The Ukrainian Orange Revolution brought more than a new president: What kind of democracy will the institutional changes bring?

The authors discuss the institutional changes proposed in Ukraine's constitutional framework and election laws that could fundamentally alter the separation of powers and the responsiveness of Ukrainian government to the electorate. We analyze the proposed institutional changes from the perspective of what they portend for Ukraine's democratic transition. Building on the most recent vein of democratization studies examining institutional factors affecting democratic stability, we emphasize that it cannot be assumed that Ukraine is “in transition to democracy.” We conclude that comprehending the likelihood of achieving democratic stability must be contextualized in an understanding of intervening factors—political, economic, and historical—that ultimately influence democratic stability. Our analysis reminds government reform advocates that it is necessary to go beyond the basic institutional framework of proposed governmental changes in order to obtain a more comprehensive picture of democratization.     

Russian stereotypes and myths of Ukraine and Ukrainians and why Novorossiya failed

This article discusses two inter-related issues. Firstly, the factors lying behind Russia's fervent belief that its Novorossiya (New Russia) project, aimed to bring back to Russia eight oblasts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhhya, Odesa, Mykolayiv, and Kherson in eastern and southern Ukraine and launched during the 2014 “Russian Spring,” would be successful. Russian identity misunderstood, and continues to misunderstand, Ukraine and Ukrainians through stereotypes and myths of Ukraine as an “artificial state” and Ukraine's Russian speakers as “fraternal brothers” and Russians and Ukrainians as “one people” (odin narod). Secondly, why Ukrainian national identity was different than these Russian stereotypes and myths and how this led to the failure of the Novorossiya project. Russian stereotypes and myths of Ukraine and Ukrainians came face to face with the reality of Russian-speaking Ukrainian patriotism and their low support for the Russkij Mir (Russian World). The article compares Russian stereotypes and myths of Ukraine and Ukrainians with how Ukrainians see themselves to explain the roots of the 2014 crisis, “Russian Spring,” and failure of Russian President Vladimir Putin's Novorossiya project.     

From the provinces to the parliament: How the Ukrainian radical right mobilized in Galicia

This article traces the on-the-ground mobilization and recruitment strategies of Ukraine's radical right party, Svoboda (Freedom) in the years prior to its 2012 electoral breakthrough. Ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interviews with Svoboda party leaders and activists in Galicia show how party leaders strategically created an organizational structure aimed at recruiting young people, making linkages with pre-existing nationalist groups, and shifting the ideological focus away from cultural and toward economic issues. Interviews with party activists reveal how personal networks were key in the recruitment and radicalization process, showing that radical right activists were radicalized, or “made,” through political participation. Consequently, Svoboda's organizational capacity allowed the party to take advantage of a political opportunity – Yanukovych's unpopularity and weakened national democratic parties – in the 2012 parliamentary elections.     

Putting Ukraine on the map: the contribution of Stepan Rudnyts'kyi to Ukrainian nation-building

This paper examines the contribution of the founder of modern Ukrainian geography, Stepan Rudnyts'kyi, to Ukrainian nation-building. It demonstrates how Rudnyts'kyi put Ukraine on the mental map of the Ukrainian public before the declaration of Ukraine's independence in 1918. This is done by analyzing his key publications and showing how he formed a vision of Ukraine and delineated its territory to influence the perceptions of the Ukrainian public on the eve of the struggle for Ukraine's independence. Rudnyts'kyi's contribution is also viewed within the context of competition from rival modern nation-building projects in Eastern Europe, most notably Polish and Russian. The developments are also examined within Miroslav Hroch's periodization of national movements. Rudnyts'kyi played an important role in stage B (patriotic agitation) in Ukrainian national revival.     

Hezbollah's Strategy of “Walking on the Edge”: Between Political Game and Political Violence

Since entering Lebanese politics in the 1990s, Hezbollah has defined itself as a political party that plays by the rules. Simultaneously, it has continued to use social assistance to win over Lebanon's Shi’ites while using violence to eliminate rivals. Through this strategy of “walking on the edge,” Hezbollah has metamorphosed from an illegitimate terrorist organization into a legitimate political party heading Lebanon's government. An International Tribunal's recent indictment of four senior Hezbollah officials for involvement in the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Al-Hariri provides an opportunity to understand how Hezbollah maintains this canny—and successful—balancing act.     

‘Compliance or contradiction’? Teaching ‘History’ in the ‘New’ Ukraine. A view from Ukraine's Eastern Borderlands

Whilst much academic rigour has been devoted to analysing the ‘contents’ of historical textbooks in Ukraine, this article examines the teacher's role in the ‘transfer’ of the state's message to schoolchildren. This article demonstrates that in Ukraine's eastern borderlands teachers are highly active in negotiating the new historical narrative. Teachers are found to subtly change the accent or focus away from the ‘nationalist’ stance towards Russia, as found in the school history textbooks, to a more tolerant stance which aims to promote rather than negate Ukraine's historical interactions with Russia. Thus, this simultaneously reinforces a particular ‘regional’ understanding of historical events.     

Does nationalism promote democracy? Comparative analyses of Ukraine's ‘Maidan’ revolution and Poland's ‘Solidarity’ mass mobilisation

The increased number of ‘democratic revolutions’ around the globe has raised questions of how mass mobilisation contributes to democracy and of what role nationalism plays in this process. Mass mobilisation is viewed as the best option for breaking down communist regimes due to the rise of new political elites to positions of power within the state. On the other hand, the revolutionary character of mass mobilisation movements, together with the uncertainty of the link between democracy and nationalism, may lead such movements to impact negatively on democratisation. Ukraine's ‘Maidan’ revolution and Poland's ‘Solidarity’ movement allow for a comparison of two types of mass movements in terms of both causes and outcomes. This article claims that the mass protests in Ukraine, as opposed to those in Poland, did not lead to democratisation but rather to the opposite: the polarisation of both political elites and civil society. The role of nationalism, in this respect, was shaped and interpreted by political leaders.     

Pacts,Parties and Elite Struggle: Ukraine's Troubled Post-Orange Transition

This article resuscitates some of the theoretical arguments of transition studies to shed light on the complex institutional and political developments in post-Orange Ukraine (2004 – 2007). In December 2004, Ukraine's elite agreed to embark on a complex transition involving power-sharing between the Rada (parliament) and the government on one side, and the presidency on the other. The new electoral law was to be based on a fully proportional system. In the subsequent period of 2005 – 2007, two consecutive proportional elections have been held, Ukraine has had several governments, and the Rada was incapacitated for a longer period. Rival elites engaged in a zero-sum game over reforms, and attempts were made to resolve differences by several pacts. This article analyses the post-Orange transition in terms of three variables: the effectiveness of pacts, the need to abide by the transition scheme, and the effect of elections. It is argued that Ukraine has failed to deliver on pacts and timetables, but has delivered on elections. This means that its political system may be considered a minimalist and electoral based one.     

An unlikely bulwark of Sovietness: cross-border travel and Soviet patriotism in Western Ukraine, 1956–1985

Focusing on the development of travel between the borderlands of Ukraine and Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe, this article explores what it meant to be Soviet outside the Russian core of the USSR between the mid-1950s and the mid-1980s. The cautious opening of the Soviet border was part of a larger attempt to find fresh sources of popular support and enthusiasm for the regime's “communist” project. Before the Prague Spring of 1968 in particular, official policies and narratives of travel thus praised local inhabitants who crossed the Soviet border for supposedly overcoming age-old hatreds to build a brighter future in Eastern Europe. By the 1970s, however, smuggling and cultural consumption discredited the idea of “internationalist friendship.” This encouraged residents of Ukraine to speak and write about the continuing importance of the Soviet border. The very idea of Sovietness was defined in national terms, as narratives of travel emphasized that Soviet citizens were inherently different from ethno-national groups in the people's democracies. Eastern Europe thus emerged as an “other” that highlighted the Soviet character of territories incorporated into the USSR after 1939, helping to obscure western Ukraine's troubled past and leading to the emergence of new social hierarchies in the region.     

Party penetration of society in Hong Kong: The role of mutual aid committees and political parties

Party penetration of society can be illuminated by the study of how political parties in Hong Kong have been infiltrating Mutual Aid Committees (MACs), which are housing organisations in private and public buildings. While “administrative absorption of politics” was viewed as a hallmark of Hong Kong under British rule during the 1970s, political penetration of local administration has emerged as the feature of the body politic since the 1990s. The colonial government's neglect of the MACs in the 1990s has been inherited by the post‐colonial administration since the transfer of Hong Kong's sovereignty in 1997. On the other hand, some MACs have penetrated political parties because they find that the government has swept them under the carpet and that parties can deliver various constituent services. This interpenetration of parties and MACs is an enduring feature of grassroots politics in Hong Kong today.     

On the Road to Maidan: Russia's Economic Statecraft Towards Ukraine in 2013

Abstract

The events preceding the 2013 Maidan protests exemplified Russia's use of its economic power over Ukraine. In trying to prevent Kyiv leaving its orbit, Moscow threatened economic rupture and closed borders, used phytosanitary and technical norms to impose import bans, and demanded swift payment of Ukraine's debt to Russia. Accompanying these negative measures were incentives: Russia promised Ukraine significant concessions in the form of loans or preferential trade treatment. As a result of this pressure, President Viktor Yanukovych, against his own preferences, refused to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union. Nevertheless, Moscow's pressure did not succeed in compelling Yanukovych to join Russia's Eurasian Economic Union.     

Understanding 'political stability': Party action and political discourse in West Bengal

In contrast to the party political turmoil that plagued New Delhi during the 1990s, West Bengal is an Indian state that has demonstrated remarkable stability. Atul Kohli has made much of this contrast, arguing that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has held power in West Bengal since 1977 through the combination of its organisational and ideological coherence. His wider conclusion is that the institutionalisation of political parties is essential in staving off the 'crises of governability' faced by many democracies in developing countries. At a time when 'good governance' is a major theme within development studies, Kohli's thesis deserves close attention. This paper critically examines his work in two ways. Empirically, it questions elements of his portrayal of the CPI(M), and West Bengal's politics more generally, as 'exceptional'. In theoretical terms, it questions Kohli's treatment of political institutions, arguing that more attention should be given to institutional culture and political discourses.     

Soviet conspiracy theories and political culture in Ukraine: Understanding Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions

Conspiracy theories in Ukraine draw on inherited Soviet political culture and political technology imported from Russia where such ideas had gained ascendancy under President Vladimir Putin. Eastern Ukrainian and Russian elites believed that the US was behind the 2000 Serbian Bulldozer, 2003 Georgian Rose and 2004 Orange democratic revolutions. The Kuchmagate crisis, impending succession crisis, 2004 presidential elections and Orange Revolution – all of which took up most of Leonid Kuchma’s second term in office – were the first significant domestic threats to Ukraine’s new, post-communist ruling elites and in response Ukraine’s elites revived Soviet style theories of conspiracies and ideological tirades against the US and Ukrainian nationalism. Opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko became the focal point against which the conspiracies and tirades were launched because his support base lay in ‘nationalist’ Western Ukraine and he has a Ukrainian-American spouse. The revival of Soviet style conspiracy theories has become important since Viktor Yanukovyc’s election as Ukrainian president in 2010 because this political culture permeates his administration, government and Party of Regions determining their worldview and influencing their domestic and foreign policies.     

Prospects for Managed Democracy in Russia

The 2003 Duma election resulted in the victory of the party of power, thereby strengthening managed democracy in Russia. Since then, political trends in Russia's regions and rural politics provide considerable evidence of the increasing ability of pro-Kremlin forces to maximise their electoral fortunes in national contests. These political trends make it likely that United Russia will not only emerge as the dominant party in the 2007 Duma election, but will provide the Kremlin and Putin's successor with a compliant lower house. The outcome is that Putin's successor will find the political infrastructure to continue managed democracy.     

“From Terrorists to Peacekeepers”: The IRA's Disengagement and the Role of Community Networks

Utilizing interviews with former Irish Republican Army (IRA) members, Loyalists, and community workers, the article looks at how militants in Northern Ireland have helped to prevent terrorism and political violence (TPV) by adopting roles in the community. By using mobile phones, a network of former combatants emerged around interface areas in the late 1990s to contain trigger causes of terrorism, providing a unique role that the state could not. The structure of the network encouraged militant groups to follow the IRA's example to disengage—thus creating a domino effect—and the co-operation between senior militants has limited the opportunities for other groups to mobilize a campaign of terrorism.     

Minorities and marginality: pertinacity of Hindus and Sikhs in a repressive environment in Afghanistan

The situation of Hindus and Sikhs as a persecuted minority is a little-studied topic in literature dealing with ethno-sectarian conflict in Afghanistan. Hindu and Sikh communities' history and role in Afghanistan's development are examined through a structural, political, socioeconomic, and perceptual analysis of the minority populations since the country gained its independence in 1919. It traces a timeline of their evolving status after the breakdown of state structure and the ensuing civil conflicts and targeted persecution in the 1990s that led to their mass exodus out of the country. A combination of structural failure and rising Islamic fundamentalist ideology in the post-Soviet era led to a war of ethnic cleansing as fundamentalists suffered a crisis of legitimation and resorted to violence as a means to establish their authority. Hindus and Sikhs found themselves in an uphill battle to preserve their culture and religious traditions in a hostile political environment in the post-Taliban period. The international community and Kabul failed in their moral obligation to protect and defend the rights of minorities and oppressed communities.     

Legislative Turnover and Executive Control in Russia’s Regions (2003–2014)

Using data from three cycles of regional elections (2003–2006; 2007–2010; 2011–2014), this article examines membership turnover in the legislative assemblies of Russia’s federal units. The analysis demonstrates that the mode of executive–legislative relations is highly consequential for legislative turnover. The change of chief regional political executive usually led to increased rates of change in legislative personnel. This influence is conditioned by the effective political capacity of the incumbent governor. Other factors of persistent importance for legislative turnover in Russia’s regions include change in the party composition of the assembly and generational change.     

Terrorism and the marxist left: Peru's struggle against Sendero Luminoso

Abstract

The political balance in Peru since the return of democratic government in 1980 has shifted to the left, and the United Left (Izquierda Unida or IU) is considered a serious contender in the 1990 elections. This paper investigates IU's prospects for success in presenting a clear alternative within the country's Marxist coalition and in undermining support for the armed revolutionary group Sendero Luminoso. The origins of IU are traced from the 1978 constituent assembly elections, and its organization, structure, and tactics are evaluated in terms of its effectiveness. If it achieves power, it will face its greatest challenge from Sendero Luminoso, the militant Maoist group that has been responsible for much of the terrorism that has gripped Peru in this decade. The authors describe Sendero's strategy and tactics and those of its chief rival, the MRTA. Finally the paper explores IU's alternatives for dealing with these radical leftist groups and the political violence they espouse.     

Prostitution debates in France

Prostitution has been high on the French political agenda since the late 1990s, but the way in which it has been framed as a policy issue has undergone a radical change since the elections of 2002. This article compares competing definitions of prostitution as a political issue under the Jospin (1997-2002) and Raffarin (2002-) governments. It examines the abolitionist lobby, which dominated the debates under Jospin, joining forces with women's policy agencies to place prostitution on the policy agenda as a form of violence towards women. It discusses the changes in prostitution policy since 2002, focusing on the criminalization of soliciting and the construction of prostitutes as part-victim, part-criminal. It argues that the reframing of prostitution as a law and order issue has harsh consequences for the women in prostitution, but particularly for migrant women, who can be deported for the new offence of passive soliciting.     

Markets,War, and the Reconfiguration of Political Authority in Sierra Leone

Although Côte d'Ivoire recently emerged from a long period of protracted conflict, peace is indeed precarious. This is particularly the case in the country's western cocoa regions, where tensions between indigenous and migrant populations continue to pose a threat to Côte d'Ivoire's economic and political recovery. These tensions revolve around longstanding land disputes that culminated in violent attacks in the late 1990s, early 2000s and in the recent 2010–2011 post-election crisis. Using insights from field work in 2012 conducted in the cocoa regions, this article explores the issue of land tenure reform and politics in post-conflict Côte d'Ivoire. In so doing, it considers the legal and political dimensions of land tenure in the cocoa regions and the highly controversial 1998 land law. This provides the crucial context for analysing the historical and enduring nature of these disputes, the critical importance of land reform in contemporary Côte d'Ivoire and the relationship between the “land question” and peace at both local and national levels.