Paper - Chair of Ukrainian Studies

international CONFERENCE
arguably more realistic membership in NATO has significantly more opponents than
supporters among the great majority of Ukrainians. 9
Support for the idea of Ukraine joining the EU and NATO in four regions.
Data source: public opinion poll 2005 (Polish Robert Schuman Foundation; CES)
From the middle-town perspective the European Union or NATO are not obvious
but nonetheless clearly present. In very few interviews these issues appeared spontaneously
in any context. If they did appear, respondents talked rather about the EU than
NATO. When probed, however, the majority did have an opinion on both organizations.
The interviewees’ attitude towards the EU or NATO depended mostly on two factors,
i.e. in which part of Ukraine the respondent lived, which is not surprising especially
in view of prior poll data, and on the degree of political mobilization – in our sample,
NGOs activists tended to be more western-oriented.
9. For more data, see the article: J.Konieczna, Wschodem a Zachodem (Between the East and
the West), available from the Stefan Batory Foundation (http://www.batory.org.pl/doc/wsch_zach.pdf)
or the report „Ukraine after the ‘Orange Reviolution’ op.cit.
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