The war in Ukraine and environmental security in Central European ministerial discourse

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the article is to compare ministerial discourses in terms of constructing the concept of environmental security and the significance of the environment itself in the situation of the ongoing war in Ukraine. Using speech act securitization analysis, statements issued by state offices from selected Central European countries were examined. The article analyzes ministerial statements published on the websites of six Ministries of the Environment: Ukrainian, Polish, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian and Moldavian. The research covers the first five weeks of the war. Three types of entities have been considered in the analysis of archival materials: (1) those whose environmental security is at risk, (2) those that pose a threat, and (3) those that can restore this security. The analysis makes it possible to distinguish general types of entities, and thus to describe the similarities and differences between individual discourses, and present how the environment itself was perceived and how the construct of environmental safety was created in the context of other types of security.

KEYWORDS:

• War in Ukraine
• environmental security
• environmental pollution
• ministerial discourse
• environmental sociology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Environmental issues are included in the Ministry of Agriculture in Hungary.

2 Ministries of environment were chosen for the study instead of ministries of defense because in Central Europe, the discourse of the latter mainly focuses on military modernization and signing of military contracts with foreign partners, while environmental issues are marginalized (Ministry of National Defense Republic of Poland, https://www.gov.pl/web/obrona-narodowa, accessed 21 February 2024).

3 The hierarchy of recognized values is somewhat different in each country, which is culturally conditioned.

4 These are, among others: J. Barnett (2001), D.A. Belluck, R.N. Hull, S.L. Benjamin, J. Alcorn, and I. Linkov (2006) AC/UNU Millennium Project, The Security Council of the Russian Federation, US Department of Defense, On Principles of Environmental Security in the Commonwealth, and NATO Science Programme (1997).

5 The number of employees at the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine is: 308, https://mepr.gov.ua/pro-nas/struktura/zagalna-struktura-mindovkillya/, at the Ministry of Climate and Environment is: 343, https://www.gov.pl/web/klimat/podstawowe-informacje, and at the Ministry of Environment, Waters, and Forests is: 548 https://www.mmediu.ro/app/webroot/uploads/files/ORGANIGRAMA_03.06.2022pdf.pdf. Information regarding the number of employees in other ministries, such as the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Moldova is not available on their websites, accessed 19 February 2024.

6 The translation of all communications was done by one person – the author, who is from Poland and has some understanding of Ukrainian and Slovakian as they, along with Polish, belong to the Slavic language group. For translations, especially of Hungarian and Romanian (Romanian is also an official language in Moldova), the author used electronic translation service: Google Translate.

7 The research omitted the state-aggressor, that is, Russia, with which Ukraine borders to the east, and Belarus – an ally of Russia, with which Ukraine borders to the north.

8 There are exceptions to this rule. When there are two spatial ranges related to one issue in one message, they are presented in one place in the table. However, when there are numerous threads relating to different spatial ranges, such as in the registers of March 10 and April 1, then they are presented in separate places.

9 As much as 35% of European species of plants and animals are found in Ukraine (WWF, accessed 21 February 2024).

10 This statement refers only to the examined messages.

11 The analysis of the collected material was conducted based on the adopted methodological guidelines. Like many scientific studies, the author's research has its limitations, which can be identified as follows: (1) the use of only one research method (speech act securitization analysis), (2) the intentional selection by the author of speech acts containing only four terms, which determined the direction of the analysis, (3) finally, the translation of text using Google Translate sometimes results in distorted translations. Such limitations are, however, unavoidable in social science research. A researcher is always forced to choose a topic, method, or theory, deciding on some while foregoing others. Furthermore, the researcher is embedded in a social context, which means that they approach the chosen topic equipped with specific knowledge, experiences, or views. These limitations do not, however, disqualify the researcher's work. Awareness of their existence is important because, on one hand, it allows for a better understanding of the topic and the analysis conducted by the researcher, and on the other, it allows for a cautious approach to the results of their work.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Karolina Weronika Cynk

Karolina Weronika Cynk graduated from the University of Rzeszow. She pursued a doctorate of in sociology in 2012. She has been an assistant professor in the department of sociology at the University of Rzeszow since 2013. Her research interest is environmental sociology. She has published Natural Hazards (2020), Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2018), and Civil Engineering and Environmental System (2017).