Ukraine’s Emerging Security State by Sergiy Kudelia
“This article reviews President Poroshenko’s first term in office and argues that he failed in his attempt to balance the imperatives of power consolidation with demands for institutional development. Key reforms have been implemented only partially due to the resistance of the vested interests linked to the ruling elite. The most significant setback occurred in the areas of political rights and freedoms and respect for civil society where pro-government actors interfered to neutralize potential threats to their power from below. Furthermore, the authorities nation-building policies have been based on the ethnocentric ideology meant to encourage greater cultural homogeneity of the Ukrainian society. Although the Ukrainian public might have ultimately emerged as a more cohesive national unit, the failures to improve the quality of governance made it even more resentful of the political establishment and skeptical about the prospects for reform if the current president retains power.”
Stalled Social Mobility in Post-Soviet Russia by Theodore P. Gerber
“The fall of the Soviet Union sparked hopes that a Russian middle class would emerge and thrive, but so far it has not.” Second in a series on social mobility around the world.
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Also in this issue:
Is Putinism the Russian Norm or an Aberration? by Michael McFaul
Armenia’s Unfinished Revolution by Armine Ishkanian
Uzbekistan Emerges from Karimov’s Shadow by Russell Zanca
Perspective: China’s Old and New Central Asian Ties by Diana Ibañez-Tirado and Magnus Marsden
Books: The Kremlin and the Thieves’ World by Nancy Ries
The Month in Review: August 2018 by the editors of Current History
Map of Russia and Eurasia by the editors of Current History
