Introduction
The case study regarding Russia evaluates Crimea’s annexation by Russia and the early stages of combat operations and political mobilization in Eastern Ukraine. The case study also assesses the approach by Russia and draws inferences from its intentions, and examines the likelihood of such a method being used again elsewhere. According to the case study, the operation by Russia to annexe Crimea and separate it from Ukraine represented a clever and decisive use of military forces in pursuing political ends. The military operations by Russia in Crimea benefited from highly favorable circumstances, which include military, geographical, historical and political ones. This analysis underscores that numerous remaining issues regarding Russia’s military capabilities are unknown. The case demonstrates that the political and military campaigns in Eastern Ukraine were not implemented as desired. In this case, such campaigns were ill-conceived because they were primarily intended to achieve political fragmentation of the country through federalization and promote the influence of Russia. As an English political philosopher who lived in the 17th century, Hobbes is considered one of the pioneers of contemporary political philosophy. Thomas Hobbes’ political philosophy provides the best perspective on the war in Russia to annex Crimea and conquer Eastern Ukraine.
Thomas Hobbes’ Political Philosophy in the Russian Case
Thomas Hobbes is an English philosopher famous for stating that without governments, life would be short, nasty, and brutish. Hobbes’s primary argument was that people are primitive and need a government to be in operation to realize their objectives. Without such a government, society would be disorderly, and people would kill each other. Therefore, the Russian case is a classic example of how Hobbes’ political theory applies in society. Moscow’s primary intention was to bring order to Crimea and Eastern Ukraine through domination (Thucydides & Robert 2008, 7). Accordingly, Hobbes stated that society must limit inalienable rights and freedom to make people orderly. Since he lived in the 17th century during the time of the English Civil War and other political upheavals in Europe, he knew very well that men had to have authority as a way of controling and providing checks and balances.
English Civil War most likely influenced Hobbe’s political views. In this case, Hobbes believed that people needed a sovereign state or a monarch that would create a conducive environment to live in. Therefore, Russia needed to control Crimea and Eastern Ukraine because it wanted to unite and rule the territories under the command of Moscow. Hobbes’ argued that the existence of a monarch or a sovereign government would lead to an end of civil war synonymous with people without a command of authority (Kofman et al. 2017, 8). Russia was interested in having a united command structure that would also bring lasting peace to the region. Hobbes further argued that the original state of nature is the perfect state of man and that people are born primitive and need to be ruled and guided (Thucydides & Robert 2008, 6). Just like the reasoning by Hobbes, Russia’s interest was to control the region’s politics so that it could have one command structure and avoid political tension.
The Social Contract Theory
Thomas Hobbes developed a theory on human nature and how people govern themselves. In this case, Hobbes developed the social contract theory, a political and moral philosophy of how people want to govern themselves. In this theory, man always strives to provide legitimacy for his actions by dominating others (Karlsen 2019, 11). Like his other contemporaries, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Hobbes stated that people in power always want to exert their authority and influence of the state over the people they seek to lead. Hobbes defined this as an authority of the state over an individual who has to follow the orders from the authority. The Russian case was all about a powerful state exerting its power, authority, and influence over less powerful territories such as Crimea and Eastern Ukraine (Kofman et al. 2017, 5). The political theory and philosophy by Hobbes fit in the Russian case because Moscow claimed the legitimacy of the authority of the two territories.
The social contract theory by Thomas Hobbes states that man has a tendency to live in innocence, but demonstrates greediness and aggressiveness in his original state of nature. In the Russia case, Vladmir Putin demonstrated greed in his need to control the region by ennexing Crimea and wanting to conquer Eastern Ukraine. By controlling the region, Moscow through its aggressive behavior demonstrates the political theory exemplified by Hobbes (Thucydides and Robert 2008, 4). In addition, the social contract theory depicts man as an unimaginative and ignorant animal who is unpredictable. Therefore, men need laws to govern themselves to avoid taking the law unto themselves. In the Russian perspective, the country needed to be in charge of the territory so that people can follow laws created for the purposes of having order in that society (Karlsen 2019, 12). Men are truly happy in their state of nature and needs a governing body to ensure everything has authority.
According to the social contract theory, man has no conscience or reason when in contact with others. Hobbes states that men are greedy by nature and that people in authority begin to claim possessions at the expense of the ones they rule. In addition, there is much inequality of skills that also creates inequality in fortunes (Kofman et al. 2017, 2). When people claim possessions at the expense of others, it leads to passions that create tension in society. Such a move leads to war and conflict, like in the case of Russia. The conflict in Russia involving Crimea and Eastern Ukraine are just examples of a conflict of resources. Ukraine has immense resources, which Russia wanted to control for its benefit and strategy. In addition, Crimea is strategically located in the Baltic region and needs to have a say in what happens in the peninsula.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the social contract theory by Thomas Hobbes is an example of the political philosophy of man and nature. According to the theory, people’s lives would be nasty, short, and brutish without governments. Hobbes argues that people need a sovereign government, authority, or monarchy to have order in society. If such an arrangement is not there, chaos and disorder would eventually lead to war. The Russian scenario is a classical case where a man struggled to control the region by annexing Cremia and military battles in Eastern Ukraine (Karlsen 2019, 15). Russia wanted to control the area by having control of the two regions because it felt it needed to ensure order in the entire territory.
Bibliography
Karlsen, Geir Hågen. “Divide and Rule: Ten Lessons about Russian Political Influence Activities in Europe.” Palgrave Communications 5, no. 1 (2019). Web.
Kofman, Michael, Olesya Tkacheva, Jenny Oberholtzer, Andrew Radin, Brian Nichiporuk, and Katya Migacheva. Lessons from Russia’s Operations in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation, 2017.
Thucydides, Richard Crawley, and Robert B. Strassler. The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War. Free Press, 2008.