Conflicts over History: Russia and Ukraine

• In Event: Identity and Public Opinion in Ukraine and Russia

Abstract

Conflicting views on history have significantly contributed to international political tensions in Eastern Europe. Memories of Eastern Europe’s troubled 20th century feed into opposing views on what is politically appropriate and provide a social basis for recurring inter-state hostility. The Berlin-based Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS) has been one of the first to conduct a comparative study in Ukraine and Russia on how views regarding history relate to present political attitudes. Whereas it is beyond doubt that diverging historical attitudes further international political tensions, we still know next to nothing about the extent to which ordinary people identify with such antagonistic historical interpretations and whether their beliefs concerning history mirror or inform the rhetoric of their leaders.
In this presentation we examine whether the profoundly diverging views espoused by national leaders on such controversial historical topics as the Ukraine famine, the role of Stalin, and perspectives on the post-war Soviet Union are indicative of mass attitudes undergirding the ongoing political conflict between the two countries. We rely on a representative national sample of 2,000 individuals across Russia and Ukraine. Both surveys were fielded at the beginning of 2021, the goal being to test mass attitudes toward historical figures and events. Respondents ranged from 18 to 65 years of age, resided in communities of more than 20,000 inhabitants, and were selected according to a quota sample meant to ensure they were representative of the underlying population in terms of gender, age, and place of residence relative to the above-noted parameters.
We demonstrate just how different concrete historical episodes are remembered between Ukraine and Russia and how principles of historical recall are assessed between these neighbouring states. The two countries have a complicated shared history, and in the 21st century competing memories have become a key component of Ukraine gaining symbolic independence from Russia. Simultaneously, Ukraine has undergone a bitter period of domestic confrontation over its history and remains internally divided on how to interpret the recent past, a divide that this analysis also picked up on.

Authors

• George Soroka, Harvard University

• Félix Krawatzek, Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS)