Political Threats, Democracy Resilience, and the Challenge of Navigating European Integration Under Russia’s Aggression: Comparing Cases of Moldova and Ukraine

While both Moldova and Ukraine are in the process of EU accession negotiations, screenings, and opening negotiations on chapters, the question of the state of their democracy and its functioning is persistent and unavoidable. Even more so, as they are challenged by ongoing open and hybrid Russian aggression and closely observed in preparation for negotiations of Chapter on Fundamentals. Thus, this paper analyses both the threats that Moldova and Ukraine face in the political sphere and democratization, and the perceptions, opinions, and attitudes there regarding the nature of their democracies, democratic values, processes, and institutions and its functioning. Here our paper is a comparative study of cases which though similar in some ways have their drastic differences in others. In our analysis and comparison, we draw on the data (qualitative and quantitative) collected within two Horizon Europe projects – SHAPEDEM-EU and REUNIR. We argue that while ongoing military or hybrid aggression poses its challenges and limits on democracies and democratic practices in these countries it doesn’t necessary change the expectations of democratizations and the values and attitudes people have. Also, while there are some evidences of democratic backsliding is some aspects, there are also more resilient areas and spheres with point of democratic growth. Finally, we analyze expectations that experts and general public have of the EU and its democracy support as well as discuss the ways it could be improved.