The potential of civil society in the implementation of Ukraine’s international policy: the factor of small alliances

Abstract

The article examines the role of small alliances in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region in shaping a new security perspective for Ukraine amid uncertainty regarding the country’s full membership in NATO. It summarizes the current participation, intellectual, and organizational capabilities of Ukrainian civil society institutions operating in the field of interstate relations, as regards their expert support in the formation of small alliances that are increasingly emerging as subjects of international partnership. The focus is on the expert contributions to the implementation of international relations and foreign policy tasks made recently by representatives of the third sector, aimed at finding optimal foreign policy solutions, promoting an information agenda that aligns with the interests of CEE states, and objectively reflecting the security reality in the region. It is asserted that the analytical potential of civil society institutions, such as educational and scientific institutions and non-governmental organizations researching various sectors of public life, should be more broadly engaged in the development of government decisions under a changing international order. For example, civil society institutions, think tanks, analytical centers and public organizations, generally representatives of the so-called "third sector" in Ukraine and Poland, such as the Razumkov Center, the Institute for Foreign Policy Research (FPRI), the National Institute for Strategic Studies (NISD), the Center "New Europe", "Ukrainian Prism" Foreign Policy Council, "Society" Foundation, Center for Oriental Studies (OSW), Dialogue Center named after Yuliush Meroshevsky have the potential to develop strategies for the development of small alliances in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. The work is based on methodological approaches such as predictive, interdisciplinary, and systemic analysis, as well as general scientific principles of objectivity and historicism.