Unrealistic Scenario
Comments on the Concept of a “Plural Peace”
Oleksandr Sushko, Andreas Umland
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The West should reduce the risk of escalation of the conflict with Russia through dissociation. Unbridgeable differences such as the annexation of Crimea should be ignored. This recommendation by peace researchers M. Dembinski and H.-J. Spanger is only pragmatic on the surface. In reality, the concept of a “plural peace” is unrealistic. It fails to acknowledge the fundamental Ukrainian interest in integration with the West, the earlier experiences in Moldova, Georgia and Armenia of Moscow’s hegemonic policy and the connection between Ukrainian sovereignty and the regimes affected by the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. No treaty clause preventing Ukraine from becoming a member of the EU or NATO would guarantee peace.
(Osteuropa 3-4/2017, pp. 109–120)