№ 5 - 2010
Matzievsky Yu.
Transformations of the Political Regime in Ukraine before and after the “Orange Revolution”: Institutional Interpretation

The study of regime changes within the “fourth wave” has been largely comparative and thus missed some specific features of the paths of individual regime trajectories. The present case-study of Ukraine’s regime transformation aims at reconsidering two dominant paradigms of Ukraine’s transition. The author suggests considering the events of the fall 2004 in Ukraine as a political protest, but not a revolution either in traditional or in contemporary meaning. He argues, besides, that after V.Yushchenko was elected president, Ukraine’s political regime remained almost unchanged. Additionally, this paper suggests three scenarios of the evolution of Ukraine’s regime in the nearest future and defines conditions necessary for its success in democratic transformation.