One of the primary political cleavages that persist in Ukraine is between pro-Ukraine and pro-Russian identities (Olteanu, Jaitner and Spöri, 2018). The agreement, pressure from political protest, and the Crimean crisis have worked to keep the Ukrainian government from further Russian influence.

Kyiv rejected this action along with the West.

The Crimean Parliament voted to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation. The EU agreement was signed and the Crimean crisis occurred. As a result, a political agreement was reached and signed in February of 2014 with Yanukovych and his government then fleeing Ukraine. The protests were motivated by the perceived government corruption, abuse of power and violation of human rights. The public outrage and protests began and snowballed into the demand for President Viktor Yanukovych and his government to resign. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych instead chose closer ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union. The Maidan protest movement began in November of 2013 and was instigated by the Ukrainian government’s decision to not sign an agreement of association with the European Union. Ukraine’s most potent protection from slipping completely into competitive authoritarianism is the desire of its people for a democratic Ukraine (Dickinson 2020). Because they can get much more participation, nonviolent movements are a superior strategy over violent movements (Chenoweth & Stephan 2013). Why is that? Nonviolent movements have a lower barrier to participation which helps to facilitate successful tactics including enhanced resilience, better chances of tactical innovation, expanded civil disruption and shifts in loyalty including the opposition’s forces (Chenoweth & Stephan 2013).

If a full-blown attempt at authoritarianism was pursued, the resistance would be massive (Matsiyevsky 2021).Īs Chenoweth & Stephan (2013) discuss, nonviolent protest movements like the Orange Revolution have higher success rates than violent movements. Ukraine has been a hybrid regime, one with democratic features and an authoritarian streak left over from its Soviet Union past. The Orange Revolution in 2004 showed Ukraine’s longing for democracy with massive peaceful demonstrations which prevailed against attempts to thwart a democratic election (Dickinson 2020).

2020 ukraine yanukovych