Russian occupation practices in Crimea and the Donbas

Abstract

Russia's occupations of Ukrainian territories since 2014 have been characterized as either the result of regional pro-Russian sentiment or security-driven interventions. These explanations often obscure the mechanisms through which occupation is practiced. This thesis applies Pierre Bourdieu's theory of practices to analyze occupation as a field-specific process. Examining the Crimean Peninsula and Donbas regions, I argue that Russian occupation practices involve the strategic conversion and redirection of capital (coercive, economic, political, and symbolic) between distinct fields. Furthermore, where pre-existing autonomous institutions exist, as in Crimea, occupation proceeds through the appropriation of the already-legitimate authority structures. Where no such institutional layer exists, as in Donbas, Russia must manufacture the institutions required for an occupation, resulting in structures that remain dependent on external coercion and Moscow's direct supervisory control. This thesis also visualizes these processes by showing how specific actors move between fields in a given timeframe. The given framework studies occupation as a practice of authority-making and explains why identical Russian strategies produce divergent outcomes across Ukrainian territories.