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Post-Communist Ukraine by Bohdan Harasymiw is one of the most comprehensive and penetrating studies of the political and social realities of independent Ukraine. The masterfully written, multi-faceted analysis documents and explains that country's successes and its more frequent failures during its transition from authoritarianism to democracy. Taking a comparative approach, Bohdan Harasymiw breaks free of the usual historical-cultural mode of dealing with Ukrainian politics. Step by step, he examines the primary elements of a modern democratic state and the degree to which these are in place: an agreed-on set of rules of the game in the form of an accepted constitution; a state capable of governing and claiming the loyalty of its people; a parliament representative of the public and able to legislate; a bureaucracy skilled at fashioning and implementing public policies, and not just following orders; a nation of fellow citizens living as a community; political parties channelling the interests of, and responsive to, their followers; elections that reflect the preferences of the voters; and policies ensuring the security and well-being of both state and society. These are analyzed in the light of other countries's experience with these institutions and processes. As a result, a comprehensive portrait of Ukraine's politics, which can be characterized as ""post-Communist"" but not yet ""post-Soviet,"" emerges.

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9781895571448

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Bohdan Harasymiw is acting as coordinator for political and regional studies at CIUS Press, University of Alberta. Before retiring in 2005, he was Professor of Political Science at the University of Calgary. Trained as a Sovietologist, he specialized in the study of political elites and leadership. In 1989-91, he was seconded to the Government of Canada as an intelligence analyst.

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