The overarching aim of this project is to produce the first comprehensive study of Ukrainian military culture between 1991-2023. The study is based on a conceptualization of military culture as comprising three components: artefacts, beliefs and values, and underlying assumptions. This tripartite conceptualization offers a heuristic for examining Ukrainian military culture, how it has changed over time and under what circumstances. How has Ukrainian military culture evolved during this period? How has this evolution been linked to wider social, political and cultural change in Ukraine? What ideas, actions, events and processes have underpinned the shifts?
Our study focuses on the role of foreign instructors in shaping Ukrainian military culture, the evolution of gender norms in Ukraine’s military, and the evolution of civil-military relations in Ukraine. Furthermore, in an effort to contextualize recent developments, we will produce a broader historical analysis of the evolution of Ukrainian military culture between 1991 and 2023. The concept of military culture has been central to analyzing dynamics between the developments of militaries and other political and societal processes. Our study is relevant for the study of the Ukrainian military, and other militaries in post-Soviet and post-Communist states in general. It interrogates assumptions about path-dependency in post-Soviet transition and demonstrates the contingencies of Ukraine’s military cultural evolution.