Ukraine, Quo Vadis? Mirages of the Third Republic

Abstract

Ukraine has completed a long period of transformation of its political regime. On the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of State sovereignty, a discussion of its outcome is envisaged. One can look back on the road travelled. For 30 years it has been determined by the continuation of nation-building and the search for the right integrationist vector. With the formal completion of the former and the uncertainty of the latter, the danger of a continuing transformational crisis emerged. The article is devoted to the analysis of its nature and possible ways out of it. The nature of the «second transformative crisis» in Ukraine ambivalent. It can be both a factor of destabilization and degradation and an indication of the path to exit, stabilization and growth. Much, if not all, will depend on the elite’s willingness to rise above personal and corporate interests and its ability to learn from its own experiences, to consider external conditions and to offer development goals that can consolidate society. In the opinion of the author, the Association Agreement with the EU, in the process of its further implementation, could become a basis for targeting and a tool for achieving the objectives set. If successful, Ukraine’s experience of nation-building in the context of globalization may prove useful to other newly independent Eastern European States.

Keywords

• ukrainian transit
• republic of ukraine
• transformational crisis
• post-soviet space
• modernization
• eurointegration