Russia’s War Against Ukraine: A Trio of Virtual Special Issues, Part 1
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its tragic attempt to obliterate Ukraine as a state and as a nation directed the attention of mainstream media worldwide to some of the issues that our journal has treated for over 30 years. Many of our authors and numerous members of our editorial committee are commenting on the war, becoming quite familiar faces on the international media circuit. The logic of fast analysis, however, can offer only a partial comprehension of developments in Ukraine and their connection with established processes that have been at play on the ground for the past three decades.
As the premier journal for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, we have a role to play in shaping the public debate on the Ukrainian conflict. We partnered with Professor Gwendolyn Sasse, one of the world’s leading scholars of Ukraine, to produce a series of three Virtual Special Issues that showcase some of the research on Ukrainian politics and society that has appeared previously in Europe-Asia Studies. Prof. Sasse curated for us a selection of articles intended to direct the public’s attention to our journal’s contribution to recent advancements in the study of Ukraine. Most importantly, the range of slow scholarship featured in this trio of Virtual Special Issues will hopefully tackle some of the numerous misconceptions that are reproduced on mainstream media, unlocking more appropriate interpretive keys to make sense of what is currently going on in Ukraine.
We hope that our established readership will appreciate rediscovering some of the classic scholarship featured in Prof Sasse’s selection, and are extremely pleased to share a section of our vast back catalogue withnew readers who approach for the first time the study of Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia.
Luca Anceschi, April 2022
Edited by
Professor Gwendolyn Sasse(Director, Centre for East European & International Studies (ZOiS))