In person icon The EU as normative regional actor amid Russia's War against Ukraine: Discourse constructions and identity building

Abstract

The panel brings together four analyses on the European Union and Ukraine, all discussed against the global and regional background of Russian aggression against and invasion of Ukraine. The common argument is that a social-constructivist interpretation of facts and events shows how EU-Ukraine relations are best understood not only by focusing on causal factors, but, most importantly, by emphasizing constitutive ones. Social-constructivist elements such as discourse, identity, shared meanings, normative communication, inter-subjective knowledge will be employed to indicate how identities and interests are mutually determined. The global and regional setting triggered by the war does not only indicate repositioning in foreign policy or regional dynamics; rather, it shows how identities are built and how constitutive facts in structures (id est EU) and agency (id est Ukraine) are shaped in a co-constitutive way. The first paper will explain the methodology and theoretical underpinnings while the second one will identify relevant elements in this sense in Charles Michel’s discourses and speeches. The third paper will focus on understanding how the EU strategically utilizes words as potent tools to shape narratives, influence perceptions, and assert its normative stance vis-à-vis the war in Ukraine. The fourth paper will examine the legal framework of Ukraine and the requirements of the EU acquis pertaining to the protection of minority languages, serving as a useful case study for the greater accession file and assessing the former’s role as a norm-setter.

Title	Details
EU and Ukraine Interactions, Agent-structure Relations, and Identity Building	View Paper Details
EU as a normative power - Narratives of Charles Michel on Enlargement in the context of the Russia's Invasion in Ukraine	View Paper Details
Words as Weapons: The EU's Crisis Communication Strategies in Response to Russia's War against Ukraine	View Paper Details
The EU’s safeguard of minority languages in the pre-accession acquis: Ukraine’s thorny path ahead	View Paper Details