Eteri (Etuna) Tsintsadze-Maass is Assistant Director of the Graduate Program in International Studies (GPIS) at Old Dominion University, where she also teaches in the Department of Political Science and Geography. She earned her PhD from the University of Kentucky (2020). Dr. Tsintsadze-Maass’ primary research focuses on the effects of national narratives and mobilization on states’ foreign policy and security choices, and the politics of the post-Soviet region. She is working on a book manuscript based on her dissertation: Why Weak States Balance: National Mobilization and the Security Strategies of Post-Soviet States.
At its core, the current war in Ukraine reflects an incompatibility of nationalist narratives. Many Ukrainians want to escape Russia’s imperial shadow. Putin wants to reextend that shadow – to erase Ukraine as an independent national identity.