Ukraine 2004: Informal Networks, Transformation of Social Capital and Coloured Revolutions

Abstract

Since 2003, the phenomenon of ‘coloured revolutions’ has caused significant changes in post-soviet spaces, but a similar strategy – challenging an existing regime through mass protests – pursued in different countries has led to both successful and unsuccessful results. The success of the Orange revolution in Ukraine suggests that the outcome of a coloured revolution is directly correlated with the development of a country's social capital, whether formal or informal. The case of the civic campaign ‘PORA’ and its genesis and deployment indicates that the development of social capital before the events, although largely unnoticed and only informally organized, was decisive to the outcome of the events of November 2004. In turn, the Orange revolution has transformed the country, prompting a conversion of informal into formal social capital that is now active at the social and political levels.