Facing Fear or Embracing Anxiety? The European Quest for Ontological Security in the Wake of the Russo-Ukrainian War

The escalation of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine into a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has had reverberations across the globe, but the crisis’ impact on the European Union’s (EU) very being is arguably unparalleled. As a community founded upon the objective of maintaining peace in Europe, the EU’s identity narrative and sense of self are profoundly threatened by the exacerbation of the Russo-Ukrainian War. Moreover, from precipitating an energy crisis in the continent to bringing heated public debates on militarisation, enlargement policy and migration governance to the fore, the war in Ukraine has raised questions about the EU’s autonomy, capabilities, normative role and prospects of further integration. Drawing on insights from existentialist thought and the ontological security literature in international relations, I study the war’s effects on Europe and discuss how the EU may (and has) construe(d) the situation and act(ed) at this critical juncture. To this end, I first lay out the theoretical basis of my research, namely the key aspects of the ontological security theory (OST), how OST relates to the existentialist understanding of anxiety, and the distinction between anxiety and fear in existentialist thought. Next, bearing this theoretical framework in mind, I explore the ways in which Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing upheaval and uncertainty in regional dynamics and global politics have made the EU ontologically insecure. Finally, I address how the EU may obtain ontological security by identifying a threat—an object of fear—to face or by embracing anxiety as it is and the possibilities accompanying it. The anxieties unleashed by the war in Ukraine necessarily disrupt European foreign and security policy routines and even, to a certain extent, undermine the stability of the EU’s self-identity, but these anxieties also pave the way for considering and actualising new possibilities. On the one hand, the European pursuit of ontological security in the face of anxieties can be achieved through the establishment of an object of fear, which, in this case, would be embodied by Russia. By further securitising Russia and reinforcing its identification as Europe’s Other, the EU has the opportunity to not only strengthen the sense of unity within its own ranks but also rejuvenate the transatlantic alliance and cement its position therein. Channelling its existential anxiety into fear and viewing international politics through the lens of historically persistent friend-enemy distinctions, however, is not the only option available to the EU. Despite the overbearing inclination to evade it; embracing anxiety and accordingly reappraising the Russo-Ukrainian War, taking a different approach in responding to it and, in the process, remaking the European Self and the ways in which it relates to the external world are also possible. I reflect on these anxiety-driven possibilities (and risks) for Europe while examining how another anxious neighbour with a likewise well-established propensity to fear Russian expansion(ism), Turkey, has managed to tread a rather tricky path during the crisis and question whether the Turkish case may serve as a model of embracing anxiety for the EU.