The Primacy of Processes and the Causes of the Russo‐Ukrainian War: A Rejoinder to ‘Patrimonial Imperialism’
Journal: Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour
Year: 2025

ABSTRACT Pierzynski and Joseph explain the Russo‐Ukrainian war through systemic and individual‐level accounts but argue these are incomplete without addressing Russia's internal structure, which they term ‘patrimonial imperialism’. While their taxonomy mirrors the traditional IR ‘levels of analysis’, I suggest it obscures relational and historical dynamics. In this rejoinder, I also critique their rigid distinction between the actual and the real and between process and structure. Causal complex