Defining Security and the State: an Analysis of the Ukrainian Volunteer Battalions and the Renegotiation of the Public-Private Divide

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Defining Security and the State: an Analysis of the Ukrainian Volunteer Battalions and the Renegotiation of the Public-Private Divide Defining Security and the State: An Analysis of the Ukrainian Volunteer Battalions and the Renegotiation of the Public-Private Divide. Lisanne Veldt 4129792 Utrecht University Submitted: 03-08-2018 A Thesis submitted to the Board of Examiners in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts in Conflict Studies & Human Rights Supervisor: dr. Chris van der Borgh Date of submission: 03-08-2018 Independent research project, 30 ECTS Word count: 22,584 words Cover page picture: Photo covering a soldier holding a gun with an emblem of the Azov battalion (DONi Press, 2015). 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is a product of my time in Kyiv and the research I conducted there. However, I would not have been able to finish this thesis if it wasn’t for the support of many important people. First off, I would like to thank my supervisor Chris van der Borgh who not only provided me with crucial feedback and critiques but also managed to have me leave his office with renewed confidence after every meeting. Furthermore, I would like to thank the many people who provided me with important context knowledge and let me tap into their networks, such as Andriy and Tilia from PAX, Michiel Driebergen and the people from Stabilization Support Services in Kyiv. Specifically, I would like to thank Alex who helped me arrange and translate numerous interviews and who took the time to share with me his personal experiences on Maidan. Furthermore, this thesis would not be written if it wasn’t for my friends and family. They kept me sane and supported me in my decision to go to Ukraine (“Why Ukraine?! It’s so cold!”) but most importantly they stood by me during moments of anxiety, stress and doubt. Mark – thank you for believing in me when I didn’t myself and for joining me in Kyiv to drink Georgian wine and eat weird mushroom soup. Lastly, I would like to express my deep gratitude and respect to the former battalion members who were willing to share their stories with me. Their personal stories, of which most have not been included in this thesis, probably touched me the most. These are stories of people who struggled to reintegrate into society after having been through physical and mental trauma yet who, nevertheless, continued to contribute to Ukrainian society by establishing dialogue initiatives and support for other veterans. These are also stories of people who have lost loved-ones at Maidan or have had to leave their homes in Donbas. I am humbled in the knowledge that I will never be able to understand their country as well as they do and impressed by their sophisticated understanding of conflict dynamics. I can only hope that my thesis has done justice to the situation in Ukraine as experienced by these people. 3 ABSTRACT To counter separatist forces in its eastern region Donbas, the Ukrainian government legitimized the mobilization of volunteer battalions in April/May 2014 through a government Decree on Mobilization. However, the anti-government rhetoric and undermining of government policy by some volunteer battalions poses questions about their interaction with the Ukrainian state. To study this contested interaction, this thesis makes use of network analysis as its main analytical framework, as it allows for the analysis of changing relations between a variety of actors within a security field. Through qualitative research, including interviews with a number of former battalion members and local experts, I have come to several conclusions. First, important variations between volunteer battalions’ characteristics account for differing interactions with state actors. Second, I argue how control over different types of capital proves to be crucial in the maintenance of a powerful position within the security field. Furthermore, by applying these findings to other analytical frames, such as securitization theory and Migdal’s state-in- society approach, it is argued how the emergence of these volunteer battalions and their implicit and explicit claims about security and the state have contributed to a renegotiation of the state’s public-private divide. Key words: Ukraine; Donbas; volunteer battalions; militias; hybrid security governance; state; network analysis; state-in-society; securitization theory. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................. 3 ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................................... 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................................................... 5 ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................................................. 7 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 8 1. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................................................. 12 1.1. Understanding Militias ............................................................................................................ 12 1.2. Understanding the State .......................................................................................................... 15 1.2.1. The state-in-society approach .......................................................................................... 16 1.3. Understanding Security ........................................................................................................... 18 1.4. Understanding Networks......................................................................................................... 21 1.4.1. Defining capital ................................................................................................................ 22 1.4.2. Securitizing capital ........................................................................................................... 24 1.5. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 25 2. METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................................... 26 2.1. Research Design and Strategy ................................................................................................. 26 2.2. Data Collection Techniques .................................................................................................... 26 3. HISTORICAL RESONANCE OF UKRAINE’S CONTEMPORARY CRISES .......................... 29 4. CHARACTERISTICS OF UKRAINE’S VOLUNTEER BATTALIONS .................................... 34 4.1. Mentalities ............................................................................................................................... 34 4.2. Capital ..................................................................................................................................... 35 4.2.1. Recruitment ...................................................................................................................... 35 4.2.2. Training ............................................................................................................................ 38 4.2.3. Financial means and equipment ....................................................................................... 39 4.2.4. Political connections ........................................................................................................ 41 4.3. Institutional Composition ........................................................................................................ 41 4.4. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 42 5. VOLUNTEER BATTALIONS AND THE UKRAINIAN STATE: THREE PHASES OF INTERACTION ................................................................................................................................. 44 5.1. Mentalities at Maidan.............................................................................................................. 45 5.1.1. Mentalities & discourse ................................................................................................... 45 5.1.2. Interactions with state actors ............................................................................................ 48 5.2. Legalizing Volunteer Battalions .............................................................................................. 49 5.2.1. Mobilization ..................................................................................................................... 50 5.2.2. Integration ........................................................................................................................ 51 5.3. Politicizing Volunteer Battalions ............................................................................................. 53 5.3.1. Political capital ................................................................................................................. 54 5 5.4. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 58 6. CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................. 60 LIST OF REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................
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