'unnamed war' in this brilliantly argued, comprehensively researched, and historically accurate book began as a civil war within Ukraine primarily fought between factions of what Russia has long imagined as their world. From this perspective, Arel's and Driscoll's analytic model reveals missed opportunities for a fragile peace that might have avoided Russia's imperialist invasion, where we can now envision only an endless war of attrition.' David D. Laitin, Professor of Political Science, Stanford University
'Contrary to explanations that emphasize the foreign origins of the war in Ukraine, Arel and Driscoll understand it instead through a logic of escalating violence, rooting it in significant part in domestic Ukrainian political dynamics. In doing so, they bring to light new aspects of the war and Moscow's miscalculations leading up to its full-scale invasion in February 2022.' Mark R. Beissinger, Henry W. Putnam Professor, Department of Politics, Princeton University
'It is impossible to fully comprehend the onset and course of the full-scale Ukraine-Russia war that began with the Russian invasion in February 2022 without understanding the politics and violence that preceded it. Using a strategic action model as a guide, Arel and Driscoll's Ukraine's Unnamed War provides the definitive account of the Ukraine-Russia conflict from 2013–2021. Eschewing overgeneralization and writing with a style accessible to non-specialists, the authors show, in detail, how the decisions, agency, and identity of local Ukrainian actors prevented a political solution and developed the conditions that would spark a major conventional war in Europe.' Roger Petersen, Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
'In the heat of the devastating war in Ukraine, Arel and Driscoll have given us a cool and courageous account of the complex and fraught prehistory of Putin's invasion. Their argument is the most compelling account of how a civil war in a divided country turned into a hot war between two neighbouring states.' Ronald Grigor Suny, William H. Sewell, Jr. Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of History and Emeritus Professor of Political Science, The University of Michigan, and Emeritus Professor of Political Science and History, The University of Chicago
'This is no 'instant book' churned out to provide urgently needed information, though it certainly contains important facts, but rather a substantive study reflecting long-term research on Ukraine and the surrounding region. … Recommended.' T. P. Johnson, Choice
'This book makes a significant academic contribution to shaping a political vision of postwar Ukraine based on intra-Ukrainian compromise. Although the main readership, according to the authors, is a non-specialist audience, I would recommend this insightful theoretically and empirically rich book mainly to policymakers and researchers interested in Ukrainian politics, identity and memory politics, studies of nationalism, post-Soviet studies and other relevant fields.' Yana Volkova, Europe-Asia Studies

ISBN: 9781316511497

Dimensions: 235mm x 158mm x 20mm

Weight: 560g

320 pages