The Deconstruction of “Security Guarantees” in International Relations: The Case of Ukraine

Abstract

This article deconstructs the ontological status of “security guarantees” in contemporary international relations, using the transformation of Ukraine’s foreign policy strategy following the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion in 2022 as a case study. The analysis is grounded in an epistemological approach that examines the deactualization of the traditional normative assumptions underpinning classical models of bloc-based security, and extends to the strategic instrumentalization of security vulnerability.

The article argues that, amid the functional exhaustion of Westphalian institutions, Ukraine has evolved from a passive recipient of security into a proactive actor. Through institutional flexibility, it has been able to generate new formats of international interaction.

Particular attention is paid to the shift from the teleological goal of NATO membership to a procedural approach to security provision, conceptualized as the networked accumulation of capabilities. In this context, the “Kyiv Security Pact” and the subsequent development of a system of extended bilateral agreements are interpreted as an alternative infrastructure of functional integration.

It is further demonstrated that deterrence in the emerging security discourse assumes the form of cumulative performativity: the effectiveness of commitments is ensured not by the automaticity of military response, but by the “density effect” of institutional ties, which generates significant reputational and material costs for the aggressor.

The article concludes that international institutions are inherently flexible and, under the pressure of existential challenges, undergo processes of profound reconfiguration. The Ukrainian case challenges outdated binary oppositions (e.g., membership vs. non-alignment), instead proposing a spectral understanding of security integration that accommodates intermediate forms of deep cooperation. The diffusion of risks and the fragmentation of the global order point to the emergence of a new security rationality among state actors, in which institutional innovation becomes a key mechanism for ensuring operational resilience amid global turbulence and the erosion of established models of collective security.