Abstract
The article investigates the role of non-governmental organizations as subjects (actors) of Ukrainian politics of memory, as well as the mechanisms used by them to influence the formation of the historical memory of Ukrainian society. The authors resort to comparative qualitative research, using an empirical-interpretative version of the method of studying specific cases (case study). The objects of analysis are: the Center for the Study of the Liberation Movement, “Tkuma” Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies, and the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center. The results of the study indicate that NGOs are actively influencing the process of forming the historical memory of Ukrainian society. Methods of such influence can be both direct (through various educational activities) and indirect (through interaction with state institutions responsible for the implementation of national memory policy). The effectiveness of this influence is determined by such important factors as the availability of sponsors with significant financial means and/or lobbyists in government agencies and institutions that are part of the state memory policy infrastructure.
Highlights
Volyanyuk points to the fact that only 10–20% of NGOs registered by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine are truly active, while the quality of civil society is determined by the number of associations and by their effectiveness and the ability to influence the state’s decision-making (Волянюк, 2009)
After the Revolution of Dignity, in 2014, he was appointed director of the restructured Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance and became one of the key figures in shaping state memory policy in Ukraine (Вятрович Владимир..., 2017). It was during this period that a number of dekomunization laws were drafted and approved in Ukraine, and they fully meet the declared objectives of the Center’s activities (in particular, the Laws “On the Legal Status and Remembrance of the Fighters for the Independence of Ukraine in the 20th Century,” “On Access to the Archives of Repressive Bodies of Totalitarian Communist Regime of 1917–1991” and “On the Condemnation of the Communist and National Socialist (Nazi) Regimes, and Prohibition of Propaganda of Their Symbols”)
The methods of the activities of NGOs – actors of the politics of memory can be divided into two types: 1) direct influence on the formation of historical memory of society through holding information campaigns, exhibitions, and other educational activities, as well as through establishing museums, archives, publishing activities; 2) interaction with state institutions responsible for implementing memory policy
Summary
Volyanyuk points to the fact that only 10–20% of NGOs registered by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine are truly active, while the quality of civil society is determined by the number of associations and by their effectiveness and the ability to influence the state’s decision-making (Волянюк, 2009) These circumstances urged us to abandon quantitative research methods in favor of comparative qualitative analysis, namely the method of studying specific cases (case study). We do not aim to analyze the purpose why some actor propagates a certain historical narrative, but merely acknowledge its activity in shaping the historical memory of society
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