The resurgence of Russia as a superpower and its implications for security in east Europe: Case of Ukraine (2014-2016).

Abstract

This study discusses Russia’s resurgence or reawakening as a sovereign state with dominant status on the globe and its repercussions, effects or ramifications on security in Europe with particular focus on Ukraine. Thus, the overarching purpose of the study is to examine the extent to which the resurgence of Russia as a world superpower has impacted on security in Europe in general, and its bilateral security affairs with Ukraine in particular. The findings of the study are predicated upon an Ukraine narrative that has witnessed a huge humanitarian crisis that left some parts of Ukraine war tone zones; the Crimean Peninsula annexed, the Donbas, Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics raging war, the economy of Ukraine in limbo; thousands of civilian dead; and infrastructure destroyed and a raft of restrictive measures and sanctions imposed against Russia. The study is undertaken through the lenses of realist related theories of international relations which are relevant to the growing influence of Russia in the world order that manifested in the beginning of the 21st century. These are mainly the hegemony, realist, constructivist and balance of power theoretical aspects of the implication of Russia’s reawakening on security in East Europe. These theories are imbedded in the fast growing international strategic affairs phenomenon of the Military Industrial Complexes that seem to excite the Kremlin authorities. The study employs a qualitative research methodology achieved through a case study of the Ukraine crisis of 2014. The study concludes that the resurgence of Russia as a world power since the 1990s has had a negative impact on security in Ukraine and its occupied separatist territories and Eastern Europe in General and also proffers recommendations on how to checkmate that state of insecurity.