Description
In 2014 the Ukrainian crisis transformed the security environment in Europe and returned the question of Euro-Atlantic integration into Ukrainian political agenda. NATO membership has always been one of the divisive issues in national politics as it reflected a split of Ukrainian regional identities across geopolitical lines. Nevertheless, after losing control over Crimea and the Eastern regions, the issue of security has gained major importance for both domestic and foreign policies of the government. Even if the NATO membership is not to be accomplished in years to come, the notion of security has turned into a vital component of the Ukrainian national identity.
The research question of this paper is concerned with the ways how discursive articulations of security could evidence national identity change. Therefore, it compares the transformation of security, threat and danger in the Ukrainian elites’ discourses in the context of Euro-Atlantic integration from 2008 to 2018. Materials of analysis include both official and oppositional discourses in the form of statements, interviews and books published by the political actors of Ukraine. This qualitative research is based on intertextual model of foreign policy discourse within discourse-analytical approach.
The issue of security in its traditional military sense is natural to arise in debate on Euro-Atlantic integration. Notwithstanding, it is the change in articulation of security in in discourse may be key to demonstrate the dynamic of national identity change. Therefore, the analysis of discursive security articulation has demonstrated a range of competing identity projects among the elites. When in 2008 the breach of security for Ukraine was a hypothetical situation, the threats were articulated in mostly economic terms. In contract, by 2018 security has become a right and Euro-Atlantic integration – the only way to achieve it.
