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The social organization of war: Ukrainian and Russian societies mobilized for war

  • Nicolas Hayoz is professor of political science at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). From 2009 until 2017 he was director of two major research funding programs in the Southern Caucasus and the Western Balkans. His teaching and research focusses on political developments in Eastern Europe, mainly in the post-Soviet region, as well as on political sociology, political theory and politics and law. He has published articles and co-edited several books mainly on various aspects of the transformation process in Eastern Europe, particularly on topics such as democratization, autocracies, authoritarian tendencies, informal structures, citizenship and more generally on political theory. He is co-editor of the book series “Interdisciplinary Studies on Central and Eastern Europe”, published by Peter Lang. Recent publications: The Evolution of Village (Self)Governance in the Context of post-communist Rural Society, in: Politics and Governance 11 (2023), 368–379 (co-authored with E. Zhllima, D. Imami and I. Miftari); Conservative Assertiveness in Central and Eastern Europe: Case Studies from Poland and Hungary, in: Thomas Kavaliauskas (ed.), Europe Thirty Years after 1989. Leiden, 2021, 59–90 (co-authored with Magdalena Solska); Centres and Peripheries in the Post-Soviet Space. Relevance and Meanings of a Classical Distinction. Bern, 2020 (co-edited with Alexander Filippov and Jens Herlth).

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    Viktor Stepanenko is chief research fellow at the Institute of Sociology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv, and editor in chief of the journal “Sociology: Theory, Methods and Marketing”. Currently he is also teaching at the Kyiv Taras Shevchenko national university. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Manchester in 1998 and defended the title of Doctor of Science at the Institute of Sociology in Kyiv in 2016. His research interests include issues of post-authoritarian transformation, democratization, and civil society, as well as political, societal and ethno-political problematics in contemporary social theory. His publications include editing and writing to the books: Ukraine after Euromaidan: Challenges and Hopes. Bern, 2015; Civil society: Discourses and Practices. Kyiv, 2016; Ukrainian churches and civil society in the Euromaidan and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict: A sociological analysis, in: E. Clark/D. Vovk (eds.), Religion during the Russian-Ukranian Conflict. New York, 2020, 107–127; COVID-19 pandemics in Ukraine: social consequences. Kyiv: IS, 2021; Ukrainian society under war: An insider’s sociological notes, in: Przeglad Socjologiczny 77 (3), (2022), 9–24.

Published/Copyright: January 18, 2024
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Abstract

This paper aims to tentatively analyze how Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has changed Ukrainian and Russian societies. It looks at the social organization of war, at how Ukraine and Russia adapt and change under wartime conditions. Combining political science and sociological approaches, we interpret the war under organizational and communicative aspects in the context of opposite political regimes: dictatorial autocracy in Russia versus democracy in Ukraine. Opposite regimes imply opposite meanings and objectives of war, of warfare and the military. Big differences exist regarding organizing and mobilizing resources and support for the war – with considerable advantages for a dictatorship such as Russia controlling its societal space by the means of repression and propaganda. Societies at war need to be distinguished from an organized and highly militarized war society such as Russia which has imposed on its neighbor military, organizational and ideological constraints to which Ukraine must respond with its own militarization and organization of war and warfare. The social organization of war is understood as a complex multi-layered interplay of various institutional actors and spheres (the state, the military, NGOs, business, media, public and private spheres, etc.). Military mobilization in both societies also has different organizational and communicative effects as well as various, often contrasting, political, cultural and societal implications.

About the authors

Prof. Dr. Nicolas Hayoz

Nicolas Hayoz is professor of political science at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). From 2009 until 2017 he was director of two major research funding programs in the Southern Caucasus and the Western Balkans. His teaching and research focusses on political developments in Eastern Europe, mainly in the post-Soviet region, as well as on political sociology, political theory and politics and law. He has published articles and co-edited several books mainly on various aspects of the transformation process in Eastern Europe, particularly on topics such as democratization, autocracies, authoritarian tendencies, informal structures, citizenship and more generally on political theory. He is co-editor of the book series “Interdisciplinary Studies on Central and Eastern Europe”, published by Peter Lang. Recent publications: The Evolution of Village (Self)Governance in the Context of post-communist Rural Society, in: Politics and Governance 11 (2023), 368–379 (co-authored with E. Zhllima, D. Imami and I. Miftari); Conservative Assertiveness in Central and Eastern Europe: Case Studies from Poland and Hungary, in: Thomas Kavaliauskas (ed.), Europe Thirty Years after 1989. Leiden, 2021, 59–90 (co-authored with Magdalena Solska); Centres and Peripheries in the Post-Soviet Space. Relevance and Meanings of a Classical Distinction. Bern, 2020 (co-edited with Alexander Filippov and Jens Herlth).

Dr. Viktor Stepanenko

Viktor Stepanenko is chief research fellow at the Institute of Sociology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv, and editor in chief of the journal “Sociology: Theory, Methods and Marketing”. Currently he is also teaching at the Kyiv Taras Shevchenko national university. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Manchester in 1998 and defended the title of Doctor of Science at the Institute of Sociology in Kyiv in 2016. His research interests include issues of post-authoritarian transformation, democratization, and civil society, as well as political, societal and ethno-political problematics in contemporary social theory. His publications include editing and writing to the books: Ukraine after Euromaidan: Challenges and Hopes. Bern, 2015; Civil society: Discourses and Practices. Kyiv, 2016; Ukrainian churches and civil society in the Euromaidan and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict: A sociological analysis, in: E. Clark/D. Vovk (eds.), Religion during the Russian-Ukranian Conflict. New York, 2020, 107–127; COVID-19 pandemics in Ukraine: social consequences. Kyiv: IS, 2021; Ukrainian society under war: An insider’s sociological notes, in: Przeglad Socjologiczny 77 (3), (2022), 9–24.

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Published Online: 2024-01-18
Published in Print: 2024-01-16

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