constructivist analysis of russia’s military invasion of ukraine (2022); investigating putin’s identity model and cognitive actions

Constructivism theory believes that the power, security and survival of a nation are often shaped by the identity structures and perceptions of its agents, which in turn define the threats and opportunities that it faces. after the collapse of the soviet union, russia suffered an identity crisis and tried to regain its position as a &great power& by adopting the eurasian identity model. the background of the research showed that realist, geopolitical and traditional investigations cannot correctly and fully explain the way in which the eurasian identity was formed and its impact on russia’s military actions in ukraine. as a result, this study tries to answer the question of how russian identity and perception-based motivations in russia’s attack on ukraine can be understood through constructivism theory. the main hypothesis is that constructivism provides insights into the main reasons for russia’s military invasion of ukraine, which can analyze certain factors in this war, which cannot be understood through traditional theories. the findings of this paper confirm that russia’s attack on ukraine was aligned with its role as a eurasian power and putin’s identity visions. this article uses a qualitative research method using field and library sources to analyze the hypothesis.