La gestion d’une mobilisation politique et militaire : réflexions sur les liens entre le mouvement Azov et l’État ukrainien (2014-2021)

Abstract

This article examines between 2014 and 2021 the rise of the Azov movement, an ultra-nationalist formation that used to be questioned for both its role within the state apparatus as a regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard and its status as a political opponent. Drawing on comparative literature about the relationship between a state and politico-military mobilizations and playing on different scales of analysis, we intend to question the way in which the Azov movement has been linked to the Ukrainian state during these years. We argue that the emergence of the movement is the result of a mutual instrumentalization between the latter and the state apparatus for the benefit of their respective agendas.

Keywords

• Ukraine
• far right
• Azov
• managed nationalism
• militia
• vigilantism