Dr Andriy TYUSHKA, Senior Research Fellow in the European Neighbourhood Policy Chair at the College of Europe in Natolin, has just published with the Journal of International Relations and Development (JIRD) an article on the problem of (un)intentional knowledge distortion and the exigency of terminological clarity in academic and political discourses on Russia’s war against Ukraine.
This article forms part of the special forum discussion on the ‘responsibility (not) to remain silent’ and the politics of knowledge production, expertise and (self-)reflection in Russia’s war against Ukraine, guest-edited by Dr Olga BURLYUK (University of Amsterdam, UvA) and Dr Vjosa MUSLIU (Free University of Brussels, VUB).
The article argues that in the academic and political debates on Russia’s evolving – (c)overt – aggression against Ukraine, a number of contending conceptualizations of the Russia-Ukraine conflict(s) have emerged, including the hyperinflated ‘Ukraine crisis’ term, thus vividly showing that there is a clash of (factual and fictional) narratives in both media, politics, and academia, a good share of which (un)intentionally contribute to the distortion, rather than production, of knowledge.
With a critical introspection into the academic debate on the matter, this article seeks to uncover the dominant framings of the evolving Russia-Ukraine war and the modalities of both unintentional, intentional and collateral knowledge distortion, as well as to stimulate overdue discussion on the conceptual distinction between ‘crisis’, ‘conflict’ and ‘war’ paradigms in the conflict-sensitive context.
The article can be accessed here.