The curse of Empire: Russia’s war against Ukraine

The European Studies Centre (ESC) held a seminar to discuss two books on Russia-Ukrainian relations by two German authors: Der Fluch des Imperiums. Die Ukraine, Polen und der Irrweg in der Russischen Geschichte (Imperial Curse. Ukraine, Poland, and the False Paths in Russian History) written by Martin Schulze Wessel, Professor of Eastern European History at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, and Russia’s War against Ukraine written by Gwendolyn Sasse, Einstein Professor for the Comparative Study of Democracy and Authoritarianism at the Department of Social Sciences of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Senior Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford. The seminar was held on 28 November and was chaired by Timothy Garton Ash, Professor of European Studies, St. Antony’s College, Oxford.

Wessel provided a presentation of the purpose of the book and its key themes. Although a historical book, its purpose is also to contribute to the political debate by showing that Russia’s war against Ukraine has “deep historical roots” and that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is in fact not Putin’s, but Russia’s war. The argument of the book is illustrated through three concepts: the epoch, continuities, and contingencies of Russia’s imperial policy toward Ukraine and Poland. The first argument that Wessel makes is that we ought to see Russia’s policy in epochal terms, which means that Putin is operating in the epochal framework of the Russian empire. Consequently, Russia’s aggression should not be seen as a historical deviation from, but rather as a continuation of Russian imperial policy. He further draws parallels between the cooperation of Peter I with German territorial states – Mecklenburg and Holstein – to constructs canals linking the Baltic and the North Seas to bypass Danish customs duties for the export of timber to England and the Russian-German cooperation to build the Nord Stream pipeline, both of which Wessel regards as “imperial infrastructures”. He further argues that through these political structures in international politics, Russia has exercised imperial rule over Poland and Ukraine, and that this long-lasting continuity has been created through high culture. Russian literature, and Pushkin more specifically, according to him, have provided imperial support and legitimacy by painting an almost mystical image of the ties between Russia and the rest of the Slavic nations, which are considered inseparable from each other. This imagery has further strengthened the view that Ukraine has no legitimate national aspirations. Wessel concludes by arguing that to achieve lasting peace, the West must support Ukraine and Russia must break with its imperial paradigm.

Rethinking the Eastern Mediterranean in a volatile world

On 21 November, the European Studies Centre (ESC) (in collaboration with South East European Studies Centre at Oxford - SEESOX) held a seminar on the opportunities and challenges to cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

The region has become increasingly important as the European Union (EU) seeks to meet its energy demands after an almost complete ban on the import of Russian gas after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, the instability of the region coupled with a multitude of global crisis – amongst others climate change, trade wars, US-China competition, and inflation – are making the Eastern Mediterranean an integral part of the geopolitical space that affects regional and global balance of power.

The seminar convened on 21 November is part of a larger effort at ESC/SEESOX to tackle these issues through a special project, which we are expecting to launch in March 2024. The speakers for this seminar included Alexander Clarkson (King’s College London), Costandinos Filis (American College in Athens), Manal Shahabi (St. Antony’s College, Oxford), and Galip Dalay (St. Antony’s College, Oxford). The seminar was chaired by ESC Director Othon Anastasakis.

The Helsinki process: Past and future

The European Studies Centre (ESC) held a seminar on the Helsinki process, which led to the signing of the Helsinki Final Act and the establishment of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). The seminar was held on 7 November 2023 and was based on the discussion of the recently published book Defrosting the Cold War and Beyond: An Introduction of the Helsinki Process, 1954-2022 written by Richard Davy, Senior Member at St. Antony’s College. Kai Habel – Assistant Professor of International Relations at Leiden University – and Juhana Aunesluoma – Professor of Political History at the University of Helsinki – joined the author by providing their perspectives on the relevance of the book, while Anne Deighton – Professor of European International Politics from Wolfson College, Oxford.

The author discussed the main reasons for writing the book and provided an overview of the main themes. Davy was prompted to write the book on the Helsinki negotiating process, which he had covered as a journalist, because of many misunderstandings and misconceptions surrounding the process on the positions of the parties during the negotiations and its place within the Cold War framework. He outlines in the book a rather complex process of negotiation amongst the West European countries themselves, between West Europeans and the Americans, and between the Western countries and the Soviet Union. He further includes also the role of the non-aligned countries such as Austria, Ireland, and Yugoslavia.

During the presentation, Davy underscored the role of the nine members of the European Community, which became “the driving force” to include human rights as a principle in international relations. He contrasted this position to that of Kissinger, who maintained that human rights did not have a place in international relations and favoured Détante as the most effective path to stabilize superpower relations and avoid nuclear war. Despite Kissinger’s position, the United States State Department was rather sympathetic and supportive of the European position, whose aim was to encourage the long-term liberalisation of the Warsaw Pact regimes. Conversely, the Soviet position was to achieve a declaration that the frontiers of Europe were immutable and establish the principle of non-interference. Davy concluded by underscoring the role of the Helsinki Final Act in establishing mechanisms for mutual verification and the establishment of a normative framework that would contribute to the end of the Cold War, and the subsequent contributions of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) – the successor of the CSCE – in promoting democracy and human rights despite setbacks and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.