On 15 July, a historic vote for the resignation of the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov took place in parliament. Avakov headed the Ministry for seven years under three presidents — interim president Oleksandr Turchynov,...
Contents ACT II – INSIGHT: RETAINING POWER BY ALL MEANSAvakov as beneficiary of the policy shift?Power clusters in the Rada and its CommitteesDigression: an illustrious societyDefense and attack: functions of the law enforcement...
Contents ACT I - LOOKING BACK: ELECTION CAMPAIGNS AND POWER DUALISMAvakov's political optionsA Conflict of Power BlocksAvakov-style Election CampaignTest Run for LoyaltyA Necessary Evil?Persistence through Neo-PatrimonialismAvakov's Goals,...
The chronic lawlessness within police forces has served as a trigger for society’s outrage and led to civil protests in Ukraine many times before. One of the most-known took place in the village of Vradiivka, Mykolayiv Oblast, in...
Whence came the oligarchs? To answer why the oligarchs are so omnipresent in Ukrainian life, one has to understand how they emerged in the first place. Ukraine did not turn into an oligarchic state in one day; rather, this was a...
Instead of 20 ministries in the previous Cabinet headed by Groysman, the government headed by new Prime Minister Honcharuk’s has now 16. Several ministries were merged and one new ministry appeared – the Ministry of Digital...
For the 2019 presidential elections, the Central Election Commission registered 139 Ukrainian NGOs monitoring the election process, a record. Among them is the Natsionalni Druzhyny (“National Militia”), a far-right...
Kateryna Handziuk had just come out of her apartment when an unknown attacker splashed a litre of sulfuric acid into her face and ran away. Passers-by rushed to wash the volatile smoking liquid off her body and get her to the hospital....
Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk have denounced the declaration by Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for president, that he is prepared to recognize the Russian seizure of...
Two years after tragic events at Euromaidan and the escape of disgraced president Victor Yanukovych, Ukraine is changing, but it is also facing big challenges – the war with Russia, the occupation of Crimea, and disappointment with...
First stereotype: Ukrainians are very poor Some Europeans viewed Ukraine as extremely poor. Many Ukrainian refugees were surprised to learn that. “They perceived us almost like we are cave people who do not know and have not seen...
