Decentralization, Regional Diversity, and Conflict

This edited volume focuses on the links between the ongoing crisis in and around Ukraine, regional diversity, and the reform of decentralization. It provides in-depth insights into the historical constitution of regional diversity and the evolution of center-periphery relationships in Ukraine, the legal qualification of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, and the role of the decentralization reform in promoting conflict resolution, as well as modernization, democratization and European integration of Ukraine. Particular emphasis lies on the securitization of both regional diversity issues and territorial self-government arrangements in terms of Russia’s support for self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. The volume captures the complexity of contemporary “hybrid” conflicts, involving both internal and external aspects, and the hybridization and securitization of territorial self-governance solutions. It thus provides an important contribution to the debate on territorial self-government and conflict resolution.
Hanna Shelest is Member of the Board at the Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism” and Editor-in-chief at UA: Ukraine Analytica. Prior to this, she had served for more than 10 years as Senior Researcher at the National Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of Ukraine. 
Maryna Rabinovych is a researcher at the Faculty of Law, University of Hamburg, Germany. She will join the Leibniz Science Campus “Eastern Europe as a Global Area” as Post-Doc Fellow.