Postcolonial Struggles and Symbolic Capital: Ukrainian Political Elites’ Perceptions of Russia

This article explores how symbolic and cultural capitals shape the perceptions of Ukrainian political elites regarding Russia as a geopolitical threat, focusing on the transformations since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Using Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice, the paper argues that elite perceptions are not only reactions to external events but also products of internal struggles within the political field, influenced by elites’ positions, accumulated capitals, and embodied experiences. The article also integrates a postcolonial perspective to examine how the legacy of Russian imperialism continues to affect Ukraine’s political elites, shaping their identity, legitimacy, and responses to the evolving threat. This relational analysis provides a deeper understanding of the dynamics of national identity, memory politics, and power struggles in postcolonial and post-Soviet contexts, highlighting the role of symbolic hierarchies in the construction of political authority and threat narratives.