AUTHOR:
Petro Kuzyk
ABSTRACT:
The present article examines the idea of Ukraine’s European integration and pro-Western trajectory in the discourse of the Ukrainian centre-right political forces in the first two decades of the country’s independence. The study utilizes a qualitative discourse analysis focusing on speeches, publications and official political programms of the leaders and activists of the most influential factions of this political camp. It is argued that, while the National Democrats and their ideological and political successors were most pro-Western among the major political forces in Ukraine during this period, their discourse of Euro-Atlantic integration has been not devoid of contradictions and indecision. Also, the study has revealed a tangible evolution of this discourse starting from the late 1990s, which consisted in strengthening of the idea of European Ukraine and the country’s prompt integration into the key Euro-Atlantic structures endorsed by the new leaders of the centre-right camp.
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