20
Yuri Matsievsky
Ukraine like in other post-Soviet states with the exception of the Baltic States acquisition
of independence was not accompanied by the change of elites. It was the penetration of
the former Soviet nomenclature into power structures that led to the formation of the
newest post-Soviet authoritarian regimes in the former Soviet republics.
Now we shall return to the events of November-December 2004. We will also try to
define the features of the newest stage of the Ukrainian transit. In my opinion, the Ukrai-
nian variant of transition does not belong to either of the two known types. Old authority
in Ukraine was completely deprived of legitimacy but it did not take any risk to use force
after the beginning of mass protest actions and it did not refuse to execute its power.
The first and especially the second round of elections took place with mass falsifica-
tions of results in favor of the pro-imperious candidate. Political research refers to such
actions of authority as “the stolen elections” [36].
Another peculiar feature is that the change of authority in Ukraine marked the begin-
ning of a new stage of political transformations. The first stage lasted from the end of the
80s of the XXth century up to 1991. The second went on from 1991 up to the end of 2004.
During this period the Soviet nomenclature authoritarianism in Ukraine was transformed
into the newest clan-oligarch version of authoritarianism.
Election of the oppositional candidate as the president of the country can be consid-
ered the beginning of the third stage of transition in Ukraine. The defining feature of this
stage is the struggle of elites. In spite of V. Jushchenko’s election there was no change of
political elites in Ukraine. Ineffective actions of country leaders and struggle of compet-
ing political-industrial groups for power were the reasons of several political crises in
2005–2007 in Ukraine. They also necessitated the carrying out of extraordinary parlia-
mentary elections in September 2007.
Nevertheless, the oppositional candidate victory at the presidential elections in 2004
in Ukraine became possible only due to mass participation of citizens in a political strike,
political support of western states and international organizations and an independent
position of the Supreme Rada and the Constitutional Court. The decisive factor of the op-
position’s victory was citizens’ direct participation in non-violent protest actions. Without
cooperation of different layers of Ukrainian society and demonstration of civic courage,
the opposition’s victory would have been impossible even if everybody knew that the
election results had been falsified.
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