Taking Ukraine Seriously: Western and Russian Responses to the Orange Revolution

to appear in Centre for Gobal Studies

Derek Fraser

Published: December 2006

Keywords: globalisation, globalization, revoltion, Russia, Russian, Eastern Europe

Abstract:

The Orange Revolution - that mass popular protest at the end of 2004 against vote rigging in the first two rounds of the Ukrainian presidential election - resulted in a largely fair third round of voting that brought to power the reformist coalition under President Yushchenko. The reformers made Ukraine a more democratic and, possibly, a more independent country. Much still has to be done, however, to realize fully the reformers' goals of assuring Ukraine's independence, achieving European standards of governance and economic freedom, and anchoring the country to Western institutions such as the WTO, the EU and NATO. This paper will examine what the reformers achieved, and what remains to be done. It will also consider Russia's efforts to regain its influence and power in Ukraine, and the role that the West might play to support reform.

Disciplines: Governance

Publication: Taking-Ukraine-Seriously-_5_-3-Dec-06.pdf