Description
This paper aims to delve into the matter of Ukraine’s nation building through the long process of identity formation. Said process eventually leads to a perpetual state of regional security dilemma in the Eastern Europe region. The currently ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war serves as an apt example of said regional security dilemma: even after suffering many losses, the Ukrainian government and its people still hold their stance and refuse to concede to Russia’s demands. The situation then further exacerbated by the involvement of many outside actors such as the United States (US), NATO, and EU that keeps prolonging the conflict. Employing Barry Buzan’s concept of regional security dilemma, this paper is conducted through a qualitative research method. The resulting interpretation of the implications of Ukraine’s long nation-building and the resulting securitization of Russo-Ukrainian relations then assessed through how those actions affect the whole Eastern Europe’s regional security dilemma.
This paper finds that there are various attempts at securitization along the course of Ukraine’s nation-building process. There are various points of discourse interwoven in Ukraine’s identity formation, starting from the debate about the origins of Ukrainian people, the ambivalence about its status as a ‘liminal’ entity between Europe and Russia, its abundant grievances about the course of its subordination by the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, and various attempts at distancing itself from Russia through language and socio-cultural aspects. Other than Ukraine’s own identity-seeking attempts mentioned, outside actors also contribute to the already-messy process and insert their own agendas for said nation with the most notable actors involved in the process are the US, NATO, EU, and Russia itself. With the narration of ‘existential threat’ being repeated and the increasingly intrusive involvement of non-Eastern Europe actors, the prospect of ending the cycle of regional security dilemma is a grim one.
