Ukrainian Studies

Drinking with Vova: SME in Ukraine between informality and illegality

by Abel Polese

This is going to be a chapter in a collection Jeremy Morris and myself are editing on informal economic practices in post-socialism

This chapter is intended to illustrate practices on the boundary between legality and illegality in order
to shed... more This chapter is intended to illustrate practices on the boundary between legality and illegality in order
to shed a different light on some of those engaging in diverse transactions. Challenging the vision of a "culture of corruption" (Miller et al 2001) and that “no discount” should be applied to corrupt practices (Papava and Khaduri 2001), the starting question of this chapter is: what makes a practice “corrupt” or
illegal? In this respect I suggest the need to contextualise and de-normativise illegal practices, since they depend on both social and legal norms. From a juridical standpoint a law is a law, but the value and applicability of a law is ultimately decided by people in social practice. What if there is a law and
the state is unable to enforce control or punish anyone because a substantial number of citizens do not follow it? There is a growing body of literature challenging the very significance of a written law in a context where other rules may apply. For instance, Wanner has remarked how a new moral order may
be applied to some spheres of Ukrainian life where the state’s protection is felt to be lacking. How illegal or immoral is it to try to bribe a court if the same court is issuing an order on the basis of false evidence produced against you? (Wanner 2005)

The present chapter raises questions about the validity of international reports and policy analysis on Ukraine, and possibly on the rest of the former Soviet world, that see illegal practices only as a social evil to eradicate. This is the position of a number of strands of developmentalist thought which
uncritically reject possible alternatives (Nederveen Pieterse 2006), positing that it is only a matter of time before transitional countries will adopt a functioning neoliberal model. In contrast to this, it has been argued that that monetary transactions do not encompass or explain economic activity – this is evident from the work of the growing school of diverse economies (Community Economies Collective 2001, Gibson Graham 1996, 2008). In addition, economic effectiveness might not mean the end of non-market oriented transactions (Williams 2005), which may also serve to partially challenge the de-personalisation of power relations in the labour market and the separation between the social and economic sphere predicted by Polanyi (1946, see also Hann and Hart 2009). Empirical evidence has showed that ‘success’ may also be measured by satisfaction of spiritual obligations, being active in social life (Pardo 1996) and that even the meaning of money differs depending on the social and
economic norms of a society (Parry and Bloch 1989).

Pedagogies of Space: (Re)Mapping National Territories, Borders, and Identities in Post-Soviet Textbooks

by Michael Mead

Co-authored with Dr. Iveta Silova (Associate Professor, Lehigh University) and Garine Palandjian (MA, Lehigh University)

(Re)Learning Ukrainian: Language Myths and Cultural Corrections in Literacy Primers of Post-Soviet Ukraine

by Michael Mead

From roses to bullets: the rise and decline of post-Soviet colour revolutions

by Donnacha Ó Beacháin

with Abel Polese (2008)

In: Backes, Uwe and Jaskulowski, Tytus and Polese, Abel, (eds.) 2008. Totalitarianism and Transformation: Central and Eastern Europe between Socialist Legacy and Democratic Transformation (Totalitarismus und Transformation Defizite der Demokratiekonsolidierung in Mittel- und Osteuropa). Schriften des Hannah-Arendt-Instituts für Totalitarismusforschung, Band 37 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, pp. 63-100.

ISBN 978-3525369111

The Color Revolution Virus and Authoritarian Antidotes

by Donnacha Ó Beacháin

(with Abel Polese) Demokratizatsiya; Spring2011, Vol. 19 Issue 2, pp. 111-132

This paper addresses the post-Communist color revolution phenomenon, utilizing aspects of all the major approaches... more This paper addresses the post-Communist color revolution phenomenon, utilizing aspects of all the major approaches (structure, agency, diffusion). It surveys the varying degrees of success enjoyed by color revolutionary movements and demonstrates that the color revolutions involved a learning process not only for insurgent forces but for the state that such forces aimed to dislodge. Furthermore, it illuminates the factors that facilitated opposition movements to exploit popular disenchantment, framed in the context of contentious elections, and to transform these protests into a force capable of dislodging the regime. We argue that the ability of potentially vulnerable regimes to observe and digest the reasons for initial color revolution successes assisted them in resisting the further spread of the phenomenon. Accordingly, we maintain there is a strong correlation between the attitudes of a regime-in particular its capacity to produce a backlash-and the failure of a color revolution.

The Political Prisoner's Dilemma: Evidence from the Great Terror in the Soviet Union

by Ivan Katchanovski

Ukrainian Quarterly, 62, 2, 2006, pp. 154-180

The prisoner’ dilemma model applied to the Great Terror in the Soviet Union implies that political prisoners had an... more The prisoner’ dilemma model applied to the Great Terror in the Soviet Union implies that political prisoners had an incentive to confess and implicate other prisoners. Since the other prisoners had similar incentives, they also confessed. As a result, all of the prisoners ended up worse off than if they all refused to confess. The analysis of Krawtchouk’s case and related cases, such as the Union of Liberation of Ukraine (SVU), the Jet Propulsion Institute, and UFTI cases, finds weak support for the prisoner’s dilemma model. Among 177 cases of individuals arrested on political charges in these cases, 13 percent gave voluntarily confessions and implicated other prisoners. The absolute majority of the prisoners who provided voluntary confessions and implicated others were Communist party members or secret informers of the NKVD. When this factor is held constant, the rates of voluntary confessions among Ukrainians, Jews and Russians do not differ significantly. The absolute majority of the political prisoners, 70 percent, did not confess voluntarily. Their interrogators had to resort to other methods in the form of physical and psychological torture, such as sleep deprivation, to extract confessions. Most of the political prisoners confessed as a result of the torture by the Soviet secret police. This result does not prove the effectiveness of torture, because these individuals admitted crimes they never committed.

Ukraine’s Credibility Gap as a Perennial Foreign Policy Problem

by Serhiy Kudelia

This essay argues that the key reason for Ukraine’s ineffective foreign policy over the last two decades has been a... more This essay argues that the key reason for Ukraine’s ineffective foreign policy over the last two decades has been a persistent credibility gap, which emerged out of its frequent failure to live up to its international commitments. This essay demonstrates that the reasons for its credibility problem varied and were tightly linked to the distribution of political power inside the country.

Politics and Democracy in Ukraine

by Serhiy Kudelia

Chapter in an edited volume "Open Ukraine: Changing Course towards a European Future," Taras Kuzio and Daniel Hamilton eds., Washington, DC: Center for Transatlantic Relations, 2011.

This chapter will first look at the political legacy of Yushchenko’s
presidency that prepared ground for an... more This chapter will first look at the political legacy of Yushchenko’s
presidency that prepared ground for an authoritarian revival. It will then analyze key political reversals under Yanukovych focusing on the closure of main arenas for political contestation and enhanced capacity of the new authorities to neutralize civil society mobilization. The chapter will conclude by outlining a set of recommendations on how to deter Ukraine from turning into a full-blown authoritarian regime and promote its greater political openness.

On the Rationality of President Yanukovych's Choice to Jail Yulia Tymoshenko

by Serhiy Kudelia

PONARS Eurasia

До питання створення української міліції у Львові улітку 1941 р.

by Sergii Riabenko

Дзеркало / Mirror: http://www.scribd.com/doc/88590019/%D0%94%D0%BE-%D0%BF%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BD%D1%8F-%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D1%8F-%D1%83%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%97%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%97-%D0%BC%D1%96%D0%BB%D1%96%D1%86%D1%96%D1%97-%D1%83-%D0%9B%D1%8C%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%96-%D1%83%D0%BB%D1%96%D1%82%D0%BA%D1%83-1941-%D1%80

Коментарі можна залишити тут / You may leave your comment here: http://esgalar-teren.livejournal.com/17053.html

На основі аналізу наявних джерел показано процес становлення української національної міліції Львова 30 червня та у... more На основі аналізу наявних джерел показано процес становлення української національної міліції Львова 30 червня та у перші дні липня 1941 р.

On the basis of the available sources the process of the Ukrainian national militia formation in Lviv on June 30 and the first days of July 1941 is described.

"The Khatyn Massacre in Belorussia: A Historical Controversy Revisited," Holocaust and Genocide Studies 26:1 (2012): 29-58

by Per Anders Rudling

"'An entirely different culture and an alien race:' Scandinavian Ukrainian encounters on the Canadian Prairies 1910-1940, Scandinavian-Canadian Studies/Études scandinaves au Canada 20 (2011): 26-51.

by Per Anders Rudling

Reforming the Ukrainian Economy under Yanukovych: The First Two Years

by Nazar Kholod

Die Grenzen von Demokratisierung und Europäisierung unter der Präsidentschaft Viktor Juschtschenkos (2005-2010)

by Ingmar Bredies

Die Orange Revolution 2004 wird häufig als Zäsur in der demokratischen Entwicklung der Ukraine angesehen. Die... more Die Orange Revolution 2004 wird häufig als Zäsur in der demokratischen Entwicklung der Ukraine angesehen. Die anschließende Übernahme des Präsidentenamtes durch Viktor
Juschtschenko ging dabei mit einer signifikanten Neuausrichtung der Geschichts- und Identitätspolitik einher. Dieser Beitrag untersucht, inwieweit die politischen Ziele der Demokratisierung und Europäisierung mit diesem Richtungswechsel vereinbar waren.

Different but the Same or the Same but Different? Public Memory of the Second World War in Post-Soviet Lviv

by Tarik Cyril Amar

Volodymyr Vynnychenko's Mission to Moscow and Kharkov

by Christopher Gilley

The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 84, 2006, No. 3, pp. 508-37

This article analyses the decision in 1920 by the leading Ukrainian writer Volodymyr Vynnchenko to travel to Moscow... more This article analyses the decision in 1920 by the leading Ukrainian writer Volodymyr Vynnchenko to travel to Moscow and Kharkov to negotiate with the Bolsheviks. It argues that though an apparent change in the Bolsheviks' nationalities policy had enabled him to adopt a Sovietophile position, he and his supporters justified their new stance with the claim that the Bolsheviks were the leaders of the world socialist revolution. The mission itself is also described. Vynnychenko's refusal to accept the posts offered to him condemned this undertaking to failure. However, the episode also highlights the difficulty of uniting Ukrainian national goals with support for a world revolution led by a party which was frustrating these desires.

The Change of Signposts in the Ukrainian Emigration: Mykhailo Hrushevs' kyi and the Foreign Delegation of the Ukrainian Party of Socialist Revolutionaries

by Christopher Gilley

Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas, Vol. 54, 2006, No. 3, pp. 345-74

The return of Mykhailo Hrushevs'kyi to Ukraine in 1924 is one of the most controversial episodes in the historian's... more The return of Mykhailo Hrushevs'kyi to Ukraine in 1924 is one of the most controversial episodes in the historian's life. Most accounts up till now have sought to dismiss the possibility that Hrushevs'kyi might have done so out of support for the Bolsheviks. This paper argues that between 1919 and 1921 Hrushevs'kyi advocated reconciliation with the Bolsheviks in order to promote the development of the world socialist revolution. Despite the failure of these efforts, he continued to hope that he could return. Though he was highly critical of the Bolsheviks' treatment of Ukraine, he believed that in Soviet Ukraine he could contribute to the cultural development of his country.

Sovietophilism in the Ukrainian Emigration in the 1920s

by Christopher Gilley

Ukraїns'kyi vymir, Vol. 5, 2006, pp. 9-19

"ІНТЕРНЕТ ЗАЛЕЖНІСТЬ: РЕАЛЬНА ЗАГРОЗА ЧИ ПЕРЕБІЛЬШЕННЯ? " Віра Іванова (Ukrainian)

by Vira Ivanova

Збірник аналітичних доповідей

ІНФОРМАЦІЙНІ ТЕХНОЛОГІЇ ЯК ФАКТОР
СУСПІЛЬНИХ ПЕРЕТВОРЕНЬ В УКРАЇНІ

НАЦІОНАЛЬНИЙ ІНСТИТУТ СТРАТЕГІЧНИХ ДОСЛІДЖЕНЬ

Часто користувачі, їх близькі люди, представники преси та на-
віть психологи мають досить розмите розуміння... more Часто користувачі, їх близькі люди, представники преси та на-
віть психологи мають досить розмите розуміння того, чим є інтернет-
залежність. Метою даної публікації є донесення поглядів провідних
дослідників мережі на те, чим є найновіший вид узалежнення. Напри-
кінці тексту читач знайде стислий опис загрозливих тенденцій при ви-
користанні Інтернету в Україні та Польщі.

The Political Economy of Reforms in Ukraine under President Yanukovych_summary

by Nazar Kholod