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DIALOGUE

Democracy Ukrainian style

Quiet sabotage of officials and opened counteraction to democratization of society from the side of strengthening authorities played a spiteful joke on the romantic moods of Ukrainians of the early 90s of the last century. Creating the state of their dream the Ukrainian bureaucracy took in both poets and democrats. At first under the slogan of division and independence of authority judicial, executive and legislative power were removed from under public control, and then leased to oligarchic clans. Maybe, that is why the statements that Ukraine is still far away from true democracy go without demur. Though everybody has his/her own idea of true democracy.

Expert opinions
“Ukrainian democracy is the unsteady form of western democracy”
Victoria Pidgirna, Candidate of Philosophy, Executive Director of the Center of Socio-Political Planning
Democracy is a complex of institutes, where nobody can predict a result beforehand and where all key actors agree that there are certain rules according to which they play avoiding the use of force.

Democracy means information distribution
Maxym Strikha, Supervisor of Research Programs at the Institute of Open Policy, Doctor of Physico-Mathematical Sciences
Ukraine occupies an intermediate position: it is a semidemocratic semiauthoritarian country, which can swing both ways depending on the circumstances.

Democracy in Ukraine is in the embryonic state
Stepan Kleban, Deputy Executive Director of the Association of the Cities of Ukraine
Democracy means civil responsibility. And it is too early to mention it in Ukraine. But nobody can stop the advance of democracy in Ukraine and "we’ll wait to see our Washington."

The state itself is the enemy of Ukrainian democracy
Kost Bondarenko, Political Scientist
There a special situation in Ukraine: all signs of democracy are present, but public control is absent. The thing is the democracy can not be sent down. While lower classes show no desire to change their life for the better; Ukrainian people does not identify itself with authorities, and does not aspire to it.

Our democracy: it is either in future or in the past…
Dmytro Vydrin, Political Scientist
Ukrainian society is not ready for mass protests. Either our political culture is too callow, or forces needed for protests are past revivification. They dried up in the struggle for existence.

Other dialogs


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Проект реализуется в рамках благотворительной программы "Культура и образование" ВБФ "Поступ"
Идея и интеллектуальная поддержка проекта осуществляется Центром социальных исследований "София"
Высказанные в статьях и интервью мнения являются авторскими