STATE AND CIVIL SOCIETY RELATIONS IN THE CONDITIONS OF MILITARY CRISES: The case of defence volunteer movement in Ukraine

Abstract

ABSTRACT This thesis investigates relations between civil society and state in the conditions of military crises from civil society perspective. On a theoretical level, the thesis aims at determining whether classic understanding of state and civil society relations, conceptualised primarily with an assumption of a strong state and relatively peaceful times, is also applicable at times of military crises and when the state is weak. The following ideal types of civil society and state relations as described by Chambers and Kopstein constitute basic analytical framework: civil society apart from the state, civil society against the state, civil society in dialogue with the state, civil society in partnership with the state and civil society in support of the state. To make the analysis more nuanced, this typology is amended with an additional dimension of quality of experience during the relations. On an empirical level, the research aim is addressed through a study of the case of the Ukrainian volunteer movement, which emerged as a civil society’s response to the ongoing military crisis in the East of the country. This movement was chosen because of its large scope and activity in the sphere of defence, conventionally perceived as the state domain. The case study focuses on three groups of the defence volunteer movement: volunteers officially interacting with the state, formal and informal volunteers. Volunteer movement’s collective identity and future ambitions towards the state are also addressed in the analysis. The thesis employs qualitative methods for data collection and analysis since it is intended to capture insights from civil society, its perceptions of and experiences with the state. Thus, field work in Ukraine in March 2016 resulted in 17 semi-structured interviews, which were then processed with the help of conventional and directed content analysis. The thesis concludes that Chambers and Kopstein’s typology of state-civil society relations, despite assuming a strong state and relatively peaceful times, was applicable even in the case of military crisis. Moreover, as the theory predicted, the ideal types overlapped and were not mutually exclusive. Still, there were dominating patterns of civil society and state relations for two groups of respondents: volunteers officially interacting with the state described their relations as in ‘partnership’, while formal volunteers – as ‘in dialogue’. The third group of respondents, informal volunteers, had no dominating type. As it became evident from the analysis, collective identity of the volunteer movement is yet to be developed, but volunteers do formulate a division between ‘us’ and ‘them’ (state) around cognitive abilities and honesty. In terms of future ambitions towards the state, the research pointed to movement’s potential to transform into more sustainable forms of civil society and engage in social issues. The analysis also revealed respondents’ understanding of the need of political participation, but many of them were reluctant to join national politics, which echoed negative perceptions of the state. The thesis contributes to the theory of state and civil society relations by introducing a dimension of quality of experience, which captures volunteers’ perception of the state reaction towards their initiatives as the relations unfold. This dimension helps to create a more nuanced understanding of the state and civil society relations in the conditions of military crises and has the potential to be applied to cases outside Ukraine. The study also makes contribution to understanding civil society in Central and Eastern Europe by introducing Ukrainian volunteer movement into the pool of literature. Finally, the thesis produces questions for future research such as the need to do similar study to capture state perspective as well as to understand the reasons behind different dominant types of relations among different groups of volunteers.