Mar 15, 2022
Just pointing a finger at politicians is too simple
![Vor dem Rektoratsgebäude der TU Dresden steht ein Fahnenmast. An diesem weht die Ukraine-Flagge.](https://tu-dresden.de/tu-dresden/newsportal/ressourcen/bilder/uj-bilder/2022_05/Rektorat_Ukraine_Fahne_T85_5512.jpg/@@images/b7eea5ed-2f94-4e2e-9774-e8cdcf9b9a7d.jpeg)
The Ukrainian flag can be seen in many places these days as a sign of of solidarity – including in front of the University Executive Board building.
Questions for a TUD expert: Political science specialist Prof. Anna Holzscheiter speaks on diplomacy and international organizations before and during the war in Ukraine
Prof. Anna Holzscheiter is the TUD Chair of Political Sciences with a focus on International Politics. The Universitätsjournal (university newspaper) sat down with the scholar from the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science to talk about Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
UJ: On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a war of aggression against Ukraine. Prior to this, great diplomatic efforts were made to prevent it from happening. Does this war represent the failure of European and transatlantic diplomacy?
Prof. Anna Holzscheiter: We are currently witnessing an appalling, unnecessary war of aggression – and an unprecedented exertion of force at an international scale to bring this war to an end as quickly as possible. However, we have also seen that – despite numerous warnings from political science experts, specialists on Eastern Europe and Russia, foreign policy advisors and journalists – an unambiguously incipient attack by Russian forces on foreign territory was not prevented. To this end, many people think that European and transatlantic diplomacy has failed, particularly since the 5-day war between Russia and Georgia in 2008 and the annexation of Crimea in 2014. On the other hand, the psychological profiles of the Russian president paint a picture of a highly intelligent, unpredictable autocrat, who, in the words of journalist Nikolai Svanidze, uses language “to hide his thoughts instead of to share them” (“In seiner Welt,” Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 11, 2022), and who over the years has not only established an authoritarian Russian state, but has also developed paranoid and delusional tendencies. It is very easy for us to point a finger at the European or transatlantic policy on Russia, but more important than placing mutual blame is understanding the manifold and very complex causes and connections of this war of aggression so that we can find the right solution to this humanitarian crisis.
![Porträt von Prof. Anna Holzscheiter.](https://tu-dresden.de/tu-dresden/newsportal/ressourcen/bilder/uj-bilder/2022_05/Holzscheiter_0501.jpg/@@images/bb5f5977-3831-42d0-8118-9916d5e1e423.jpeg)
Prof. Anna Holzscheiter.
In a government statement, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently described the war as a “turning point in history.” Do you agree?
It is difficult to speak of a turning point while a moment of disaster is still ongoing, as we still don’t know how the war will go down in history and what it means for the future of Ukraine, Russia, Europe and the rest of the world. In my view, it’s not the war itself that is the turning point, but rather it is a manifestation of a historical turning point, for instance if we look at how Russian and Ukrainian hackers are fueling the war in cyberspace, or the unprecedented flow of refugees the war has caused. Or if we consider the responses to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the unbelievable speed at which governments, civil society, media and even many private companies have sanctioned and condemned the senseless bloodshed. At the same time, this term also harbors risks, as it can play right into the hands of an autocratic head of state who seeks to trigger a backwards-facing turning point.
On February 28, in the week following the start of the war, Ukraine accused Russia of genocide before the International Court of Justice – the highest court of the UN. What weight does this accusation carry? Does the court even have any means of power?
Such an accusation carries a lot of weight because we know that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has repeatedly sentenced those who have committed war crimes, genocide and criminal offenses to very long terms of imprisonment. However, Russia has not signed the Rome Statute – the founding treaty of the ICC – and Ukraine is also not a state party of the ICC, although it declared in 2013 that it would recognize the ICC’s authority in all matters that occur in Ukrainian territory starting November 21, 2013. The ICC therefore has the authority to investigate crimes committed by Russian citizens. At the same time, in the course of proceedings before the ICC, manifold evidence must be collected to substantiate war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression – in particular because the International Criminal Court holds individual persons accountable.
A UN Security Council resolution against the Russian invasion failed due to Russia’s veto. Is a diplomatic isolation of Moscow possible or even sensible?
We are already seeing how vehemently and cohesively large parts of the world are turning their backs on Russia, especially within the United Nations. On March 2, the UN General Assembly condemned the war against Ukraine with a large majority – 141 UN member states voted for a UN resolution summoning Russia to stop the aggression immediately and to refrain from any other unlawful threat or exertion of violence. In speeches before the UN General Assembly preceding the resolution, many member states displayed sheer outrage over the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the blatantly inhuman warfare led by the Russian forces. The highly politicized United Nations Human Rights Council also resolved on March 4 to establish an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate alleged violations and abuses of human rights in the context of the aggression against Ukraine by the Russian Federation. Yet in light of Russia’s geopolitical strength and the potential for escalation, it would not be expedient to diplomatically isolate Russia. In fact, we are witnessing instances of the opposite. The Ukrainian president stresses his willingness to negotiate every day, multiple talks have taken place between French president Emmanuel Macron and Russian president Vladimir Putin, and the foreign ministers from Ukraine and Russia met on March 10 in Turkey to negotiate. It would be evidently disastrous to isolate Russia diplomatically and close off these channels of dialogue.
You are heading a three-year research project on political ideas. Together with researchers from Canada and Great Britain, you want to use the results “to help political stakeholders, NGOs, activists and the public better understand the processes through which they are influenced,” you have said. Can research projects such as yours even be conducted in countries that employ political oppression, where there is no freedom of press, or political negotiation processes are not transparent?
You’ve mentioned a key problem in political research. In our work, we are reliant on historical documentation and the publicly available archives that provide them. We also depend on a transparent political negotiation process, ideally with complete minutes from parliamentary debates, as well as balanced media reporting and a lively civil society. Where these conditions are not met, it is incredibly difficult to truly follow current – and therefore of course highly explosive – political decision processes and civil debates. Even if we want to count on interview partners from political institutions, civil society, science and media, we have to bear in mind that, under the structures of authoritarian systems, we are exposing and putting these people at risk simply by contacting and especially by interviewing them. We want to be able to understand as best we can how “framing” – specific interpretation of political problems and certain discursive positions – arise and are propagated. Because of that, we are currently drawing on the documentation of negotiation processes within international organizations such as the United Nations and the European Union.
Karsten Eckold spoke with Prof. Anna Holzscheiter.
This article was published in the 5/2022 issue of the Universitätsjournal on March 15, 2022. The full issue can is available on the UJ website at https://tu-dresden.de/uj and can be downloaded as a PDF for free. The Universitätsjournal can be ordered in print or as a PDF from .