Survival and Civicness Traversing Militarized Borders: The Networks Conducting Evacuations from Occupied Territory in the Shadows of Russian Power

• In Event: Novel Forms of Civic Resistance to Hybrid Regimes at the European Outskirt: From Ukraine and Bosnia to Georgia and Serbia

Abstract

Evacuation of refugees from Russian occupied territory is sometimes assisted by volunteer activists and networks. These groups are unusual in the post-2022 context in that they, by necessity, operate across both the Russia Federation and Ukraine. Testimonies from these activists and survivors are revealing of the terror and authoritarianism of Russian power. They also shed light on what has been referred to as ‘civicness’ as a type of mutual obligation and informal social contract among citizens that has undergirded Ukraine’s democratic resistance. Drawing on interview data the article advances our understanding of civicness as a transversal phenomenon that crossed territorial divides and demarcations. It makes the case for viewing the contemporary crisis and fragmentation of global order through the lens of conflicting logics of authority, and not simply as geoeconomic and geopolitical conflicts among states.

Authors

• Sophie Gueudet, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (Italy) / PeaceRep (Ukraine)

• Luke Cooper, London School of Economics and Political Science (UK)