Russia’s Aggressive Policy in Ukraine: A Constructivist Reading of Identity and Semantic Structures
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Russia’s aggressive policy toward Ukraine—particularly evident in the developments of recent years, including the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the full-scale war launched in 2022—reflects a redefinition of Russia’s national and international identity that cannot be fully explained by military or security considerations alone. Drawing upon constructivist theory, this study seeks to demonstrate that Russia’s foreign policy is deeply rooted in discursive transformations, identity crises, and semantic representations. The significance of this research lies in its departure from materialist explanations, offering a deeper understanding of Russian foreign policy behavior in the post-Soviet context. The central research question is: How is Russia’s aggressive policy toward Ukraine influenced by the semantic and identity structures represented in its foreign policy discourse? In response, the main hypothesis posits that Russia’s aggressive posture toward Ukraine reflects an attempt to reconstruct the identity-based and semantic order of its imperial past and to reaffirm its civilizational role in the global order. This study employs an analytical–explanatory methodology and relies on library-based tools and authoritative academic sources. The findings reveal that concepts such as the "Russian World" and "lost greatness" play a central role in guiding Russia’s foreign policy, and that the conflict with Ukraine is not merely a geopolitical competition but a semantic confrontation over the representation of the “Self” and the “Other.”
Author: Basir Ahmad Hasin
Institution: Jami University
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4415775962