Daria Platonova - The Donbas Conflict in Ukraine: Elites, Protest, and Partition

The Donbas Conflict in Ukraine

This book examines why, when the conflict in eastern Ukraine began in 2014, fighting broke out in the Donetsk region, whereas it did not in Kharkiv city, despite the city being geographically proximate to Russia and similar in ethnic and linguistic make-up to the Donetsk region. Based on extensive original research, the book argues that a key factor was the nature and behaviour of the local elites and their interaction with the local protest in both regions. The elites in Kharkiv had diffuse ties to the centre and therefore were more capable of adapting to sudden, profound change of the government at the centre, whereas the elites in the Donetsk region had much more concentrated ties to the centre, were dependent on one network having access to power and therefore were much less able to cope with such change. The book thereby demonstrates how crucial for Ukraine are patronal politics, patronage networks and informal centre-region relations, and that it was these local political circumstances, rather than Russia, which brought about the conflict.

Daria Platonova is a Researcher at Kings College London.

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143. The Donbas Conflict in Ukraine
Elites, Protest and Partition
Daria Platonova

The Donbas Conflict in Ukraine

Elites, Protest and Partition

Daria Platonova

First published 2022
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2022 Daria Platonova

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Platonova, Daria, author.
Title: The Donbas Conflict in Ukraine : elites, protest, and partition / Daria Platonova.
Other titles: Elites, protest, and partition
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. | Series: Basees / Routledge series on Russian and East European studies | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Contents: Explaining the Donbas conflict -- Tools of Trade: The Methodology -- Protest and Violence in Kharkiv and Donetsk, 2002-2014 -- Elites and Regional Patronage -- Elites and Protest in Kharkiv and Donetsk, 2013-2014. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2021015645 (print) | LCCN 2021015646 (ebook) | ISBN 9781032101149 (hbk) | ISBN 9781032101200 (pbk) | ISBN 9781003213710 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Ukraine Conflict, 2014---Causes. | Ukraine--History--Euromaidan Protests, 2013-2014. | Donets Basin (Ukraine and Russia)--Politics and government--21st century. | Kharkiv (Ukraine)--History--21st century. | Ukraine--Politics and government--21st century. | Regionalism--Ukraine.
Classification: LCC DK508.852 .P64 2022 (print) | LCC DK508.852 (ebook) | DDC 947.7086--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021015645
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021015646

ISBN: [978-1-032-10114-9] (hbk)
ISBN: [978-1-032-10120-0] (pbk)
ISBN: [978-1-003-21371-0] (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003213710

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I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr Gulnaz Sharafutdinova, for her continuous support and advice. I would also like to thank Drs Samuel Greene, Marc Berenson and Adnan Vatansever from the Russia Institute at Kings College London; the brilliant Kelsey Mandle for her support over the last several years; Dr Petros Lekkos; the wonderful Camden Respiratory Team: Heidi Ridsdale, Laura Leeks, Bianca Nwaneri, Chadnee Shah, Michelle OBrien, Alison Fox, Jacqui Kordie, Paul Pola, Ellen Finn, Melissa Sundrum, Alistane Serafim, Annmarie Alleyne, Nick Harris, Meslime Grim, Travis Edwards, Helen ORegan, Caitlin Smyth, Ryan Howard, Shaemen Stallwood, Albert Donkor and Stephanie Moor; the staff at the Wallace Collection (Rhonda and Keith); Professor John Morrill and Dr Jana Howlett at the University of Cambridge for their encouragement. Nikolai Gourof, William Moray, Axel Dessein and Anna Plunkett as well as the amazing students at the War Studies Department, Kings College, were a continuous source of encouragement and ideas. Neil Ketchley, Serhiy Kudelia, Ivan Katchanovski, Anna Matveeva, Oisin Tansey, Jim Mogan, Victoria Mogan, Patricia Leon Jones, Dmitry Kokorin, Ratiya Tangmanee and Morvern Cox all provided insights and ideas for my dissertation project. I would also like to thank my father, Konstantin, my mother, Elena, and my brother Kirill Platonov, in particular. This book is dedicated to them.