The Role Of The Organization For Security And Co Operation In Europe In Ukraine S Orange Revolution

On December 3, 2004, the Ukrainian Supreme Court annulled the results of the second round of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, paving the way for an unprecedented third and decisive round of voting. Since then, the political importance of the Orange Revolution has reached far beyond the streets of Kyiv. The actions of ordinary Ukrainians in the fall of 2004 not only provided the impetus for other "color revolutions" in the former-Soviet Union, but the Orange Revolution also shaped and continues to inform Russia's increasingly troubled relationship with the West. However, almost four years after the citizens of Ukraine demanded a government by the people and for the people, the following questions remain: (1) What role did the international community, particularly international organizations like the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), play in the Ukrainian drama? (2) By working to create conditions that helped the Ukrainian people's ability to make their voices heard, were Western nations interfering in Ukraine's internal affairs, as Russia accused? In short, was Russian right? And if so, what are the implications for the further spread of democracy? By exploring the actions of the international community prior to and during the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, this thesis seeks to shed greater analytical light on these two deeply intertwined questions. Whatever the answers, is it clear that the boundary between intervention and interference is increasingly under question, especially in recent years. As such, we are compelled to undertake an informed discussion regarding the justifications, or lack thereof, for external intervention into the political affairs of sovereign nations.

The remarkable popular protest in Kiev and across Ukraine following the cooked presidential election of November 2004 has transformed the politics of eastern Europe. Andrew Wilson witnessed the events firsthand and here looks behind the headlines to ascertain what really happened and how it will affect the future of the region. It is a dramatic story: an outgoing president implicated via secret tape-recordings in corruption and murder; a shadowy world of political cheats and manipulators; the massive covert involvement of Putin’s Russia; the poisoning of the opposition challenger; and finally the mass protest of half a million Ukrainians that forced a second poll and the victory of Viktor Yushchenko. As well as giving an account of the election and its aftermath, the book examines the broader implications of the Orange Revolution and of Russia’s serious miscalculation of its level of influence. It explores the likely chain reaction in Moldova, Belarus, and the nervous autocracies of the Caucasus, and points to a historical transformation of the geopolitics of Eurasia.

Reports by international governmental and non-governmental organizations on the 2004 presidential elections in Ukraine constituted a significant factor in generating, facilitating, and completing the Orange Revolution. Ukrainian civil society, mass media, courts, and political parties were the main driving force behind the popular uprising that returned Ukraine to the path of democratization it had embarked on in 1991. Yet, the unambiguous stance and political weight of such institutions as the EU, PACE, NATO, and, above all, OSCE played their role too. The democratic movement benefited from the menace of international isolation and stigmatization of the Ukrainian state, which was expected in case President Leonid Kuchma had decided to prevent a repetition of the second round of the voting.The volume collects not all, but some of the most widely discussed reports, including English translations of selected sections of the three reports produced by the CIS International Observers Mission. The latter as well as a report by an Israeli institute depart from the assessments of the other organizations represented here, allowing for comparison of diverging evaluations of the same events. The volume assembles full or excerpted official reports of the International Republican Institute, the Tel Aviv Institute for the Countries of Eastern Europe and CIS, the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Contributions by Yevgen Shapoval and Roman Kupchinsky introduce and conclude the collection.

"This volume explores the role of former president Kuchma and the oligarchs, societal attitudes, the role of the political opposition and civil society, the importance of the media, and the roles of Russia and the West"--Provided by publisher.

This volume is an updated edition of Serhy Yekelchyk's 2015 publication, The Conflict in Ukraine. It addresses Ukraine's relations with the West from the perspective of Ukrainians. It looks at what we know about alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, the factors behind the stunning electoral victory of the political novice Volodymyr Zelensky, and the ways in which the events leading to the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump have changed the Russia-Ukraine-US relationship.

One of Europe's old nations steeped in history, Ukraine is today an undisputed independent state. It is a democracy and has transformed into a market economy with predominant private ownership. Ukraine's postcommunist transition has been one of the most protracted and socially costly, but it has taken the country to a desirable destination. Åslund's vivid account of Ukraine's journey begins with a brief background, where he discusses the implications of Ukraine's history, the awakening of society because of Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms, the early democratization, and the impact of the ill-fated Soviet economic reforms. He then turns to the reign of President Leonid Kravchuk from 1991 to 1994, the only salient achievement of which was nation-building, while the economy collapsed in the midst of hyperinflation. The first two years of Leonid Kuchma's presidency, from 1994 to 1996, were characterized by substantial achievements, notably financial stabilization and mass privatization. The period 1996–99 was a miserable period of policy stagnation, rent seeking, and continued economic decline. In 2000 hope returned to Ukraine. Viktor Yushchenko became prime minister and launched vigorous reforms to cleanse the economy from corruption, and economic growth returned. The ensuing period, 2001–04, amounted to a competitive oligarchy. It was quite pluralist, although repression increased. Economic growth was high. The year 2004 witnessed the most joyful period in Ukraine, the Orange Revolution, which represented Ukraine's democratic breakthrough, with Yushchenko as its hero. The postrevolution period, however, has been characterized by great domestic political instability; a renewed, explicit Russian threat to Ukraine's sovereignty; and a severe financial crisis. The answers to these challenges lie in how soon the European Union fully recognizes Ukraine's long-expressed identity as a European state, how swiftly Ukraine improves its malfunctioning constitutional order, and how promptly it addresses corruption.