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Two Authors, Including CCD Board Member Jeffrey Gedmin, Offer Similar Perspectives on the Growth of Democracy in Ukraine
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January 9, 2007
In the Weekly Standard CCD Board member Jeffrey despite Ukraine’s pro-western shift as a result of the Orange Revolution, “Ukraine could easily revert to being a useful piece on the Russian chessboard…” The failure of former Prime Minister, and current President, Victor Yuschenko to “deliver fast enough on promises to battle corruption and reform the economy” are reasons Gedmin cited that led to the election of his opponent and pro-Russian Victor Yanukovich as Prime Minister. In Open Democracy Alexander Motyl agrees with Gedmin’s statements, saying that the Orange Revolution government “did change Ukraine for the better – but that difference and that change could only be less than what the population had hoped for.”
Gedmin says that Europe “did quite a bit to assist Ukraine’s Orange revolution two years ago, showcasing “a remarkable instance of transatlantic cooperation in democracy promotion.” But since then Motyl states that “the Ukrainian people. Who expected their country to join Europe, become fully democratic, and escape Russia’s grip, feel irrelevant and betrayed.” The European Union “has significantly failed to give Ukraine a clear signal of its willingness to take it in,” but rather opting for “good terms with Russia” and Gazprom, the state-controlled gas company, rather than “close relations with a budding democracy such as Ukraine.”
Gedmin also raises the issue of gas supply relations in the region, referring to the “huge energy discounts for good behavior and loyalty to Moscow” given to Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. He worries of the energy connection between Yanukovich and Russiam saying “Putin acts as if he wants to buy Yanukovich, and some say Yanukovich looks like he’s for sale.”
Despite the current “malaises” as described by Motyl towards Yuschenko and democracy in Ukraine, both authors agree that the foundation for democratic society has been built. Gedmin quotes Ihor Kohut, a NGO leader involved with observing the Ukrainian legislature, saying that “the basic tools of democracy, such as fair and free parliamentary elections” has been won. Gedmin goes on to say that “the spirit (of democracy) is still alive, and it will be extremely difficult for anyone to put all this back in the bottle.” He believes that the destruction of authoritarianism in Ukraine for decades “may take equally long to repair” under democracy. Motyl draws a similar conclusion saying that the Ukrainians may be adopting the “real meaning of the Orange revolution” as they discover that “salvation from the east or west was always illusory.” This lesson, according to Motyl, is that “an empowered population can, and should, decide its own fate.”
References:
The Weekly Standard: A Revolution Gone Sour? (Jeffrey Gedmin)
Open Democracy (UK): Two years after the Orange revolution: Ukraine in a funk (Alexander Motyl)
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