College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Graduation Date

11-2011

Document Type

Thesis

Department/Program Conferring Degree

International Studies

Keywords

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Ukraine, security, modernization, neoliberalism

Abstract

While the benefits and positive aspects of Ukraine's possible membership in NATO are known and widely discussed from the standpoint of looking for the ways to guarantee Ukraine's security, the negative aspects, associated with the incorporation of Ukraine into broader capitalist and liberal-democratic space of North America and Europe, are largely unknown and remain unquestioned. This thesis aims at a critical study of Ukraine's possible Euro-Atlantic integration and develops an argument against Ukraine's incorporation into NATO. My argument is that by joining NATO, Ukraine may well become predisposed to undertake a course of action that will not serve the interests of the people of Ukraine. I demonstrate that Ukraine's move toward NATO membership is not driven by the security interests of Ukrainian state and NATO enlargement should be viewed not as a measure to maintain regional stability, but needs to be examined in a more complex geopolitical, cultural and economic context. The project views the process of Ukraine's incorporation into NATO as a part of the processes of neoliberal structural adjustment to reconstruct the political, economic and social order in Ukraine and fully integrate Ukraine into global neoliberal capitalist economy.

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