Western news coverage of the Ukrainian crisis has been dominated by an excessively simple explanatory narrative. Russia’s annexation of Crimea, which undoubtedly violated international law, has been interpreted in general terms as a neo-imperialist or even neo-Soviet response. Russian foreign policy has been portrayed as aiming to re-establish imperial control of the “near abroad2 (i.e. the newly independent republics that emerged after the dissolution of the Soviet Union)—and in particular of Ukraine. This narrative of aggressive Russian intentions has often been personalized by a focus on Putin himself.2 We suggest that such a critical narrative has been politically motivated and we therefore propose to investigate how the Ukrainian crisis might be managed, and indeed deescalated, so that all parties involved will benefit.
Western news coverage of the Ukrainian crisis has been dominated by an excessively simple explanatory narrative. Russian foreign policy has been portrayed as aiming to re-establish imperial control of the “near abroad and in particular of Ukraine such a critical narrative has been politically motivated and we therefore propose to investigate how the Ukrainian crisis might be deescalated