Two images of radicalism in Ukraine. Between Scandinavia and the Caucasus (original) (raw)
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The present assembly of interventions is set up as an academic discussion designed deliberately and explicitly to take the form of a disputation. We present here a partially interactive, and, sometimes, polemical controversy around a topical conceptual question in the study of historical Ukrainian radical nationalism as well some related empirical and theoretical issues in the cross-cultural study of the international extreme right. The essays were therefore not peer-reviewed, but largely left in their original form as submitted by the authors. They are meant to express viewpoints, opinions, and ideas, sometimes tentative or speculative in nature, rather than traditional scholarly outlines of inferences from systematic data collection and analysis.
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This study briefly presents the history of the radical form of Ukrainian nationalism, paying special attention to the geopolitical circumstances which formed this movement. Then, it analyzes some aspects of this phenomenon, such as its main ideologists, racism, antisemitism, religion, rituals, leaders, concepts of revolution, and the ethnic, political and mass violence conducted before, during, and after the Second World War. This short monograph argues that the extreme and genocidal form of Ukrainian nationalism did have a fascist kernel and should be considered a form of European or East-Central European fascism. Nevertheless, because of the specific cultural, social, and political Ukrainian circumstances the radical form of Ukrainian nationalism differed from better-known fascist movements such as German National Socialism or Italian Fascism, and thus it requires a careful and nuanced investigation.
The mass protests of Ukrainian citizens and the ascendance of the new government in Kyiv were accompanied by an intense informational campaign, which had not always corresponded to the truth. In the terms of this campaign, Maidan's activists, the political opposition – and, correspondingly, the new government that was formed after the revolution ended in victory – were depicted as ultra-nationalistic, extremist, and xenophobic. Under these circumstances, it is extremely important for both Ukrainian citizens and foreign observers to understand the real role of national-radicals in the Maidan protests and the events which followed. Is it truth that the " banderovtsy " 2 made up the bulk of the protesters? Is the victory of the Maidan also the victory of the political ultra-right? What kind of future does the far right have in the new Ukrainian political reality?
the editors of this collection decided to use the more common, anglicised, version of Russian and Ukrainian words in order to make the publication readable for a diverse audience.