Description
Competing imaginaries of peace in Ukraine after the full-scale Russian invasion reflected divergent conceptions of international order. Russia framed its aggression as a contribution to international security that delineated spheres of influence, revived great power management, and pacified allegedly chaotic Ukraine. The Trump administration in the US partially acquiesced to Russia’s great power management proposals and obfuscated Russia’s role in initiating the aggression. Other aspiring mediators, such as China and Brazil, reproduced colonial narratives that legitimised Russia’s demands for domination, requested Ukraine to accept subjugation in the name of global stability, and misrecognised paternalistic hierarchies in the Russo-Ukrainian relations as affinity and shared history. In response, Ukraine articulated a distinct variety of anti-colonialism that foregrounded territorial integrity, boundary enforcement, and European modernity while rejecting self-victimisation. Based on a critical interrogation of different imaginaries of peace in Ukraine, this article conceptualises twenty-first-century imperialism and anti-colonial resistance.
