On the day that Russia attacked Ukraine, 24 February 2022, I was with my friend and colleague Tuomas Forsberg (TF) at the gym swimming as we do every now and then. We discussed the war and, above all, whether it could have been avoided and how. Over the years, we have had countless similar conversations. Although we have many joint interests, our theoretical research orientations as well as general political orientations are somewhat different. One of our agreements concerns the relevance of the dialectical method. As we both consider that arguments have to be formed in relation to other, alternative interpretations, we thought that perhaps we could try writing a systematic analysis of the causes of the war following the dialogue format. This resulted in a book Debating the War in Ukraine. Counterfactual Histories and Possible Futures published in December 2022 (available open access). The book is now followed by a special forum of Globalizations, “War in Ukraine: Future Possibilities”, published in July 2023, which includes our “The shape of things to come: a further dialogue” (also available open access).
Ukraine
The trauma of loss and the fears of a bigger catastrophe around the nearby nuclear power plant haunt Ukrainians living near the reactivated front line
What are tankies, vatniks, and 'useful idiots', and why do they deride traumatised Ukrainians as warmongers and Nazis?
Tyrannies have to act, constantly. Thinking comes later. So Russian disinformation will not end with the demise of one oligarch
Caolan Robertson reflects on Russia's attack on a pizza restaurant hit by missiles in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, in which at least 10 people were killed
Despite the odds and the heavy punishments, resistance still exists in Russia. Index on Censorship's Assistant Editor Katie Dancey-Downs talks to those who are braving it to stand up to Putin