Belarus - The SAIS Review of International Affairs

Europe, Security & Conflict

Post-Soviet no more – the transformative impact of war on Russia’s neighbors

Johan Engvall, Ismail Khan, and Kristina Melin
September 18, 2023

This is a shortened, significantly revised article based on the authors’ chapter “Shifting balances – the war and Russia’s neighbours,” published in the report “Russia’s War Against Ukraine and the West: The First Year”, edited by Maria Engqvist and Emil…

Europe, Governance & Law, Policy & Politics, Security & Conflict

The Geopolitical Variable Called Ukraine

Michal Bokša
August 1, 2018

At no point in modern European history have the people of Ukraine occupied as important a role in European geopolitical developments as they do today. Although not yet immediately apparent, the 2014 overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych and the political and economic transformation will have greater geopolitical consequences than European policy makers often assume. If Ukraine’s transformation fails, its example will deliver a shattering blow to those calling for increased liberalization in remaining illiberal states across Eastern Europe.