Nadiiev, Artur
(2025)
Ukraine’s national identity and foreign policy, 2004-2014.
PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.
Abstract
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014, and its full-scale assault in 2022, researchers have found that Ukraine’s national identity has become increasingly united and civic, with a growing number of Ukrainians switching to the Ukrainian language and supporting the country’s European integration. Most of the research marked the Euromaidan Revolution of 2014 as a starting line for Ukraine’s national identity consolidation and foreign policy changing to a clear pro-Western vector. Most of the research on pre-2014 Ukraine’s national identity and foreign policy found that i) Ukraine was divided between a pro- European Ukrainian-speaking West and a pro-Russian Russophone Southeast; ii) the Ukrainian elite conducted either “multi-vector” or balanced foreign policy without committing to a pro-European vector and were driven mainly by short-term material gains or reactive towards external pressures from either the European Union or Russia.
In this thesis, I challenge all these assumptions. I argue that i) Ukraine’s national identity consolidation and dedication to pro-Western foreign policy preference of both the general public and elites can be traced to early years since regaining independence; ii) pre- 2014 Ukraine’s domestic binary divide into a pro-European Ukrainian-speaking West and a pro-Russian Russophone Southeast was overemphasized as it was not meaningful enough to affect foreign policy; iii) Ukraine’s elites conducted pro-Western foreign policy albeit hesitantly and gradually while their wayfinding toward the EU; iv) pre-2014 Ukraine’s foreign policy was predominantly identity-driven rather than by mere material considerations.
Focusing on the period between 2004 and 2014, and contextualizing developments since 1994, I investigate how domestic meta-narratives of identity shaped Ukraine’s foreign policy. Drawing on Societal Constructivism and post-colonial literary analysis, I analyze a range of primary sources, including novels, screen media, newspapers, and elite memoirs. I argue that popular narratives of identity in Ukraine were characterized by tension in different dimensions. I identify key narrative tensions—between people and elites, svidomi and non- svidomi, reality and imposition, and Ukraine and its Others—that structured popular identity discourses. Elite narratives focused on national unity in diversity, overcoming the colonial past, and gradual wayfinding toward European integration. The interplay of these narratives, in turn, shaped Ukraine’s foreign policy in ways still felt today.
This thesis moves beyond conventional East/West and pro-EU/pro-Russia binaries in foreign policy analysis. It offers a more nuanced, narrative-driven account of Ukraine’s foreign policy development, demonstrating the importance of identity construction and internal dynamics over reactive or materially driven explanations. In doing so, it contributes to rethinking the role of smaller states in international relations and highlights the significance of narrative and identity in shaping foreign policy.
| Item Type: |
Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
(PhD)
|
| Supervisors: |
Renz, Bettina
Gibson, Carl |
| Keywords: |
Ukraine, identity, Russia, European Union, foreign policy, Ukrainian national identity, Ukraine invasion, Russia-Ukraine war |
| Subjects: |
D History - General and Old World > DK Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics
J Political science > JZ International relations |
| Faculties/Schools: |
UK Campuses > Faculty of Social Sciences, Law and Education > School of Politics and International Relations |
| Item ID: |
81795 |
| Depositing User: |
Nadiiev, Artur
|
| Date Deposited: |
11 Dec 2025 04:40 |
| Last Modified: |
11 Dec 2025 04:40 |
| URI: |
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/81795 |
Actions (Archive Staff Only)
 |
Edit View |
Tools
Tools
