Mar 16, 2024

Ukraine Vis-à-Vis Russia and the EU

Misperceptions of Foreign Challenges in Times of War, 2014-2015

Alina Nychyk

Hosted by John Vsetecka

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Summary

Ukraine Vis-à-Vis Russia and the EU: Misperceptions of Foreign Challenges in Times of War, 2014-2015 (Ibidem Press, 2023) investigates the making of Ukraine’s foreign policy towards the European Union and Russia between February 2014 and February 2015. To contextualize the events of the first year of the Russian-Ukrainian War, Nychyk lays out the history of the EU-Ukraine-Russia triangle since 1991 and draws lessons relevant for the 2022 Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The book is based on her doctoral research and rests on a game-theory-inspired approach to foreign policy analysis. It relies on 38 elite interviews, official documents, and media reports.

Nychyk uncovers various mutual misperceptions in EU-Ukraine-Russia relations. Looking at Ukraine’s ‘side of the story’, her analysis shows how Russian assertiveness and the EU’s passivity, but also Ukrainian leaders’ limited crisis management experience and erroneous policy decisions contributed to worse outcomes for Ukraine. The latter included poor analysis of foreign interlocutors, trust in their good intentions, and corruption. After 2015, a persistence—although with certain changes—of some of these pathologies left Ukraine in a weaker position in the face of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

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John Vsetecka

John Vsetecka is the Jaroslaw and Nadia Mihaychuk Postdoctoral Fellow in Ukrainian Studies at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University. He writes about issues concerning famine, transitional justice, and the legacies of mass violence in Ukraine. When he's not teaching or writing, you can find John hiking in his beloved Rocky Mountains. Please visit his website to learn more: https://www.jvsetecka.com

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