| Abstract [eng] |
Ukraine's LGBT Rights Movement in Light of Europeanization This thesis presents a case study which tests the oppositional theory on the development of Ukraine’s LGBT rights movement during the process of Europeanization. Whereas Europeanization theory focuses on legal effects, this research tested the oppositional theory which looks at social movement development. The theory argues that Europeanization brings political opportunities for the LGBT rights movement. In case of strong opposition against homosexuality, EU conditionality for sexual minorities should provoke political backlashes which worsen the political situation for LGBT groups but result in a stronger and better-organized rights movement. EU conditionality can have the opposite effect when a backlash does not occur. The research question is “Does Europeanization stimulate or hinder the LGBT rights movement in Ukraine?” The hypothesis is that Europeanization resulted in a homophobic backlash, which in turn resulted in a growth and strengthening of Ukraine’s LGBT rights movement. The main challenge of the research has been measuring the organization of activism over time, which was solved by focusing on high-level activism – the most visible form of activism. While the theory is based on Europeanization towards EU accession, this research is based on Europeanization and the mechanism of conditionality to pressure for the implementation of legal protection for sexual minorities in the workplace as part of EU-Ukraine agreements. Another factor contributing to the backlash in Ukraine was Russian propaganda in reaction to EU expansion eastward. Empirical data was gathered over a period of 30 years for the political opportunity structure, issue framing, and activist networks, which are the three features of the oppositional theory. In line with the theory, the political opportunity structure was first defined by the communist legacy; repressed homosexuality and the demobilization of civil society, and then by EU pressure. For every period, the perceived threat of (in)direct repression of activism, the hard rights capacity to threaten the stability of elite arrangements, and the number of elite allies for the LGBT movement was mentioned. Issue framing looked at how LGBT issues were framed. Before Europeanization, the frame was based on a communist legacy. Europeanization provided opportunities for new framing, which triggered a framing contest between norm opponents and norm advocates and increased the salience of LGBT issues. Activist networks looked at the development of the size of the movement; whether the movement cooperates and organizes together for large-scale public events; and whether the movement can influence political action. As a result of the interaction of domestic politics and EU pressure, these three features showed that progress on one dimension was accompanied by backsliding on another. The findings confirmed that as soon as the EU used conditionality to pressure Ukraine to adopt non-discrimination legislation for sexual minorities in the workplace, a backlash occurred. It also showed that the mobilization of the opponents was much more effective than that of the proponents and that the backlash was the factor that brought great visibility to LGBT issues. The external incentives from EU conditionality proved weak and the movement lost the political opportunities from Europeanization at the end of 2013 when the government rejected the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. The protests that followed showed the European spirit among society, but the power of nationalist groups increased, and Russian propaganda worsened the situation for the LGBT movement. The 2013-14 backlash resulted in a strategy of invisibility and the LGBT movement temporarily stopped promoting their political interests. When political opportunities again became available in 2015, activism had significantly increased as a result of the backlash, which confirms the theory. |
