From the Trenches: Research on the Russo-Ukrainian War
By Harvey W. Kushner
Last year I was asked by scholars and journalists within Ukraine to present my thoughts on terrorism at a forthcoming summer conference in Kiev entitled “Unknown Wars.” I was told that the overwhelming number of participants would be drawn from the eastern European and central Asian communities and the conference itself would be held online and void of social media due to legitimate security concerns.
On July 17, 2022, I offered my take on Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin’s horrific and dangerous escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War that began in February 2014. Others on my panel read their papers and entered into the usual conference banter and dialog academics are wont to do. No casual observer of the conference would have known that it was originating from inside Ukraine where schools in Zhytomyr, apartments in Mariupol, and shopping malls in Kyiv were being specifically targeted to cause civilian casualties.
As an academic involved in the study of terrorism and someone who has dealt directly with its dreadful consequences, I was amazed at the resiliency in the face of uncertainty of many of the conference participants who were physically in Ukraine while Russian missiles rained down of nonmilitary targets. I was equally impressed with their body of knowledge of events both within and outside of Ukraine. To be sure, most academics and others within the United States might not be at all familiar with their work.
As someone who spent many years deeply involved with governmental leaders and scholars within the Republic of Poland, I am well aware of the lack of interest that events within central Europe let alone eastern Europe have generated within the academic community in the United States. To address this paucity and present the work of those directly impacted by Russian aggression heretofore unknown to most scholars in the West, I turned to the American Behavioral Scientist.
The cover of the March 2023 edition of the the American Behavioral Scientist reads “War in Ukraine.” This timely issue contains articles ranging from the war’s challenge to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, its relationship to the definition of war crimes, and its impact on the psychological health of Ukrainian youth. The articles represent a fresh perspective into the consequences of Russian aggression from scholars within the region. It should also be noted that much of their work for this special issue was accomplished while Iranian supplied Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 drones destroyed infrastructure leaving them without the luxury of many conveniences taken for granted outside a war zone.
The genesis for this special issue of the American Behavioral Scientist stems from my participation in the European Academy of Sciences of Ukraine’s “Unknown Wars” conference. My participation reminded me of something I already knew that there was a dearth of knowledge of all things related to eastern Europe and central Asia. And that was especially true of the indigenous scholarship generated by citizens from the region. The hope is that this issue will peak the interest of all in the West that are interested in learning about a country with a rich cultural heritage fighting for its very existence.
Special Issue Details
War in Ukraine
Guest Editors: Harvey W. Kushner and Kanykei Tursunbaeva
Volume 67 Issue 3, March 2023
American Behavioral Scientist
About the Author
