(Co-author: Petro Burkovsky) Back in 2005, it seemed that Petro Poroshenko, then serving as secretary for the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, would be entirely eliminated from political activity through his rivalry with then-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. However, in the 2014 presidential election, Poroshenko defeated Tymoshenko and all other contenders in a landslide. Evidently, the Euromaidan movement has changed the whole political dynamic in Ukraine. Why did the country’s political crown fall into the hands of Poroshenko? Will he be able to fulfill the demands of the Euromaidan demonstrators, especially considering the fact that the president’s power is now more limited with the country’s rollback to the 2004 constitutional amendments? How will he manage Ukraine’s domestic and external pressures?
