Invited talk at Tallinn University IR Research Seminar

This research seminar examines the relevance of the post-colonial perspective in making sense of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine. Taking a recently published Journal of Genocide Research forum contribution as its starting point, the discussion will reflect on the academic debates on the applicability of the ‘postcolonial’ label and lens to Ukraine. We inquire why the post-Soviet states have been generally left out of sight of post-colonial theory and what their invisibility (or relative ignorance) by post-colonial theory tells us about the theory at large. In which ways does the Russian aggression against Ukraine serve as a looking glass war for the field of International Relations (IR) more generally?