ARENA Tuesday seminar: Geir Flikke

Geir Flikke presents the paper “Speaking to Europe” – Euro-Atlantic Integration as a Strategic Narrative under Zelensky at the Tuesday Seminar on 19 September 2023.

Abstract

The Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 was preceded by a period where Euro-Atlantic integration had stood at the forefront of Ukrainian strategic foreign policy priorities. After 2019, the legislative-executive nexus between the Rada and the presidential executive grew particularly strong. With a solid pro-presidential bloc in the Rada, the Zelensky-executive prepared legislation, and resolutions to fortify Ukraine’s position as a European state, and to deepen integration with the Western security and economic community. In Ukrainian parlance, security became almost synonymous with Euro-Atlantic integration. This paper seeks to highlight the turn towards European and Euro-Atlantic security under Zelensky, with a specific focus on how strategic integration was embedded in legislation. This, the article suggests, implied that Euro-Atlantic integration is to be understood both as a broad consensus-line in Ukrainian politics, and as a national strategic narrative.

Download paper (restricted access).

Please note that this paper is work in progress and thus has limited distribution, please contact us if you would like access. Do not cite without permission from the author.

If you would like to attend digitally, contact Silva Hoffmann to get the zoom link. 

Published May 8, 2023 3:57 PM - Last modified Sep. 6, 2023 2:05 PM