In November 2013, it was the beginning of the protests that changed the future of Ukraine, both from its own citizens and the world. Chenoweth & Stephan suggests in their book of “Why Civil Resistance Works” suggests that nonviolent protests have a greater success and power over violent acts as nonviolent uprisings have a reduced barrier to entry, which aids in the development of effective tactics such as increased resiliency, increased tactical creativity, civic disturbance, and shifts in loyalties, including among the opposition’s troops. [1] November 2013 is the start date of these non-violent movements for Ukraine. President Viktor’s decision of not to sign the Associate Agreement on this date, while Ukraine public was finally expecting to get rid of the influence of Russia and Eurasian Economic Union and becoming closer to Europe and European Union standards, triggered the protests by the public and finally Ukrainians took the streets in peaceful manners. These movements later on called “the Euromaidan protests”
Protestors were focused on the government corruption, post-soviet politics, power exploitation and human rights violations as the protests started to spaerked after governments brutal control over the nonviolent movement. It was argued that the reason for the rejection of this agreement was the interests of Russia and the old Soviet point of view. The rejection of this agreement by the Ukrainian state, which did not comply with Russia’s geopolitical interests, caused it to be interpreted as a betrayal and disappointment by the public. The growth of these protests and the fact that the state simply shuts its ears has now become a war of honor. In fact, in response to these non-violent movements, people who participated in the resistance were tried, dismissed, and subjected to violence. After the police intervened in these nonviolent progressing protests a week later, this movement took a different form and grew even more. Over 500,000 people marched on the Maidan on December 1st, opposition party members and civil activists organized and formed the Coordination Centre of National Resistance. As a result, the movement evolved into a true national anti-regime uprising. During the campaign, thousands of citizens who had never previously participated in public life volunteered. Following the initial demonstrations, the government’s violent repression invigorated Maidan supporters and pushed others to participate. Thus, Euromaidan Protests turned into Euromaidan Revolution.
After a remarkable three months of in the last days of February 2014. It was a terrible triumph that cost the lives of over a hundred demonstrators and wounded hundreds more. Even though the current state of Ukraine still experiencing incompetent use of power problems and nepotism of the government, The Euromaidan signaled the end of the country’s centuries-long reliance on authoritarian Russia, as well as an incentive that has set it on a strong path toward Europe and increased liberalization. Despite various obstacles to total democratic governance in Ukraine, the majority’s strong support for democracy prevents the country from reverting to total dictatorship. This is both a great example of Ukraine’s recent history of overcoming the competitive authoritarianism pushed by the Russia and post-Soviet relations and also an incident of mass protest effects in backsliding to authoritarianism.
Today, Ukraine has made real momentum toward achieving the goals that brought the people to the streets of Kyiv in the first place which is becoming a typical European democratic country with a rising economy and less fraud. Unfortunately, the country is involved in a small conflict with Russia, with little hope of a peaceful resolution. In April 2014, Russian forces took Crimea without armbands on their army uniforms. The reason for this was that Russia firstly denied that they were the ones who carried out this siege, but later President Putin confessed that the soldiers who came to take Crimea were Russian soldiers. This violent conflict took many lives and forced millions of people to flee from their homes. In February 2015, the German and French presidents mediated an agreement known as Minsk II. With the implementation of the political provisions of Minsk II, the sides made little progress of a cease-fire.
From a domestic perspective, after the Euromaidan movements, in May 2014, with the election of Petro Poroshenko, the reforms expected by the people began to take place with rapid acceleration. At first, by meeting the expectations, they did stabilize the economy, fixed the government’s financial status, and make government spending transparent. However, the Ukrainians did not elect Poroshenko in the 2019 election, taking into account the lack of progress in the fight against corruption as a result of these reforms, which slowed down as of 2016, especially their failure to rein in the country’s oligarchs, and the lack of accountability of those responsible for the armed attacks on the Maidan in 2014. Volodymyr Zelensky, who Ukrainians believed that will end these conflicts and complete economic empowerment in was elected in 2019 and his party became the president, and his party became the major government. To conclude, although Ukraine is still trying to get rid of the effects of the conflicts it has experienced before, the people direct the state with their non-violent movements and the choices they make in line with the constancy of their political thoughts.
[1] Chenoweth, E. and Stephan, M., 2013. Why civil resistance works. New York: Columbia Univ. PressReferences:
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https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/explainers/understanding-ukraines-euromaidan-protests.
- “How Ukraine’S Orange Revolution Shaped Twenty-First Century Geopolitics”. Atlantic Council.
- “Overcoming Polarization In Ukraine”. Atlantic Council.
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- “Ukraine – The Maidan Protest Movement”. Encyclopedia Britannica.
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- “Ukraine’S Euromaidan Revolution: A Final Breakaway From Russia | Geopolitical Monitor”. Geopolitical Monito.
https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/ukraines-euromaidan-revolution-a-final-breakaway-from-russia/.
- Pifer, S. (2020). Ukraine: Six years after the Maidan. Brookings.
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