Description
The book seeks to explain the pro-government mobilization phenomenon, drawing most of its empirical insights from the Donbas War (2014-2021) period. This study aims to offer the first of its kind nuanced and theoretically-grounded explanation as to why individuals volunteer to mobilize for pro-government militia groups. Who are the pro-government volunteers? Why they decide to abandon their civilian lives in favor of high-risk collective action? How does militia mobilization occur, and which factors are likely to influence it? The empirical findings of this book draw on a unique sample of over 160 in-depth first-hand ethnographic interviews with former and active Ukrainian pro-government militia combatants, conducted between 2015 and 2017. This fieldwork-intensive empirical account is supplemented by the analysis of an original quantitative dataset of 1,123 biographic obituaries of deceased Ukrainian militia combatants. This rich empirical account is supported by a vast body of evidence, collected from the original Ukrainian and Russian language primary sources.