Civic awakening: The impact of Euromaidan on Ukraine’s politics

The MH17 air-crash disaster of 17 July 2014 is likely to have a severe impact on the development of the Donbas conflict in Ukraine as well as on EU-Russia relations.

Written before the tragedy, this FRIDE working paper argues that the ‘Euromaidan’ protests, that occurred between December 2013 and February 2014, have provoked two fundamental changes that give grounds for cautious optimism about Ukraine’s incipient transition to democracy. First, after more than two decades of civic apathy and low impact, Ukrainian civil society seems to be on the rise. Second, state-society relations are being reconfigured, with citizens demanding greater oversight of and accountability from state institutions, and civic activists pushing for a greater role in policy-making. These new societal and political trends should be further supported by the European Union.

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