Conflict‐prevention in a transition state: The Crimean issue in post‐Soviet Ukraine

Ukraine's post‐Soviet state‐building has been characterized by two simultaneous, yet contradictory trends: the strengthening of the political institutions of the central state and a process of selective autonomization in Crimea. The Crimean issue with its different ethnic, historical, regional and international dimensions posed a considerable challenge to the ‘new’ Ukraine. Ethno‐regional conflict was widely expected to erupt in Crimea during the first half of the 1990s. Parallel institution‐building at the regional and national levels, in particular the protracted elite bargaining over Crimean autonomy, helped to integrate the region into the Ukrainian polity. This article argues that the political process behind the establishment of Crimean autonomy has been far more significant for conflict prevention than the actual institutional outcome which is politically weak, albeit symbolically significant.