The Environmental Approach to Prehistoric Studies: Concepts and Theories

This article examines the main approaches to prehistoric environmental studies. The history of theories and concepts used in contemporary prehistory, archaeology, cultural and social anthropology, ecology, sociology, psychology, and demography is discussed. The author concludes with a plea for the concept of “living space” as a way to address certain problems in interdisciplinary studies of prehistoric societies.     

In search of the other Europe: The city of Ivano-Frankivs’k in the works of Yurii Andrukhovych

Yurii Andrukhovych is one of the first writers in post-Soviet Ukraine who created their own concept of Central Europe with a particular focus on the historical region of Galicia as a legacy of the Habsburg Empire. The West Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivs’k, the author’s place of birth and residency, appears in his texts as a part of the historical region of Eastern Galicia and the embodiment of Andrukhovych’s vision of the region and, by extension, Central Europe. Showing the relationship of the city to the Habsburg monarchy while referencing his own family memories, Andrukhovych combines the pre-war history of the town with contemporary history. Thus, Ivano-Frankivs’k is depicted by the writer not only through the prism of its Habsburg era, but also through post-Soviet reality. Furthermore, in his first publications, the Habsburg history of Galicia represents the idea of belonging to European civilization as an alternative to the more recent totalitarian past, but Andrukhovych has always attempted to create a new image of modern Ivano-Frankivs’k rather than to reconstruct the Austro-Hungarian past of the region: the subjective and personalized Austrian past of the city is more akin to a point of reference and signpost to other perspectives. Both Ivano-Frankivs’k and Eastern Galicia are portrayed by the author as ambivalent and hybrid spaces. On the one hand it is a peripheral area between East and West; but, on the other hand, it is Andrukhovych’s personal part of Europe, where the processes and figures that shaped the continent gain an individual, unique dimension.     

All is quiet on the Russian front: ceasefires and the pursuit of legitimacy by self-proclaimed “republics” in Ukraine

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the pursuit of legitimacy by the self-proclaimed “republics” in Ukraine. While these “republics” are illegal, questions of their legitimacy are commonly discussed almost entirely through Weberian rule-conformity. We argue that this one-dimensional view of legitimacy overlooks the rich context of normative aspects of power relationships. If the occupied Donbas is to be reintegrated into Ukraine, it is essential to understand the perceived legitimation of the political institutions in this region. We use David Beetham’s framework of legitimacy—consisting of legality, morality, and consent—to analyze the “republics’” pursuit of legitimacy. Our analysis leads to the proposition that while the “republics” are illegal, their supporters’ normative perceptions of the right to govern have ascribed more validity to the fake “governments” than what would have been expected from a legal point of view. Additionally, while a ceasefire between the Russian proxies and Ukraine’s forces has reduced violence, it has also levied temporal effect on the legitimation of illegitimate institutions. Our treatment of the process of legitimation over time helps us identify potential strategies of delegitimization should DPR and LPR reincorporate with Ukraine-controlled territory. Without dismantling internal perceptions of institutional legitimacy among inhabitants of nongovernment-controlled areas, a re-integration could not be accomplished.