Photo: Co-editors of the volume (Uladzislau Belavusau, Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias and Maria Mälksoo) at the book launch at the University of Copenhagen (September 2025).
The volume situates the Russo-Ukrainian war within a broader transformation of historical memory into a matter of national security. Contributors demonstrate how Russia instrumentalized the denial of Ukraine’s historical agency - framing it as an 'artificial nation' - to provide a pretext for aggression. By turning state-sanctioned versions of the past into so-called 'memory laws,' the Kremlin effectively recast imperial claims as a necessary 'historical correction.'
Mnemonic constitutionalism: Law as a weapon
A central theme of the research is the concept of 'mnemonic constitutionalism'. This process embeds a specific historical narrative into a state’s legal core, enforcing a collective identity through constitutional symbols, citizenship requirements, and statutes that mandate how the past must be understood. By translating 'moral lessons' of history into enforceable constitutional memory, the state ensures its authority is anchored in a sanctioned version of the past.
A shifting European landscape
Four years after the full-scale invasion, the volume invites reflection on how Russia’s 'mnemopolitical militancy' - the codification of selective historical narratives into punitive 'memory laws' and even constitutional doctrine - preceded and accompanied military aggression.
In response, Ukraine and neighbouring states have intensified their own mnemonic legal frameworks, translating decommunisation and decolonial narratives into law to stabilise their own identities. As the Introduction argues, the denial of Ukraine’s historical agency and political subjectivity was part of a broader legal and ideological architecture that framed war as a 'historical correction'.
Beyond Russia and Ukraine, the book traces how these memory wars have extended to Poland, the Baltic States, Belarus, Finland, Germany and Hungary. It also examines the European Union and the Council of Europe as normative prototypes shaping regional governance, arguing that the governance of the past has become inseparable from the politics of security.
Ultimately, the collection reveals a European landscape where memory laws function as instruments of 'ontological security' - attempts by states to stabilise their legitimacy and geopolitical orientation through legally enforced history.
Read the full open access publication.
