Russia’s Power Politics Towards Ukraine: Social Status Concerns and the Role of Emotions

Abstract

This chapter argues that the hard power policy of Russia towards Ukraine since 2014 is not only about projecting its regional power but also reclaiming a principal rank in the social order of the international community. This assumption is based on two observations: (a) Russia has actually been losing its influence in former Soviet space due to its coercive policies to maintain its control over Ukraine, (b) while Russia has discursively placed the Ukraine issue in the context of global power shifts and renegotiation of the world order and defended traditional international relations principles such as state sovereignty and non-intervention, it has actually neglected the same principles in Ukraine. The chapter argues that the Russian policy towards Ukraine is closely related with the efforts of Russian elites in order to deal with their unresolved anger over earlier negative experiences of status deprivation in their relations with the West.