What do the Maidan protests tell us about Ukraine? Diagnosis and prospects for Ukrainian politics
What do the Maidan protests tell us about Ukraine? Diagnosis and prospects for Ukrainian politics

Author(s): Wojciech Konończuk, Tadeusz A. Olszański
Subject(s): Civil Society, Governance, Government/Political systems, Developing nations, Geopolitics
Published by: OSW Ośrodek Studiów Wschodnich im. Marka Karpia
Keywords: Maidan protests; Ukraine; Ukrainian politics
Summary/Abstract: The outbreak of the protests in the Maidan in Kyiv, and also periodically in other Ukrainian cities, has come as a surprise to both the government and the opposition. These rallies have now been ongoing for several weeks and their most striking feature is their focus on citizenship and their apolitical nature and, by extension, a clear attempt to dissociate the protests from Ukraine’s political opposition. Neither Batkivshchyna, UDAR nor Svoboda have managed to take over full control of the demonstrations. On the one hand, this has been linked to the fact that the protesters have little confidence in opposition politicians and, on the other hand, to disputes over a joint strategy and to rivalry between the three parties. As a result, the citizen-led movement has managed to retain its independence from any political actors. As a consequence of the radicalisation and escalation of the protests following 19 January, the political opposition has lost a significant proportion of the control it had been in possession of until then.

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