War and dependent state formation in Ukraine

This article examines the relationship between war-making and state-making in post-invasion Ukraine drawing on research among Ukrainian forced migrants in Romania and with Ukrainian military crowdfunding organizations. We argue that Ukraine is undergoing a process of dependent state formation. In the context of the war, the Ukrainian state has significantly expanded its military and political power while remaining economically dependent on foreign aid. The need to generate revenues for the war has pushed the state to become more extractive, in turn undermining its legitimacy and ideological power vis-& agrave;-vis its citizens domestically and abroad. In this way, even over a relatively short period of time, the war has become a site of institutional transformations in Ukraine.