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Negotiating the national self amid past traumas, present power dynamics and future imperial ambition: strategic culture and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Mini-Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2025.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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University of Pretoria
2026
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| _version_ | 1869483892956725248 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author2 | Theron, Sonja
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| author_browse | Theron, Sonja
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| author_facet | Theron, Sonja
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| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | © 2024 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
| description | Mini-Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2025. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/107549 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-07-01T04:06:13.648Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | University of Pretoria |
| publisherStr | University of Pretoria |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| spelling | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/107549 Negotiating the national self amid past traumas, present power dynamics and future imperial ambition: strategic culture and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Theron, Sonja u14012911@tuks.co.za Du Plooy, Donavan UCTD Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Strategic culture Ontological security Ukraine Russia War Mini-Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2025. This mini-dissertation examines the context behind Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine through the joint theorisation of strategic culture and ontological security, offering a nuanced alternative to popular neorealist interpretations. Neorealism is constrained by its mono-causality and false assumption of universal rationalism, which fails to account for domestic and ideational drivers of foreign policy. Through an eclectic framework, the mini-dissertation interrogates how Russia’s strategic culture, characterised by geographic vulnerability, historical chauvinism and socio-political paternalism, intersects with its pursuit of ontological security in post-Soviet termporalities to shape aggressive foreign policy. The analysis details how Russia’s post-Soviet ontological security crisis, exacerbated by geopolitical developments and regime insecurity, radicalised Russian national identity and securitised societal discourse, aiding Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian consolidation. Within these dynamics, Ukraine is framed as a key physical and symbolic buffer. To that end, Ukraine became a significant site of ontological (in)security for Russia, where its increasingly centrifugal orientation towards the West threatened the biographical continuity central to Russian regime legitimacy. It is within this context that Russia invaded Ukraine, enacting a vicious circle of aggression that fosters heightened perceptions of insecurity, and circularly draws legitimacy from responding to those perceptions. Situated as a site where Russian chauvinism converges with its besieged fortress mentality and othering of the West, Ukraine provided Russian elites with a space to translate their ontological security seeking into the use of force to affirm their desired great power status. Political Sciences MA (Security Studies) Unrestricted Faculty of Humanities SDG-16: Peace, justice and strong institutions 2026-01-23T12:34:13Z 2026-01-23T12:34:13Z 2026-04 2025-08-25 Mini Dissertation * April 2026 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/107549 Disclaimer Letter en © 2024 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria |
| spellingShingle | UCTD Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Strategic culture Ontological security Ukraine Russia War Negotiating the national self amid past traumas, present power dynamics and future imperial ambition: strategic culture and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine |
| title | Negotiating the national self amid past traumas, present power dynamics and future imperial ambition: strategic culture and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine |
| title_full | Negotiating the national self amid past traumas, present power dynamics and future imperial ambition: strategic culture and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine |
| title_fullStr | Negotiating the national self amid past traumas, present power dynamics and future imperial ambition: strategic culture and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine |
| title_full_unstemmed | Negotiating the national self amid past traumas, present power dynamics and future imperial ambition: strategic culture and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine |
| title_short | Negotiating the national self amid past traumas, present power dynamics and future imperial ambition: strategic culture and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine |
| title_sort | negotiating the national self amid past traumas present power dynamics and future imperial ambition strategic culture and russia s invasion of ukraine |
| topic | UCTD Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Strategic culture Ontological security Ukraine Russia War |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/107549 |