As the «Orange Revolution» has shown, modern-day Ukraine has undeniably come a long way since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This volume contains papers delivered at conferences about Ukraine held at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) in 2001 and 2002. Supplementary articles have been solicited from recognized experts in the field to provide a comprehensive picture of a country in transition and to explain some of the challenges of Ukraine's «New Deal».

Axel Siedenberg, Lutz Hoffmann 1 The specificity of transformation in Ukraine When the Soviet empire collapsed in the very early 1990s, the new era that dawned was commonly given the name 'transformation', implying the systemic change from socialism towards some form of market economy. Almost ten years later, 'the' transformation process does not exist any more; instead, a whole variety of transformations are taking place in Eastern Europe and the CIS: Whereas some countries are heading towards EU membership (e. g. Poland), others are still pondering on what economic system to adopt (e. g. Russia) and yet others have rejected a market-oriented transformation outright (e. g. Belarus). Within this variety of transformations, Ukraine clearly stands out as a specific case: Whilst initially considered to be one of the stronger post-Soviet Republics, it descended into economic depression in 1992 and has hardly recovered since; on the other hand, once considered to be a potential centre of ethnic unrest and political instability, it has turned into a democratic, peaceful civil society that is firmly establishing itself within the new European and world order. This book takes a critical look at economic reform in Ukraine as compared to other East European and CIS countries. Our hypothesis is that Ukraine is going through a transformation process peculiar to itself, which can be traced at both macroeconomic and microeconomic level.

Ukraine has struggled to forge an independent path, torn between Europe and the United States in the West and its long-standing ties to Russia in the East. Ukraine has long played an important, yet sometimes overlooked, role in the global security order. Today, the country is on the front lines of a renewed great-power rivalry that many analysts say will dominate international relations in the decades ahead. The conflict in Ukraine is viewed by some as part of a renewed geopolitical rivalry between western powers and Russia. A former Soviet republic, Ukraine has deep cultural, economic, and political bonds with Russia. In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, a part of Ukraine, and it is keen not to let the country become more aligned with Western institutions, chiefly NATO and the European Union. Now that Russia had succeeded in launching an attack; what can Ukraine possibly do?

Axel Siedenberg, Lutz Hoffmann 1 The specificity of transformation in Ukraine When the Soviet empire collapsed in the very early 1990s, the new era that dawned was commonly given the name 'transformation', implying the systemic change from socialism towards some form of market economy. Almost ten years later, 'the' transformation process does not exist any more; instead, a whole variety of transformations are taking place in Eastern Europe and the CIS: Whereas some countries are heading towards EU membership (e. g. Poland), others are still pondering on what economic system to adopt (e. g. Russia) and yet others have rejected a market-oriented transformation outright (e. g. Belarus). Within this variety of transformations, Ukraine clearly stands out as a specific case: Whilst initially considered to be one of the stronger post-Soviet Republics, it descended into economic depression in 1992 and has hardly recovered since; on the other hand, once considered to be a potential centre of ethnic unrest and political instability, it has turned into a democratic, peaceful civil society that is firmly establishing itself within the new European and world order. This book takes a critical look at economic reform in Ukraine as compared to other East European and CIS countries. Our hypothesis is that Ukraine is going through a transformation process peculiar to itself, which can be traced at both macroeconomic and microeconomic level.

An ambitious analysis of contemporary Ukrainian political economy.

This book is a journey that transcends time and space, connecting the war-ravaged lands of Bosnia in the early 1990s to the battle-scarred landscapes of Ukraine from 2014 and onwards. In these pages, I share my unusual experiences as a team leader sent to Ukraine in March 2014 by a global organization once regarded as a surrogate for an international peacekeeping mission. What happened was a chain of events that forever changed me; an embroidery made with the threads of friendship, fear, hope, and a genuine quest for peace.