President Viktor Research Articles

Extraordinary circumstances as a basic for the formation of the legal order: practical aspects of legitimacy

The article examines the relationship between extraordinary circumstances that arise and evolve in reality and their capacity to decisively influence the transformation and establishment of legal order in the state, without the formal implementation of emergency legal regimes in compliance with standard legal procedures. The study explores the grounds and objectives for introducing emergency legal regimes, such as the states of emergency and martial law. It is determined that, despite the diversity of circumstances necessitating their implementation, the primary purpose of these regimes is to restore a legal order free from threats and to return the state of operation and authority of competent bodies to their pre-crisis condition. At the same time, the article analyzes the events of 2014 related to the restoration of the Constitution of Ukraine and the termination of the powers of Ukraine’s fourth president. It is revealed that the decision-making procedures applied during this period did not conform to the then-effective version of the Constitution. However, the motives and rationale for these decisions reflected the socio-political and legal realities, which were extraordinary in nature, as their legitimacy stemmed from the people’s exercised right to resistance. Any procedural actions concerning changes in governance, adoption, and signing of laws after the flight of President Viktor Yanukovych would have contradicted Article 6 of the Constitution of Ukraine. Under such circumstances, the author suggests viewing the events of the Revolution of Dignity as those of an extraordinary situation, during which the existing legal system ceased to serve as a framework for determining the legality of actions. Instead, the formal legal approach functioned solely as a mechanism for documenting the altered legal order. In this context, the sovereign’s will, though formally aimed at restoring order, simultaneously established a new legal order that differed from the one existing before the emergence of extraordinary circumstances. The analysis concludes that, despite the absence of a formally declared emergency legal regime, extraordinary circumstances as real-world phenomena effectively enabled changes in the organization of public authority in Ukraine. The legitimacy of these actions, in turn, facilitated the legalization of the new legal order.

How Murals Support Ukraine: Eastern Ukraine-Themed Murals Resembling Berlin Wall Murals

In 2013, President Viktor Yanukovych suspended a trade pact between Ukraine and the EU, which led to the Euromaidan protests and violence from armed police. Since then, muralists have recorded the reality of Ukrainian politics and the growth of Ukrainians’ national identity. Through an exploration of art history, sociology, and the history of Ukraine, this research paper serves as an initial investigation of how newly created murals in Ukraine and past murals on the Berlin Wall convey the same theme of battle against communism and share similarity in the growth process. This paper’s comparative analysis was conducted in three stages: an examination of the art’s initial transformation from graffiti to mural form, an analysis of the works’ emphasis on patriotism, and an exploration of the portrayal of minorities, designed to attract an international audience. Findings indicate that murals depicting conflicts in Ukraine have the potential to reinforce Ukrainians, much as murals on the Berlin Wall were crucial in reunifying Germany during the Cold War.

Intertwined Memories of Kryvyi Rih: The Ato, the Second World War, and the Cossacks

In the last decade, the politics of memory in Ukraine, implemented after the Revolution of Dignity and the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war in Donbas in 2014, has been the subject of intense scholarly attention. However, researchers mainly focused either on the national level of collective memory or on the cases of the few largest cities. Much less attention has been paid to processes at the local level, in the towns of Southern Ukraine. Kryvyi Rih is a large industrial city in Southern Ukraine. It is usually characterized by general sociological features of the region: Russian-speaking and Soviet nostalgia. In the context of the local history and political situation, the author shows how the presentation of three layers of memory about the past of the region entangled in the city`s space. Established on the former Zaporizhzhia Cossacks lands, the city manifests its Cossack identity. Simultaneously, the most popular politicians in Kryvyi Rih are still those associated with the former Party of Regions, which was presented by former President Viktor Yanukovych, who was removed from power during the Revolution of Dignity in 2014. The basis of their memory politics was to protect the (post)Soviet version of the history of the Second World War as the “Great Victory”. But since the summer of 2014, its commemoration has intersected with the commemoration of city residents who died during the Anti-Terrorist Operation in Donbas. The paper addresses the evolution of commemorative practices and the overlapping of commemoration of the ATO, the Second World War, and the Cossacks. It also raises the question of what place the memory of the ATO and the Second World War will take in the conditions of the ongoing war.

H01 Chloracne: historical perspectives on an occupational disease, often the result of notorious environmental poisoning

Abstract First described by the Heidelberg dermatologist Siegfried Bettman in 1897 as an occupational disease in chemical workers cleaning out towers filled with hydrochloric acid, chloracne—not a true acne, despite showing comedones, cysts and pustules, but the manifestation of systemic poisoning by halogenated aromatic compounds—has been the subject of several controversial environmental disasters for over a century (www.biusante.parisdescartes.fr/sfhd/wp-ontent/uploads/2021/05/chloracne.pdf). These disasters include the 1949 Monsanto plant explosion at Nitro, West Virginia, with 226 affected; the 1976 Seveso disaster, which released tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) over a civilian population of around 100 000 (193 definite cases); and mass poisoning by cooking oils contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls in Kyushu, Japan, in 1968 (> 2000 affected) and Taiwan in 1979 (> 2000 poisoned). Cases have even occurred in England. An explosion at the Coalite and Chemical Products Company works at Bolsover in 1968 released dioxin, leading to 79 cases of chloracne (https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1980/mar/14/dioxin-escape-at-bolsover-april-1968). An outbreak in 1992 affected 17 workers in North Derbyshire at a plant manufacturing the herbicide dichloroaniline. Another incident occurred in 1997, when seven pharmaceutical chemists who manufactured triazoloquinoxalines, not previously known to be chloracnegenic but 100 times more powerful than dioxins, were affected. Perhaps the most notorious chloracne poisoning, with TCDD, was that of the Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko in 2004. Unless exposure is overwhelming, as it was in Seveso, chloracne takes a few weeks to manifest, and systemic changes can be found in the blood count and liver functions tests. Resolution typically takes about 3 years, although skin changes can be permanent. Dermatologists should be vigilant for new cases, especially at the time of industrial accidents, as the chloracnegenic potential of new chemicals is not always apparent.

GEOSTRATEGY OF UKRAINE REGARDING THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

The article examines the basic principles of the formation of Ukrainian geostrategy, analyzes the dynamics of the development of the geostrategy of independent Ukraine regarding the Russian Federation (the RF), identifies the leading directions of contemporary Ukrainian geostrategy and its prospective vectors. Geostrategy, in a broad sense, formulates and substantiates the main goals, norms, and principles of the state's foreign policy, as well as defines the main means and methods of realizing its interests in the international arena. In a practical sense, geostrategy performs the functions of determining the most effective means of protecting the security of the state, as well as developing practical recommendations for the implementation of its national interests. The following types of geostrategy are proposed according to their purpose: influence (or control), confrontation, and cooperation. Geostrategy of independent Ukraine in the 90s of the 20th century was “multi-vector”. The “Western” and “Eastern” vectors of cooperation were defined as the main ones in Ukraine's geostrategy. The “Black Sea” vector would be promising for Ukraine in the event of the development of integration processes in the Black Sea basin. During the presidency of Viktor Yushchenko, the “Western” vector became the main one in Ukraine's geostrategy, it was aimed at cooperation with Western countries and at joining the EU and NATO. During the time of President Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine's geostrategy again became a “two-vector”, combining the “Western” and “Eastern” vectors of cooperation. After the Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014, the leading geostrategic vector of cooperation remained the “Western” one, and regarding the RF, Ukraine's geostrategy turned into a confrontational “containment” one. During the current full-scale war, Ukraine must implement an offensive geostrategy against Russia to restore its territorial integrity. In the post-war period, the geostrategy of “containment” regarding the RF with the help of Western countries will be the most appropriate for Ukraine.

Would the Russian - Ukraine War Spark World War 3?

Diplomatic attempts by international leaders to settle the situation have showed no signs of success, and the surprise conflict between Ukraine and Russia has taken the globe by storm in terms of politics, peace, economics, and global market systems. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Ukraine declared its independence. After having been a part of the Russian empire, it became the Soviet Republic and severed relations with Russia in order to become more Westernized. The nation has been struggling with corruption and internal strife since it gained independence. Some parts of the nation, particularly in the west, seek closer ties to the West, while others, particularly in the east, want closer ties to Russia. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych sparked the crisis by rejecting an EU association deal in favour of tighter relations with Moscow. In what has become known as the "Revolution of Dignity," protestors toppled him. Russia's response was to invade the Crimean Peninsula and support a separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine. Donbas, the country's industrial core, was invaded shortly afterwards (Siddiqui, 2022). There were more than 14,000 fatalities in the fighting between Ukrainian troops and rebels supported by Russia. Russia has refuted accusations made by Ukraine and the West that it has sent soldiers to the region and supplied weaponry to the rebels. Russia, meanwhile, has been critical of the United States and NATO for its support to Ukraine in the form of arms and joint military training. Even though Ukraine is not a member of NATO, President Putin is nonetheless concerned about certain NATO states establishing military training camps in Ukraine. The information used in this study was gathered from secondary sources. Two primary conclusions may be drawn from this study. Two major factors contributed to the tragic loss of life and damage of property on both sides of the war: first, Russia does not completely recognise Ukraine's independence as a sovereign nation, and second, superpower nations are playing politics with the situation. According to the study's findings and recommendations, Ukraine's neighbours must acknowledge the country's status as an independent state, and the world's superpowers and other global communities must express concern for and make a significant commitment to ending the war between the nations (Jibrin Ubale Yahaya, 2022).

THE REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL LAW ON THE CAUSES OF THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICT

This research is to find out the cause of the war between Russia and Ukraine that just started on Thursday, February 24, 2022. This war took place after months of increasing tensions between the two countries. On Monday, February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged the creation of two states in the separatist region of eastern Ukraine. Then what is the background of the conflict in Ukraine which is now expanding into a West-Russian escalation. In February 2014, pro-Moscow Ukrainian President Viktor Janukovich was ousted from power by mass protests in the capital Kiev. Previously, Janukovich refused to sign an association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union under Russian pressure. The refusal has angered many citizens who are already excited about joining the European Union. Moreover, there were many accusations of corruption of government officials, including Viktor Janukovich, who eventually fled to Russia. Russia retaliated by sending troops to the Crimean Peninsula. After taking control of Crimea, Russia has fomented a separatist insurgency in the mostly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine, known as the Donbas region, by sending weapons to the separatists. This study uses a Historical Normative approach by collecting various literatures as the main source. The results of the analysis show that in April 2014, Russian-backed rebels seized government buildings in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and proclaimed the creation of two new republics. The following month, the two separatist territories applied to become part of Russia. But Moscow has not officially responded to the request. Russia is known to want to prevent Ukraine from becoming a member of NATO, like other Eastern European countries. In conclusion Moscow also denies sending troops and weapons to eastern Ukraine, saying that Russian citizens fighting in eastern Ukraine are volunteers to prevent the genocide of the Ukrainian government.

The Euromaidan Revolution, Reforms and Decommunisation in Ukraine

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of Ukraine’s adoption of four decommunisation laws in April 2015, their implementation and the controversy they generated. The first section analyses changes in Ukrainian memory politics prior to 2014. In 2006, the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance (Ukrainskyi Instytut Natsionalnoi Pamiat—UINP) was established but given meagre resources by President Viktor Yushchenko; pro-Russian political forces were opposed to both the Holodomor recognised as a genocide and official recognition of the Ukrainian resistance movement. The second section provides an analysis of Ukraine’s decommunisation process which was made possible by: the Euromaidan Revolution; collapse of pro-Russian political forces; election of a large pro-European parliamentary coalition; and the impact of Russian military aggression on Ukrainian attitudes to Russia and Ukrainian national identity. Together these four factors reduced opposition and energised those who supported decommunisation. In the third section we argue that six criticisms of Ukraine’s decommunisation raised by Western and Ukrainian scholars were exaggerated and misplaced.

Reframing the Present

Since the 2013-14 Euromaidan protest movement and the ousting of the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych and his administration, Ukraine has been embroiled in a political crisis both domestically and with its neighbour, Russia. Namely, the Ukrainian state has lost the Crimean Peninsula to a Russian military incursion and remains engaged in the local Donbas War against pro-Russian insurrectionists. Alongside these events, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s administration has been waging an information war against Ukraine through its employment of Russian state media. In doing so, Russian state media has revived and internationalized Soviet historical narratives of the Great Patriotic War, discrediting the present Ukrainian state by associating it with historic examples of fascism. Thus, this paper argues that contemporary Russian attempts to reframe Ukrainian national history along a Russo-Soviet narrative, without consideration for the more authentically Ukrainian nationalist narrative, is irrespective of the Ukrainian historical experience and is a dangerous abuse of Great Patriotic War imagery in the present. Considering the legacy of the former imperial relationship between Russia and Ukraine, and the Russian state’s current interest in restoring bygone prestige, this dimension of the current threat to Ukrainian sovereignty should not be ignored.

‘Social Distancing’ and Hierarchies of Belonging: The Case of Displaced Population from Donbas and Crimea

Following the 2013–2014 protests against then Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the armed conflict in Donbas, one of the major challenges for Ukrainian society has been the displacement of over two million of its inhabitants. In 2015, at the peak of the displacement, Ukraine found itself among the five countries in the world, after Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Nigeria, with the highest number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) associated with conflict and violence, and it continues to rank highest in Europe. Very little research has been done to provide a detailed analysis of how internally displaced persons living in Ukraine and outside the country claim and negotiate their belonging in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity and the ensuing war. Feeling of belonging is constructed through a relational process of self- and external categorisation and depends on acknowledgement by other members of the chosen group, therefore this essay also examines the strength and regional specificity of the social distancing towards different groups of Ukrainian IDPs.

A Critical Analysis of Western Intervention in Foreign Nations: A Case Study of Ukraine and Venezuela

The end of the Cold War triggered the spread of multiparty politics across the global south and the former Soviet Union. The western democracies argued this form of governance would ensure the rule of law, human rights and constitutionalism. However, in the recent past a worrisome trend has emerged where these global powers support opposition leaders in order to oust legitimate but antagonistic elected leaders in foreign. More often than not, this political change is engineered in wanton disregard of the country’s constitution and the relevant provisions of international law. This geopolitical conundrum is portrayed by the purported ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine in 2014 and most recently President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. Despite being the duly elected leaders of their respective countries, they were illegitimately ousted opposition leaders supported by western powers. In the same vein, these political changes usually initiated using force contrary to the relevant provisions of the United Nations Charter and other relevant principles of international law. Furthermore, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has established a concrete body of jurisprudence on this subject matter though the same is yet to be codified in international law. Broadly speaking, this paper argues this practice is unequivocally illegal and equivalent to infringement upon the sovereignty and territorial integrity of these countries.

On the Road to Maidan: Russia's Economic Statecraft Towards Ukraine in 2013

The events preceding the 2013 Maidan protests exemplified Russia's use of its economic power over Ukraine. In trying to prevent Kyiv leaving its orbit, Moscow threatened economic rupture and closed borders, used phytosanitary and technical norms to impose import bans, and demanded swift payment of Ukraine's debt to Russia. Accompanying these negative measures were incentives: Russia promised Ukraine significant concessions in the form of loans or preferential trade treatment. As a result of this pressure, President Viktor Yanukovych, against his own preferences, refused to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union. Nevertheless, Moscow's pressure did not succeed in compelling Yanukovych to join Russia's Eurasian Economic Union.

European Disintegration: A Search for Explanations by Vollaard Hans (review)

REVIEWS 593 into the chapter ‘Central and Eastern Europe’, but its Moscow-based authors refer to refer to a ‘civil war’ in Ukraine which in fact is primarily a conflict with Russian proxies. Further, they blame the West for discouraging President Viktor Ianukovych from using violence against the demonstrators on the Maidan in 2013–14. Nevertheless, the great majority of the chapters will be indispensable to researchers in many aspects of Russian foreign policy. While the price of £175 will mean that most academics, let alone postgraduates, will be unable to afford it, they should ensure that their library purchases a copy. UCL SSEES Peter J. S. Duncan Vollaard, Hans. European Disintegration: A Search for Explanations. Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2018. vii + 265 pp. Figures. Tables. References. Index. £101.00. The EU’s multiple crises are hard to miss. Mainstream EU politicians have struggled to manage the strains in the Eurozone; Brexit; the European refugee crisis; the rise of illiberal populisms, and democratic backsliding in East European member states. However, while some see the EU buckling under the strain, others have viewed the crises as survivable stress tests or even cathartic moments which will allow a renewed, rebalanced European Union to emerge. Nevertheless, while there are vast literatures on integration and Europeanization, there is scant theorizing on European disintegration or deEuropeanization . It is this gap that Hans Vollaard’s new book seeks to fill. The obvious objection is that academic work cannot explain something that has not (yet) happened and that foresight exercises are best left to think-tanks. However, counters Vollaard, the reverse is true: the current absence of theory leaves us so ill-equipped to understand EU disintegration processes that they may easily already be taking hold without us realizing. Vollaard’s first move is to ask whether theories of European integration could, in certain circumstances, run in reverse, predicting disintegration and, if so, what forms of disintegration they would imply. Neo-functional theories contain implicit ideas of disintegration and ‘spillback’ and, in their later revisions, the importance of elite perceptions of functional imperative and spillover. Functional pressures need not point (only) to regional (European) integration. Globalization might exert functional pressures for broader transnational integration and the unravelling of regional blocs like the EU. Intergovernmentalist theories, which see national states’ preferences and the extent to which they change and converge as driving integration, run less well in reverse. Intergovernmentalist understanding of EU institutions as co- SEER, 97, 3, JULY 2019 594 ordination devices for interstate bargaining suggests several potential routes to disintegration, such as the renationalization of EU powers. However, Vollaard argues, its assumptions about the nature of intergovernmental bargaining suggest that it would be far more difficult for EU member states to agree less, rather than more integration. He then broadens the search to other literature, including comparative regionalism, federalism and the historical collapse of empires. Literatures on federalism and regionalism, Vollaard finds, suffer like intergovernmentalism, from a state-centric bias. Accounts of the ends of empires usefully highlight that patterns of cyclical growth and failed expansion should not be mistaken for the collapse. However, the plethora of internal and external challenges that have undermined empires and federations make their experience unhelpful for theorizing possible EU disintegration. Vollaard opts instead in the second half of the book to fashion a multifaceted theory of European disintegration from the work of Stefano Bartolini on the EU as a state-building project, who in turn builds on Stein Rokkan’s classic insights into nation-state formation and the emergence of mass politics and Albert Hirschman’s famous trilemma of loyalty, voice and exit. In establishing boundaries and borders (‘external consolidation’), the Rokkanian argument runs, national states reduced or raised the price of exit, pushing actors towards voice and loyalty and thus laying the basis for structured, competitive politics, further reinforcing themselves in an ‘integrative spiral’. Similar mechanisms, Bartolini suggests, were at work in the EU. Vollaard extends this insight further by considering if and how everpresent disintegrative pressures in the EU might combine into a ‘disintegrative spiral’. He does this through re-telling the history of European integration since the 1950s in terms of this...

Bodily States on Screen: Gendering Spheres of Influence in House of Cards

ABSTRACTThis article elaborates how the political television drama House of Cards presents the state as a gendered human body, anthropomorphised in the United States’ presidential couple Frank and Claire Underwood and Russia’s President Viktor Petrov for popular consumption. In an attempt to bring gender into conversation with the concept of sphere of influence, the article shows the tensions between militarist masculinity and queer subjectivity. In House of Cards, the viewer can identify statecraft as mancraft, and see how nonnormative behaviour is written off statecraft. The article focuses on bodily performances as signs of different approaches to power, and argues that House of Cards reinforces a militarised ideal of power over in the everyday practices in and around the White House, as well as in the form of spheres of influence. The series produces a choreography of militarist performance, an imagery which reinforces the understanding of world politics as a terrain for establishing spheres of influence. In the series, spheres of influence become manifest through the exacerbating of patriarchal conduct and centralisation of power, as well as in the premise of building security on the basis of enmities and influence. Sphere of influence, thus, represents a form of masculinised order, pinned against feminised anarchy, leading not only to the subordination of the influenced state, but nonnormative subjectivities, in particular.

Стратегія формування національної пам’яті: інституціональний дискурс В. Ющенка.

This article examines institutional practices through which symbolic texts influence the formation of national memory. Studying the display texts, laws and the nature of monuments. The strategies of forming the policy of national memory are considered. The instability and inconsistency of the national identity policy are emphasized. National memory is a key component of the collective identity of the state. Different interpretations of historical events risk creating different discourses that conflict with each other. And political institutions, as interpreters of the development of official texts, are responsible for the dichotomy of identical meanings. Symbolic texts, as structures of discourses, consist of arguments, metaphors, phonologies, linguistic, communication and normative acts. They are used through stories, news. This is a condition for the functioning of discourse, through which meaning is created as political diligence. The official political discourse creates a regulation that points to the official text. It relates to topics that are introduced into the public space, with political processes, political leaders, political events, the ideology of the state, etc. All the themes that society has to reflect, are challenging for political power. And the participants in such a discourse are the main actors of political processes: on the one hand – the political elite and political institutions, on the other hand – the public. The purpose of the article is to study political institutions as the main actors of official political discourse, which, through the policy of national memory, produce the collective meaning of the nation. The discovery of symbolic texts, patterns, and the themes that formed the strategy of national memory during the time of President Viktor Yushchenko will reveal the main advantages and disadvantages of forming the necessary directions for the development of this problem in the scientific and institutional space.

Bilingualism in Ukraine: Value or Challenge?

Summary Several analyses have summarized the linguistic situation of Ukraine, highlighting various aspects of the problematic issues of Ukraine’s language policy. The fundamental problems of the linguistic situation in Ukraine are the lack of consensus regarding the issue of what role the Ukrainian language has in constructing the new post-Soviet identity and in nation building, what status the Russian language should be given in Ukraine. According to the data from the 2001 census, 80% of the adult population of Ukraine speak (at least) one other language fluently in addition to their mother tongue. In the country it is clear that the reality in most of Ukraine is of bilingualism. Almost everyone in Ukraine is bilingual; to varying degrees, a fundamental characteristic of the language situation in Ukraine is bilingualism of society. In spite of this, due to negative historical experiences, bilingualism is stigmatized in Ukraine, and that makes codification of bilingualism impossible on the state level. The paper shows the attitude of the political elite that took power after the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych towards the issue of bilingualism. We present how the linguists and representatives of the intellectuals comment on the bilingualism in Ukraine. The primordial, national romantic view that makes the Ukrainian language and the (free and independent) Ukrainian nation the same nowadays strongly dominates in Ukraine.

The Puzzle of Transitional Justice in Ukraine

After the Maidan uprising and the fall of President Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian parliament passed a number of transitional justice measures, including criminal trials and vetting of public employees, members of the law enforcement agencies and the judiciary. Despite strong public demand for retribution, only a limited number of suspects have so far been punished under the new laws. This article examines whether the way transitional justice in post-Maidan Ukraine has been carried out corroborates the assumption that can be derived from the transitional justice literature about the scope of retribution after negotiated transitions. It argues that transitional justice in Ukraine is generally better explained by ‘the politics of the present’ than by the ‘politics of the past,’ but that additional and so far underresearched factors shaping transitional justice outcomes should be included: administrative capacities and traditions and the nexus between a transitional government’s international commitments and the role of the judiciary, especially with regard to large-scale vetting policies.

Retelling Old Stories with New Media: National Identity and Transnationalism in the “Russian Spring” Popular Uprisings

The ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine was preceded by pro-Russian uprisings in major cities in the east and south of the country. These uprisings, sometimes referred to as the “Russian Spring,” were a reaction to the success of the Euromaidan, which ousted President Viktor Ianukovych. The downfall of his pro-Russian regime, coupled with aggressive propaganda, created an outrage that culminated in thousands of protesters taking to the streets. Their demands were justified by distinct “imaginings” of Ukraine’s and Russia’s national identities. The Anti-Maidan—a pro-Russian movement—actively utilized social media in order to promote its vision of Ukraine’s future, past, and present. This paper investigates articulations of national belonging by the Anti-Maidan. Its findings reveal that the Anti-Maidan’s national “imagination” is represented by a bricolage of Soviet and Slavic symbols and advocates non-progressive changes.

The Ukraine Syndrome and Europe: Between Norms and Space

It is no accident that the Euromaidan revolution from November 2013 was triggered by President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to postpone signing the Association Agreement with the European Union. This paper traces the connection between a certain type of Ukrainian state building, here labelled as monist, and the larger context of European institution building based on the eu, which from the pan-European perspective is also monist. These two monist projects, which fail systemically to allow for alternatives and pluralistic diversity, feed off and mutually reinforce each other. Neither in structural terms can imagine alternatives existing outside of themselves. Both are deeply plural internally, but claim certain hegemonic privileges. By contrast, projects for the constitutional incorporation of pluralistic diversity in Ukraine offer the perspective of national reconciliation, and this would be facilitated by the advancement of some sort of greater European pluralism that would obviate the need to choose between alternative integration projects. The Ukraine syndrome is part of the broader failure in the post-Cold War years to create an inclusive European political order.

Social Media and EuroMaidan: A Review Essay

As more than a billion people had done previously, on November 21, 2013, Ukrainian journalist and activist Mustafa Nayem wrote a Facebook post; this post, however, would have a much larger impact on subsequent political developments than most that had preceded it. Frustrated with President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision not to sign a long-promised association agreement with the European Union, Nayem asked others who shared his frustration to comment on his post. Even more importantly, Nayem wrote that if the post received at least 1000 comments from people willing to join him, they should all go to Independence Square to protest. And indeed they did: starting with just a few thousand people, the protests would swell to be the largest since Ukraine’s independence, particularly after police used force against protesters at the end of November 2013. Eventually, these protests led to the resignation of the government, the exile of the former president, and indirectly to the secession of Crimea and the ongoing conflict in the eastern part of the country.