The Ukrainian Far Right: Challenging the State in Civilian Life, Defending It in Wartime

• In Event: The Transformation of Language and Nation in Wartime Ukraine

Abstract

Were activists of the Ukrainian Far Right, particularly those associated with Azov, who used violence in civilian life, share the same motivations in joining military formations and fight at the front, before and since 2022? The paper argues that the motivations of members of the radical right (defined here as willing to use violence to achieve political goals) were in fact quite distinct from those leading to a enrollment in the military. The main difference lies in the relationship to the state. In civilian life, far right activists challenge the state, and when they attacks agents of the state, in violent confrontations with the police, they challenge the state monopoly of violence. The purpose is political, such as promoting the supremacy of the nation, targeting LGBTQ communities, or adopting authoritarian decision-making modes of behavior. More genetally, action is directed against political adversaries (parties, social and cultural groups, the media and so forth). The imperatives of war, however, are different. Volunteering to join the military, in this case, is to defend the very idea and practice of a Ukrainian state and of its monopoly of violence – and of a Ukrainian nation, and this is true of recruits coming from far right milieus or not. The paradox is that they are now defending the very state that they were (or will be, after demobilization) challenging in civilian life. This why we can talk about the “depoliticization”of Azov when the emphasis is on the battalion. The research is based on interviews with Azov activists between 2015 and 2023.

Author

• Bertrand de Franqueville, U of Ottawa (Canada)