The Ukrainian National Movement and its Consequences: Review of Two Recent Books by Serhii Plokhy

Abstract

There are conflicting explanations for the current war in Ukraine.  One is that Russia’s sphere of influence was being invaded, and Russia had little choice but to respond; the review cites three advocates of this argument.  A second, Professor Plokhy’s explanation, is that the war is driven by the latest in a long pattern of national independence movements, that Ukraine’s movement is likely to win, and in so doing will hasten an end to Russian imperial politics and culture.  Plokhy shows that the national movement in Ukraine has been intertwined with embrace of democracy and constitutionalism, and that Russian intervention has accelerated such developments. Plokhy sees the war – because it is so large -- as having important consequences for world order.  Russia is fading as a world power, leaving a US-China bipolarity.  Changes in the nature of war mean that smaller countries now have military sustainability.  In a parallel development, such countries will play a growing role in establishing international norms and legitimacy.