The "Half-Body Graft" of Wartime Contract: Vertical Fracture and Coercion of Compatriots in Ukraine's Wartime Special Law System
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This paper proposes an analytical framework to explain the structural friction caused by forced mobilization in Ukraine. It argues that the wartime special law system—including martial law, mobilization laws, and TCC command chains—is not a natural extension of the peacetime constitutional order. Instead, it functions as a "half-body graft" of a coercive contract. The "interface" of this new contract connects primarily to the executive power, leaving the societal base and institutional checks and balances disconnected. This vertical fracture produces not a political revolution, but continuous structural friction. The paper introduces the mechanism of "coercion of compatriots," where ordinary citizens are conscripted into the enforcement chain, creating new power asymmetries within society. The framework specifies boundary conditions—horizontal networks, residual institutional checks, and external actors—and insists that analytical metaphors should not substitute for normative judgments.
Author: Lin, Lin
Language: English
Topic: War, Law, and Justice
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7223995693