Memory Policy and European Integration Aspirations of Ukraine (2014-2019)

Abstract

The article analyzes peculiarities of Ukraine’s memory policy in 2014-2019 in the context of its European integration aspirations.

The features of the politics of memory / historical politics in Ukraine are described after the dramatic events of the end of 2013-2014, which were proclaimed as a “Revolution of Dignity” (or “Euromaidan”). These events were also connected with the beginning of Russian aggression in the East of Ukraine, with the beginning of so called “Leninopad” (demolition of monuments to Lenin) and forced decommunization up until 2019. That is, to the changes in the political class of Ukraine related to the election of the 6-th President Volodymyr Zelensky. Undoubtedly, memory policy will change and its content will receive a separate consideration in the nearest future. The author of this article first of all strived to stimulate broader scholarly discussions on this topic. Scientist’s conscience demands to be modest in answering even those questions that appear simple at first sight. The scientific novelty is to summarize the key trends of the memory policy in Ukraine in 2014-2019 and to identify a number of problems that have a negative impact on Ukraine’s European integration process. The article considers Ukrainian experience of memory policy as a mechanism for influencing political reality.

Memory policy refers to effective mechanisms for influencing political reality, in particular, to change the degree of social consolidation, citizens’ self-awareness, the formation and strengthening of collective identities. In 2014-2019 the gradual awareness of the effectiveness of these mechanisms caused the increase of interest in collective memory, which was demonstrated by the leaders of the state, politicians, political parties and civil society structures. The formation and implementation of memory policy in Ukraine were getting increasingly conscious and directed. The search for such a model of memory policy, which would be able to promote the consolidation of these groups into a united civil society, to convert a diversity of the images of the past of Ukraine into its resource, not its problem. This is also encouraged by the ongoing Russian hybrid aggression. One of its manifestations appears a permanent imposing on Ukrainians of the imperial-Soviet image of the past by the propaganda structures of the Russian Federation. This is prompted by a well-defined strategy for Ukraine’s European integration. As the experience of 2014-2019 has shown, Ukraine with some of foundations of its historical policy fits quite organically into the pan-European scheme (for example, by strengthening the influence and role of civil society in this area). At the same time, there were some problems during the mentioned period. First of all, they were related to the search for an adequate model of the collective memory, which focuses on the value of the state as a common homeland and a human rights’ guarantee. An important step was 2014 decommunization policy in Ukraine. By condemning totalitarianism (Nazi and Soviet models), it ensured that Ukraine’s public space was cleansed of communist symbolism (though not definitively). At the same time, it has created new risks and new questions that need to be discussed and answered with the obligatory participation of expert scientists.