Towards a New Ukraine III. Geopolitical Imperatives of Ukraine: Regional Contexts

Theofil Kis, Irena Makaryk and Natalie Mychajlyszyn with Irena Bell, eds. Towards a New III. Geopolitical Imperatives of Ukraine: Regional Contexts. Ottawa: Chair of Ukrainian Studies, 2001.Before the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Ottawa had a Chair-holder, the Chair committee organized a series of conferences on Ukraine. These conferences created an academic forum in Canada for discussing Ukraine, a country which became quite fashionable to study in the 1990s. This book takes the title of the third such conference, which was held in Ottawa in October 2000, and is a published version of papers presented there. It is interesting to re-read papers written about in 2000 a few years later, especially after the Orange Revolution, since they provide a scholarly reference point from which to assess what has changed and what has not.The collection follows the structure of the conference, opening with a Keynote Address by Stephen Shulman, and concluding with Sherman W. Garnett's Epilogue. It is divided into four thematic sections (sessions), each containing two papers examining a topic from two perspectives. Deborah Saunders and Mikhail A. Molchanov explore Relations; Olga Alexandrova and Grzegorz Babinski look at UkrainePoland Relations; followed by Jennifer D. P. Moroney and Rainer Lindner writing about Ukraine and Europe. The final section, Foreign and Security Policy Challenge, contains papers by prominent scholars of military affairs from and Britain, namely Col. Leonid I. Polyakov and James Sherr.The opening and concluding chapters create nice counterpoint in that the authors express diametrically opposing views. Shulman believes that Ukraine's problem is that, unlike the Baltic states or Belarus, it has not decided on a foreign policy direction, that this indecision is linked to identity issues and that Ukrainians have two main options to choose from, an Ethnic Ukrainian National Identity or the peculiar term, Slavic Ukrainian National Identity, (pp. 23-4). He concludes that an Eastern orientation would enhance national unity, while a Western one would advance autonomy (pp. 25-6).Garnett's Epilogue dismisses the need for to choose between East and West as a false dilemma (p. 170), explains why needs to maintain good relations with both, and focuses his discussion on the larger questions of whether is a strategic partner or a strategic problem for the West. Bemoaning the lack of serious progress in Ukraine-Western relations, he reiterates the Brzezinski doctrine that containing Russian imperialist tendencies by promoting democracy serves global security interests (p. 166), presents a convincing argument that is both a strategic partner and a strategic problem, and makes recommendations for all parties. This paper is a reminder of how was viewed before the Kuchmagate scandal-as a desirable partner for the West but one who was not quite living up to expectations.The main body of the book provides food for thought, but the reader needs to be selective. Deborah Saunder's chapter on Ukraine-Russia relations has a catchy title, Back to the Future, but little original analysis or even references. In contrast, Mikhail A. Molchanov's provides an informative, balanced assessment of Russia's policy towards Ukraine, but his argument that Russia's rather open desire to keep in its sphere was moving towards a more pragmatic approach (p. 67) sounds less convincing in view of the events which followed 2000.The two chapters on Ukrainian-Polish relations are particularly interesting to read again in wake of the Orange Revolution, when Poland became one of Ukraine's key allies. Writing in 2000, both Olga Alexandrova and Grzegorz Babinski were much less optimistic about the future relations of these two neighbours who have a complex, often antagonistic history and seemingly divergent foreign policy aims. …

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