Conflict in Ukraine

A short and insightful primer that concentrates on the current crisis to give readers a brief but useful introduction to the history of the country.

Rajon Menon and Eugene Rumer complicate the conventional story by providing a thoughtful analysis of the key political, economic, and historical factors that eventually led to the current rupture in Russian-Ukrainian relations.

Here is a calm, clear alternative to the many emotional efforts to place blame for the crisis in Ukraine on one side alone…..Menon and Rumer leave no doubt about the boundaries Russia crossed in seizing Crimea and fueling the war in eastern Ukraine, but they do not settle for the common one-dimensional explanation that attributes Russian actions to President Vladimir Putin’s alleged imperial fantasies…. The modest length of the book and its crisp prose complement the efficiency and restraint of the analysis.

… as a piece of desk research, bringing together the hundreds of reports and references that combine to describe the position as it was when the manuscript was finalised, and how that situation came about, the book is nothing short of exemplary.

Rajan Menon is Anne and Bernard Spitzer Professor of Political Science at the Powell School, City College of New York/City University of New York, Senior Research Scholar at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University, and the author, most recently, of The End of Alliances. He is completing a book on humanitarian intervention and is a regular contributor to nationalinterest.org.Eugene Rumer is a Senior Associate and Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

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