National Security and Eastern Europe: A Sociological Reframing

The goal of this paper is to critically discuss the frame of Eastern Europe within the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine. In the research, special attention is given to the analysis of causes and consequences of framing Europe along the lines of cold-war frontiers. The issue of Eastern Europe as a frame is analyzed by concentrating on the impact of this framing for subjective and objective security in Lithuania and beyond. Firstly, the paper examines shifts in external and internal perceptions of security in the region and its implications. Secondly, it explores changes in migration flows and their ramifications (increased immigration flows to Lithuania from Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia), as well as other changes that have occurred due to the Russia’s war in Ukraine. Methodologically, this paper utilizes a synthesis of previous studies, content analysis of documents and texts, and analysis of statistical and empirical data from five representative national surveys and fifty qualitative semi-structured interviews. In addition, the sociological datasets of Eurobarometer and the European Values Study as well as statistical data from Eurostat are used for a contextual analysis of the researched problems.