Democratization and securitization: the ban of Russian TV channels in Ukraine

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the acts of securitization on the process of democratization and it uses as case study the ban on Russian channels in the post-Maidan Ukraine. By referring to these two concepts, the thesis explores the construction of the Ukrainian public discourse in relation to the issue of the Russian channels. Using a process tracing theory testing, the paper also analyses the concrete effects of the ban of Russian channels on the process of democratic consolidation in Ukraine. The result is that Ukrainian securitization in the media sphere has little or no effects on Ukrainian democratization. Indeed, despite the assertions in its public discourse on national security, my thesis claims that Ukraine did not develop a more democratic and transparent media environment.