Civilizational Security and Transformative Power: Two Facets of Ukraine's Integration with the West

Abstract

This paper seeks to explore whether shared threat perceptions between Ukraine and the West accelerate Ukraine's integration into the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The arguments are built based on concepts of civilizational security and the transformative power of Euro- Atlantic institutions. The paper finds that the growing traction of civilizational framing, along with Ukraine's contribution to European security, provides a favourable environment for Ukraine's race for membership in the Euro-Atlantic security community. However, the primary obstacle encountered on this path is less about EU's self-perception as a transformative power, and more about the political resolve of NATO's member states.