Geographical Contributions to Understanding and Resolving the Russo- Ukraine Conflict

The war in Ukraine poses an exceptionally dangerous risk of major escalation by design, accident or miscalculation. However, the causes and drivers of the war are far from exceptional, being struggles over how to imagine, name, organize, and control space at local, regional (subnational), national and international scales. Advocating a geography that is “for peace,” this article uses a transscalar conception of how conflict and peace are interrelated within states and internationally. Analyzing a number of key Russian government speeches and legal texts, it identifies major political geographical elements of the conflict and, drawing on comparative examples, proposes creative ways in which they might be addressed as part of negotiations.