Conflict Dynamics as a Narrative Process: The Evolution of Competing Conflict Narratives between Russia and Ukraine and the Narratives of the International Human Rights Bodies between 2014 and 2022

Drawing on the studies on narrative processes underlying conflict escalation, this article examines the constitution and evolution of conflicting narratives between Russia and Ukraine as expressed in their foreign policy discourse and key political pronouncements between 2014 and 2022. Furthermore, it compares Russia’s and Ukraine’s official narratives with those developed by the international human rights community using the example of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) created by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in March 2014. This comparative analysis aims to understand the differences between discursive elements constituting narratives of the parties in conflict and of an international body aiming to achieve accountability for human rights violations as a basis for reconciliation, which could serve as entries for peacebuilding. Finally, the theoretical framework of conflict escalation as a narrative process proposed by Cobb (2013) is used to understand the dynamics of conflict escalation from 2014 to 2022. The mapping and analysis of narratives undertaken in the article show the key issue of contention between Russia and Ukraine during the studied period was the interpretation of the legitimacy of the use of force. The key consequence of the discursive attribution of conflict escalation and violence became the evolving political legitimisation of the use of force fuelling conflict escalation and protraction

Delegitimizing the Communist Past and Building a New Sense of Community: the Politics of Transitional Justice and Memory in Ukraine

This article studies the way in which the crimes of the communist regime have been dealt with since the late Soviet period, and the way the legacies of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) have been subject to reevaluation. During the Soviet period, policies such as the rehabilitation of victims of mass repression were initiated from above, while the documentation of human rights violations and revelations of mass repressions and death by hunger were undertaken by the dissident movement from below. Since the late perestroika period, the focus on the crimes of the communist regime has been used by the opposition in Ukraine in the struggle for the restitution of group rights. Affirmative action concerning the Ukrainian language, culture and history was seen as the restoration of historical justice. This resulted most recently in the adoption of so-called ‘decommunization’ laws, which has been a controversial and contested issue in Ukraine. The article discusses the factors that shaped the way Ukraine has handled the communist past and constructed new narratives, and reflects on the reason why a ‘politics of regret’ has not resonated yet with political actors involved in the state legitimization struggl

Regelung der Vergangenheit per Gesetz - Einordnung der ukrainischen "Erinnerungsgesetze"

Seit den frühen 1990er Jahren hat in Osteuropa und in einigen Ländern der ehemaligen Sowjetunion eine Gesetzgebung an Bedeutung gewonnen, die eine bestimmte Lesart der Vergangenheit vorschreibt oder verbietet (Erinnerungsgesetze). Diese Gesetzgebung verfolgt das übergeordnete Ziel, mit den Hinterlassenschaften der vergangenen Regimes fertigzuwerden und neue Legitimationsgrundlagen für postkommunistische und postsowjetische Eigenstaatlichkeit zu fördern. In der Regel wurden die Erinnerungsgesetze und das mit ihnen verbundenen Gedenken zuerst von populistischen und nationalistischen Parteien und Bewegungen angeregt, die eine spaltende Definition von politischer Gemeinschaft ansetzen, die sich auf das von einer Nation in der Vergangenheit erfahrene Leid stützt und die gesamte Schuld für die vergangenen Verbrechen den "totalitären" Regimes zuschreibt. Die Gesetze wurden wegen der potentiellen Verletzung von Meinungs- und Versammlungsfreiheit sowie aufgrund ihrer Einschränkung der wissenschaftlichen Diskussion kritisiert. Entscheidender ist jedoch, dass mit der Rechtfertigung und Legitimierung vergangener Gewalt und mit dem Aufrechterhalten negativer Emotionen gegenüber früheren Feinden die Erinnerungsgesetze und das mit ihnen verbundenen Gedenken Friedenskonsolidierung und Aussöhnung in der Gegenwart behindern können. Der vorliegende Beitrag betrachtet die jüngsten in Polen und in der Ukraine verabschiedeten Erinnerungsgesetze in diesem Zusammenhang

History Education and Reconciliation: The Ukrainian National Underground Movement in Secondary School Curricula, Textbooks, and Classroom Practices (1991–2012)

Using the history education and conflict transformation lens, this article studies the representation of the Ukrainian nationalist underground in secondary school curricula and textbooks during the period between 1991 and 2012. In particular, the article reviews the representation of the conflict between the nationalist organizations and the Soviet regime, a topic that has not been studied in detail to date. In addition, the article discusses the role of history teachers as mediators of official curricula and textbook narratives about the nationalist movement in different regions of Ukraine on the basis of focus group discussions conducted with schoolteachers in thirteen regions in 2011 and 2012. The article finds that textbooks generally offer mono‐perspectival, simplified, and mono‐causal narratives when it comes to the history of controversial issues and conflicts. These narratives are presented in a positivist manner, with an emphasis on recounting “historical facts.” The parties in the conflict are presented in an asymmetrical manner, with the nationalist movement increasingly “indigenized” and the Soviet side delegitimized. Overall, such representations serve to limit the possibilities for conflict transformation and reconciliation. Focus group discussions with teachers show that, in some cases, teachers play a conflict mitigating role by presenting multiple perspectives on conflictual issues in the classroom and inviting discussion of wrongdoing by all parties in the conflict. In other cases, teachers see their role as reproducing the official narratives and teaching their students “historical facts.