Ukraine's Foreign and Security Policy, 1991-2000

This book analyses Ukraine's relations with each of its neighbours in the 1990s. It examines the degree to which these relations fitted into Ukraine's broad objective of reorienting its key political ties from East to West, and asseses the extent to which Ukraine succeeded in achieving this reorientation. It shows how in the early days of independence Ukraine fought off threats from Russia and Romania to its territorial integrity, and how it made progress in establishing good relations with its western neighbours as a means of moving closer towards Central European sub-regional and European regional organisations. It also shows how the sheer breadth and depth of its economic and military ties to Russia continued to exert such a strong influence that relations with Russia dwarfed Ukraine's relations with all other neighbours, resulting in a foreign and security policy which attempted to counterbalance the competing forces of East and West.

This book analyzes Ukraine's relations with each of its neighbors in the 1990s. It examines the degree to which these relations fitted into Ukraine's broad objective of reorienting its key political ties from East to West, and assesses the extent to which Ukraine succeeded in achieving this reorientation. It shows how in the early days of independence, Ukraine fought off threats from Russia and Romania to its territorial integrity, and how it made progress in establishing good relations with its western neighbors as a means of moving closer towards Central European sub-regional and European regional organizations.

Foreign Affairs

Wolczuk serves up the most comprehensive, systematic, and balanced assessment of Ukraine's foreign policy currently available. It is literally a tous azimuts study, for he begins by examining Ukraine's relations with the Slavic states on "the north-eastern azimuth," then the central and east European neighbors and the rest of the West on the "western azimuth," and finally "the southern azimuth" — the Black Sea neighbors. Of course, the Russian axis dominates the others. Yet the strength of this book stems from the respect it pays to the complex, multidimensional context of Ukrainian foreign and security policy, including key relationships with Poland, Romania, and a number of significant subregional groupings. Assessing the core challenge facing Ukraine — maneuvering between a West unwilling to welcome it in and a Russia reluctant to let it go — Wolczuk thinks the country has fared pretty well, although he does not slight the way its leadership's own failures have made the task more difficult.

Roman Wolczuk was awarded his Ph.D. from Wolverhampton University in 2001. He has written widely on Ukraine's foreign and security policy for various academic journals.