Popular and Scholarly Primordialism: The Politics of Ukrainian History during Russia's 2022 Invasion of Ukraine

Abstract While nationalism theorists have mostly rejected primordialism, politicians and the wider public typically a primordialist essentialist understanding of national history. On eve Russia's 2022 invasion Ukraine, Vladimir Putin invoked several tropes so as to justify military action, which is unsurprising in politician. Yet Western scholars criticizing Putin's historical narratives newspaper editorials or scholarly talks posted YouTube only rarely suggest modernist social constructivist narratives. Several posit counter-primordialisms instead. Primordialism, then, enjoys more support than widely realized, even among who ought be familiar with its problems. Meanwhile nationalism, however popular theorists, require vigorous promotion academic circles.