Russia Before the Full-Scale War Vol. II: Memories, Ideologies and Politics, 1991?2021

For Europe, the 24th of February 2022 marked a historic turning point. Until then, many decision-makers and commentators did not understand that developments in post-communist Russia can lead to the biggest war in Europe since 1945. These two collected volumes illustrate some of the factors preparing this tragic escalation. They assemble select papers published earlier mainly in the Germany-based Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society and Forum für osteuropäische Ideen- und Zeitgeschichte (Forum for the Contemporary History and Ideas of Eastern Europe).

This second volume reflects upon critical characteristics of late and post-Soviet memories, ideologies, and politics of Russia. The volume’s contributors are Kaarina Aitamurto (Helsinki), Boris Barkanov (Morgantown, WV), Alexander Etkind (Vienna), Mischa Gabowitsch (Mainz), Michael Kirkwood (Glasgow), Leonid Luks (Eichstätt), Andrey Makarychev (Tartu), Rosalind Marsh (Bath), Michael McFaul (Stanford, CA), Felix Riefer (Bonn), Mikhail D. Suslov (Copenhagen), Andreas Umland (Stockholm), Ilya Yablokov (Sheffield, UK), and Alexandra Yatsyk (Paris).

Dr. Leonid Luks studied History at Jerusalem and Munich. He is Professor Emeritus of Central and East European History at The Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, author of many books, and the General Editor of the Forum für osteuropäische Ideen- und Zeitgeschichte and Forum noveishei vostochnoevropeiskoi istorii i kul’tury.

Dr. Felix Riefer studied Politics at Cologne and Paris. He is an independent analyst in Bonn, the Book Reviews Editor of the Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society, and the author of Russlands Außenpolitik unter Putin 2000–2018 (Springer/Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften 2020).

Julie Fedor is Senior Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of Melbourne.

Andreas Umland, M.Phil. (Oxford), Dr.Phil. (FU Berlin), Ph.D. (Cambridge), Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs in Stockholm, Senior Expert at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future in Kyiv, and Associate Professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

Håvard Bækken is professor of Russian Area Studies at the Norwegian Defence University College. His recent research focuses on patriotic education and militarized identity policy in Russia and he has published numerous articles on this topic. More recently, he has also done research on the situation in the occupied territories of Ukraine, with particular attention to Russia’s strategies and practices targeting children. Bækken is also the author of several publications on quasi-legal practices in Russia.