Ukraine’s Gradual Westernization - the Eastern Dimension of the European Integration

Abstract

Abstract The research is aimed at identifying the prospects related to select areas of integration of Ukraine with the countries of the European Union, in the context of their choice of civilisational identity in the 21st century. The identity is understood as a civilisational category, hence it equally refers to spiritual culture (history and related fields) and material culture (first of all: technology and economy). The proper understanding of a dilemma faced by Eastern Europeans requires references to the sources of cultural legacy which shape social emotions significant for that region, in order to outline the prospects for the ongoing processes, with the use of the adequate political analysis. Considering relations between academic activities and practice, the research is of applied character, and its aim is to increase scientific knowledge of European legacy of Ukraine with regard to the processes of European integration. The systemisation of the current knowledge of the process of integration taking place in Eastern Europe is to provide a diagnosis oriented towards identification of a place and an attitude towards the contemporary European integration processes represented by Ukraine. The subject of the research is the process of social and political European integration and the place of Eastern Europe in a system perceived as such. The authors present their attempts at providing an answer to the following question: Do – and to what extent - Ukraine tend to follow the pro-Western orientation in the selected areas of their operations and do this country develop their institutional cooperation with the European Union?