This article discusses the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine from a postcolonial perspective. It argues that the structure of coloniality in the region is tripartite: besides Russia and Ukraine, the “West” is present as the main significant Other for both sides. With regard to the West, Russia is a “subaltern empire” and Ukraine is a “double subaltern,” peripheral to more than one center of power. Within this complex of imperiality and subalternity, Russia is engaging in a “catching-up imperialism” driven by resentment against the West. Russia has subsumed neighboring states, or parts of them, in brutal violation of the existing international order. Its leaders claim it is only mimicking the hegemon’s (i.e. the West’s) imperialist modus operandi. This geostrategic pattern is captured by Erik Ringmar’s notion of “recognition games.” Fighting in those “deadly games,” Zelensky’s Ukraine is breaking out of its place as a mute subaltern. The rhetorical aspect of Ukraine’s response to Russian aggression can be called a horizontal “populism of hope.” Ukraine has attained global visibility and recognition in the Northern hemisphere as a beacon of grassroots democracy, resilience and freedom. Russia, however, has rebranded itself as the spearhead of a global fight against Western hegemony. The outcome of this military and discursive standoff will largely define a future normative international order displaying new hierarchies of symbolic power.
The article explores the idea of Europe in the Ukrainian national imaginary and its correlates in behavioral modes of modern Ukrainians. The conceptual tension exists between the imaginary “Us” (an affirmative “Ukraine is Europe”) and the real “Us” rooted in Soviet practices and mental attitudes. The main actors articulating the concept of Europe are distinguished: political elites/“officials”; cultural elites/“intellectuals”; civil society/“activists”; lay citizens/“electorate”. It is proved that for most Ukrainians Europe is not a value-in-itself; it is an empty signifier with variable content defined by divergent agendas. For Ukrainian politicians, declarative European integration is a geopolitical tool aimed at obtaining prestige/recognition and a protective umbrella of the EU, with no internal reforms by the European model. For cultural elites, “Europe” stands as a “civilizational standard” setting a framework for the search for national authenticity. Immanent Europeanness of the Ukrainian culture is proclaimed in the “frontstage” discourse, while in the “backstage” discourse, the lack of (self)recognition manifests itself through the symptom of being “more European than Europe”. Attempts “to acquire ourselves via Europe” are complemented with the desire “to rescue Europe via acquiring ourselves”. For citizens, “Europe” is a path to prosperity (“to build Europe at home”); yet, the content remains vague. A political struggle unfolds between the stakeholders of the captured state and public activists for the cornerstone ideas and principles, as well as for the trust of lay citizens as a political resource.
Searching for identity has never been straightforward -not at any time nor at any place. Our doctoral program "Searching for Identity: Global Challenges, Local Traditions" did not defi ne a priori the concept of identity, nor the meaning of searching for it. Despite these doubts, our joints eff orts and searches, discussions and disputes, proved to be helpful in building our research project. That is why for the topic of my fi nal refl ection I chose my own experience in searching for the identity of a nation, specifi cally the Polish nation. I wish to explain how I have reached a systemic conceptualization of the matter -and what results from it.National identity is sometimes understood as belonging -that is, a feeling of participation within a community that is a nation. Members would thus accept their national identity from the community -regardless of whether ethnic-natural roots are posited for the nation's identity, or if the community was simply imagined. These identities are accepted and imagined in diverse ways, depending on the changing circumstances, and scientifi c disciplines have developed diff ering approaches to the matter 1 According to Edgar Morin, "Le terme de dialogique veut dire que deux ou plusieurs logique, deux principes sont unis sans que la dualité se perde dans cette unite."
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