Martin Larys

• Charles University in Prague

This article explores Russia's genocidal discourses on Ukrainians, focusing on the predominant narrative that frames cultural genocide as the ‘liberation’ of Ukrainians through the erasure of their cultural identity. Existing literature tends to overlook this form of genocidal discourse, which diverges from typical ‘othering’ by instead claiming th...

This article explores Russia's genocidal discourses on Ukrainians, focusing on the predominant narrative that frames cultural genocide as the ‘liberation’ of Ukrainians through the erasure of their cultural identity. Existing literature tends to overlook this form of genocidal discourse, which diverges from typical ‘othering’ by instead claiming th...

While the motivations of individuals to become foreign fighters have been at the forefront of academic interest, an important motive—revenge—has so far remained under-researched. Drawing on the case study of pro-Ukrainian Chechen foreign fighters self-deployed in the ongoing Russo-Ukraine War, this article seeks to fill the gap in the extant litera...

The literature on economic statecraft, defined as the use of economic means to achieve strategic ends, deals primarily with direct state instruments (sanctions, embargoes, and loans), or delegation to state-owned enterprises. However, states as principals also frequently delegate to private enterprises, which leads to the puzzling question of why s...

The literature on incentive-oriented economic statecraft, specifically its so-called domestic conditionalist strand, identifies the political arrangements in the target state as a primary factor in the success or failure of the sender state’s economic statecraft. Drawing on existing literature, this article on Russia’s economic statecraft in democr...

The extant literature on rebel governance takes the political institutions that rebels develop to rule a civilian population as an indivisible entity. As a result, it cannot answer the question, why do those at the top of the power hierarchy in the pre-war period leave the rebel-controlled territories while mid-level officials are individually co-o...

The existing literature explains the war in Donbas and the rationale for why conflict broke out there while failing to do so in other Ukrainian provinces, such as Odesa or Kharkiv. Local pro-Russian organizations could not attract considerable attention and support in the pre-war period in all parts of Ukraine, except for Crimea. The social margina...

The extant literature claims that vigilante groups protect the traditional societal order by taking the law into their own hands. Vigilantes target entire categories of ‘others’ to prevent and punish their alleged criminality or norm-breaking. These activities are often connected with far-right political movements. However, the literature fails to...

The literature on delegated rebellion has treated principals (external states) and their agents (rebel groups) as the main factors in the inception of rebellion. Intriguingly, no attention has been paid to subnational elites as a separate, third actor. This article takes a novel perspective on delegated rebellion by ascribing agency to subnational...

The article explains why the Communist Party of Ukraine (KPU) became marginalised during the insurgency in Donbas despite its ideological closeness to the rebel cause. The KPU was a popular pro-rebel party during the rebellion, but sharing the rebels’ ideological background doesn't automatically mean the party will profit from the insurgency to exp...