Janus-arcú állam és társadalom: átalakulások Ukrajnában

Abstract

This study focuses on the social structural approach of the reforms in East- and Middle-European countries based on the material of an international conference held in Kiev. In the fist part, we brief on a lecture held on the Polish middle class, after which we outline the role of elites, classes and civil society in the changes in more details. Supporting David Lane’s approach of explaining the Regime-change based on classes, we define the terms of administrative, capital and global political classes and identify their status in the Post-Soviet society. In the second part, we examine the developments during the recent twenty years in Ukraine since its independence. This period has a double character: we see West-European democratic ideas and institutes implemented in traditional soviet mentality and practice. Based on empiric research results, we analyse the successful initiatives of the country striving for independency and the double - new democratical and old Soviet-type- characteristic institute system built on the above-mentioned dichotomy. We lay special attention to the orange revolution, considered as the most important reform by public opinion, in reality being only a swing towards building democracy. In the third part, we leave the macro-social analytical frames behind and describe the Ukraine Parliament from inside. This lecture describes the structure of the Verkhovna Rada between 2002 and 2006. Our impression of an ambiguously complex party society becomes transparent as a result of applying the social relationship network analysis. Based on examining the structure of the legislative body, we discover the development of relationships and dynamics among the political and other groups during the four (!) significant structural reforms in the concerned period.