A Minority at the Border: EU Enlargement and the Ukrainian Minority in Poland

Abstract

This article examines the impact of the eastward enlargement of the European Union (EU) on the position of the Ukrainian minority in Poland. The enlargement process has set two conflicting developments into motion that both may have a serious influence on patterns of minority activism in countries at the peripheral borders of the enlarged EU. On one hand, there is a development toward increased protection of the external borders of the EU. On the other hand, a new trend has become perceptible within the EU toward increased political, security, economic, and cultural cooperation with the new neighboring countries in the east. Applying concepts from research on social movements and using statements by Ukrainian minority activists as the basis for an empirical analysis, this article explores how these two opposite developments have affected Ukrainian minority activism in Poland.