[aaus-list] RE: A. Motyl on the Orange Revolution

[PATRICK SULLIVAN]

http://www.harvardir.org/articles/1704/

Ukraine's Uneasy Pluralism
	
		Paul D’Anieri
is Professor of Political Science and Associate Dean of Humanities at
the University of Kansas. His work focuses on politics and foreign
policy in the post-Soviet region. His most recent book is Understanding
Ukrainian Politics: Power, Politics, and Institutional Design (2007).	
	Introduction Since 2004
many analysts inside and outside Ukraine have asked whether the
“promise” of the Orange Revolution would be fulfilled or not. The
fragmentation of the “Orange Coalition,” the return to power of Viktor
Yanukovych, and the ongoing political instability in the country have
led to considerable despair. The wary reunification of the Orange
Coalition of parties led by Viktor Yushchenko and Yuliya Tymoshenko in
late 2007 led to renewed hope that an agenda forged in 2004 would
finally be pursued. What was that agenda? There was never much
agreement, as the fragmentation of parties and acrimony among
politicians since 2004 reveals. Cynicism in Ukraine about the Orange
Revolution is high. Many who didn’t support the overturning of the
presidential election results (and we should recall that 46 percent of
Ukrainians voted for Viktor Yanukovych even after his efforts to steal
the election were exposed) view it as a coup, in which power was seized
illegally. Many who did support the “revolution” blame the squandered
opportunity to make Ukraine a “normal” country under either Yushchenko,
Tymoshenko, their advisors, or some combination. However, it is
possible to see the Orange Revolution neither as a revolution nor as a
failure. It is much more plausible to view the events of 2004 as a restoration
– a restoration of a pluralist political system in place since 1991,
which Leonid Kuchma was trying to overthrow in order to institute a
hegemonic one-party system akin to that which many other states in the
region have adopted. Viewed as a restoration, the events of 2004 appear
from the perspective of 2008 as a tentative success. Ukraine remains,
in stark contrast to Belarus, Russia, and much of the rest of the
former Soviet Union, a highly competitive pluralist political entity.
In Ukraine, a tendency for political power to consolidate is offset by
social and economic pluralism. The key question for the future is
whether that balance will continue to hold.
Thanks,

Patrick Sullivan, CPA/pfs
105 East 4 Street
Brooklyn, NY
646.226.6133

BOYCOTT OLYMPICS due to Chinese government’s human rights violations, torture, harvesting body organs from Falun Gong, & enabling genocide in Darfur.    http://www.savetibet.org  http://www.racefortibet.org    http://youtube.com/watch?v=nJ4K0hHin9s&feature=user

 
 

> Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:32:03 -0400
> Subject: A. Motyl on the Orange Revolution
> From: ajmotyl at andromeda.rutgers.edu
> To: aaus-list at ukrainianstudies.org; politics at brama.com; politics at infoukes.com; darel at uottawa.ca; r.senkus at utoronto.ca; morganw at patriot.net; myroslava_e-poshta-canadaus at yahoogroups.com; harriman-news at columbia.edu; pol_sci_newark at email.rutgers.edu
> 
> Alexander J. Motyl, "Three Years After: Theoretical Reflections on
> Ukraine's Orange Revolution"
> 
> http://www.harvardir.org/articles/1698
> 
> 
> 

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