Post-Soviet Separatism

Rights available.

The origins of the present territorial conflict in the area of the former Soviet Union.
Struggles over the Donbass area have been taking place in Ukraine since spring 2014, and Russian forces have taken over the Crimean Peninsular. Meanwhile, 20 years after the collapse of the UdSSR, state-like entities in Moldova, Georgia and Azerbaijan exist without international recognition.
Jan Zofka returns to the origins of two of these conflicts and takes a close look at the participants involved: the pro-Russian movements in Transnistria, Moldova and on the Crimean Peninsula.

In what context did these movements evolve? From which social groups did the participants come? How did recruitment work?
A comparison reveals major differences: in Soviet times, already existing networks, social power structures and local institutions exerted their influence on the movements.

The commitment of the participants by no means depended on an accepted collective affiliation, as suggested by the widespread interpretation of the post-1989 interstate wars as »ethnic conflicts«.



Awarded a PhD prize by the Research Academy Leipzig and the German Association for East European Studies.



The Author
Jan Zofka, born 1975, studied history, politics and East European studies in Leipzig and St. Petersburg. He is a research assistant at the GWZO (Centre for the History and Culture of East Central Europe), University of Leipzig.