Ukraine's attitude towards European integration since the 2010 presidential elections: through the lenses of rationalism and constructivism

Abstract

This study focuses the issue of Ukraine‟s attitude towards European integration since the 2010 presidential elections. It looks at speeches and articles from Ukrainian officials about European integration. Using constructivism and rationalism as lenses, we are able better understand Ukraine's attitude towards European. The periods preceding the 2010 presidential elections have been studied by Kratochvil and Tulmets (2010) and state the period from 2006 – 2010 is a period of strongly rationalist modes of argumentation between EU and Ukraine. The research question is: how has Ukraine‟s behaviour concerning European Integration changed since the 2010 presidential elections? This study is important because the presidential elections in 2010 marked a change of president, government, as well as potential change in foreign policy in Ukraine. The first chapter gives an introduction and looks at the methodology used in the study. The second chapter looks at what literature is available on the topic of European integration and gives a brief overview of the European Union's attitude towards Ukrainian integration. It also looks at the theoretical framework the case study will use, which is an adaptation of Kratochvil and Tulmets' original study. The third chapter includes the case study which starts by giving a brief background to Kratochvil and Tulmets' findings and follows on with the post-presidential election analysis. Finally conclusions are drawn finding that Ukraine‟s attitude towards European integration has most stayed the same, with a focus on rationalist modes of argumentation. Similar to the before the elections, officials have also moved back to constructivist modes occasionally. The biggest change which was seen was Ukraine new ability to use Russia and the Customs Union as leverage, or as an alternative to EU integration, to European integration in an attempt to speed up the EU‟s integration with Ukraine.