The West's Fault": Unpacking Mearsheimer's Controversial View on the Ukraine War john mearsheimer

The West's Fault": Unpacking Mearsheimer's Controversial View on the Ukraine War john mearsheimer

John J. Mearsheimer, a prominent International Relations scholar and proponent of Offensive Realism, argues in his controversial thesis "Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West's Fault" (2014) that the United States and its European allies bear the primary responsibility for provoking the conflict in Ukraine.

His argument is rooted in the belief that great powers are fundamentally driven by a desire for security in an anarchic international system, leading them to maximize their relative power and influence.

Key Pillars of the Argument
Mearsheimer contends that the crisis is a direct and predictable result of the West's post-Cold War strategy, which he views as a three-pronged provocation against Russia's core security interests:

NATO Enlargement: This is the most critical element. Mearsheimer argues that expanding NATO eastward, particularly opening the door to Ukraine's potential membership, was a direct threat to Russia. From a realist perspective, no great power will tolerate a rival military alliance moving into its strategically vital buffer state (Ukraine). He points out that Russia had adamantly and repeatedly opposed this expansion since the mid-1990s.

EU Expansion: The European Union's eastward expansion, particularly efforts to integrate Ukraine economically and politically with the West, further moved Ukraine out of Russia's orbit and deeper into the Western sphere of influence.

Democracy Promotion: The West's efforts to promote pro-Western democratic movements in Ukraine, such as supporting the Orange Revolution (2004) and the events that led to the ouster of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014, were seen by Russian leaders as an attempt to install a hostile government on its border, which he controversially labeled a "coup."