The Politics of Exclusion : A necropolitical analysis of the Russian occupation in Ukraine

This study examines Russian presidential decrees implemented in Ukrainian territories under Russian occupation, focusing on how these decrees are used to govern, administer, and restructure occupied territory. Although the decrees are officially framed as measures intended to promote stability, reconstruction, and the well-being of the population, this study argues that they primarily function to consolidate and normalize Russian control over the occupied territories. The analysis focuses on Russian Presidential decrees issued between 2023 and 2025 that regulate political, legal, economic, cultural, and educational life in the occupied oblasts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. Methodologically, the study applies Carol Bacchi’s What is the problem Represented to be? (WPR) approach to examine how the decrees construct governance problems, define target populations, and legitimize specific interventions. This method allows for an analysis of underlying assumptions, silences, and policy effects embedded in the documents. To interpret the broader implications of these findings, the study draws on Achille Mbembe’s theory of necropolitics, which provides a framework for understanding how power operates over life, inclusion, and exclusion in contexts shaped by violence. The findings show that the decrees frame integrations into the Russian state as a legal and historical reunification, while excluding the role of military occupation, destruction, and displacement that produced the conditions they seek to govern. Access to residency, citizenship, social benefits, housing, and employment is made conditional upon compliance with Russian administrative and legal frameworks, creating a system of precarious inclusion. Educational, cultural, and informational policies further seek to reshape identity, knowledge, and political subjectivity in line with Russian state narratives. Overall, the study demonstrates that the decrees function as instruments of necropolitical governance rather than as natural administrative tools.