Hybrid war in times of geopolitics? On the interpretation and characterization of the donbas conflict

Abstract

The interpretation of the Donbas conflict is a highly controversial topic— not only in Ukraine but also among external observers. Two hypotheses are represented particularly prominently: Firstly, the conflict is often char-acterized as a prime example of a “hybrid war.” Secondly, based on the perspective of geopolitics, the war is interpreted as the result of competi-tive, hegemonic claims of the West and Russia. However, both of these the-ories operate with a steering and control imperative which reduces the role of local actors and their agendas to dependent variables of great powers. By contrast, this contribution advocates a conflict-sociological approach which clearly shows that external actors are driven by local conflict dy-namics to a much greater extent than either theory would admit. © 2021, Ibidem Verlag. All rights reserved.