This research project focuses on the impact of big business in shaping foreign policy. Specifically, it examines the role of oligarchs in Ukraine in the events between 2010 and 2014. The two cases...Show moreThis research project focuses on the impact of big business in shaping foreign policy. Specifically, it examines the role of oligarchs in Ukraine in the events between 2010 and 2014. The two cases that are dealt with are the negotiations around the Association Agreement (AA) with the European Union and the 2014 conflicts in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. The project uses a domestic structures approach as exists in Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA), that emphasises the properties of political systems in determining the outcome of foreign policy. I argue that the political system as it has developed in Ukraine in recent years has given oligarchs the opportunities to influence Ukrainian foreign policy. In turn, they have used these opportunities to try to impact events around the Association Agreement negotiations and the 2014 conflicts and I conclude that they have been reasonably successful in doing so.Show less
