Ukraine And Belarus - (Un)Likely Transitions?
Ukraine And Belarus - (Un)Likely Transitions?

Summary/Abstract: This paper will explore the postcommunist paths and political developments of both Ukraine and Belarus after their official break from the Soviet Union in 1991. Since both have often been labeled as transitional countries, my objective will be to assess if their socio-economic situation was indeed transient or, rather, one of stable decay. I will look at the political choices that Ukraine and Belarus made in the aftermath of independence and argue that as a result of their political and socio-economic structural conditions, they could not have mimicked the democratization of “exemplary” Central European states such as Poland, Slovakia, Hungary or the Czech Republic. I will also examine Ukraine’s democratic path and explain the emergence of Ukraine’s democratic impetus in 2004 instead of 1991. I will seek to explore why Ukraine undertook the path of revolution and, hopefully, democracy, whereas Belarus is still struggling after disputed and chaotic elections. Useful as empirical data and econometric analysis is, there is much that is overlooked, and therefore those case studies are especially useful as far as democratization is concerned.

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