The European council on foreign relations has published a volume of essays by Ukrainian experts that aims to be a platform for the “direct voice” of the participants of the Ukrainian events from Euromaidan onward. Ukraine, having appeared on the mental map of many Westerners due to the tumultuous events of a popular uprising and subsequent Russian aggression, has become an international center of debate. In What does Ukraine think?, edited by Andrew Wilson, the authors argue that too much of this debate and the diplomacy in the current crisis has been conducted without Ukraine. “This volume allows leading Ukrainian experts to speak for themselves, giving a flavour of local debates in the terms and frames of reference that Ukrainians use,” commented Andrew Wilson in the introduction to the collection of 10 essays covering four topics:
- on Ukraine in a time of war and revolution
- on the political situation and the war in the east
- on Ukraine’s changing national identity and regional dynamics
- and on the difficulties of implementing much-needed reforms under conditions of war
The volume is available to download from ecfr.eu.
Content
POLITICS AND NATIONAL IDENTITY
1. UKRAINE AFTER THE MINSK AGREEMENTS
Olexsiy Haran and Petro Burkovsky
2. POACHING, SIMMERING, AND BOILING: THE DECLINING
RELEVANCE OF IDENTITY DISCOURSE IN UKRAINE
Oksana Forostyna
3. RETHINKING UKRAINE
Yaroslav Hrytsak 34
THE VIEW FROM THE REGIONS
4. UKRAINE’S EASTERN BORDERLANDS: THE END OF AMBIGUITY?
Tatiana Zhurzhenko
5. EAST UKRAINE BEYOND PRO AND ANTI:
MONOCHROME PREFIXES AND THEIR DISCONTENTS
Tanya Zaharchenko
6. “THE HEART OF UKRAINE”? DNIPROPETROVSK AND
THE UKRAINIAN REVOLUTION
Andriy Portnov
UKRAINE: RHETORIC AND REALITY
7. RUSSIA, ZOOPOLITICS, AND INFORMATION BOMBS
Volodymyr Yermolenko
8. THE SPECTRE OF UKRAINIAN “FASCISM”: INFORMATION WARS,
POLITICAL MANIPULATION, AND REALITY
Anton Shekhovtsov
CAN UKRAINE REFORM?
9. DO UKRAINIANS WANT REFORM?
Olena Tregub
10. SUNSET AND/OR SUNRISE OF THE UKRAINIAN OLIGARCHS
AFTER THE MAIDAN?
Serhiy Leshchenko