Narxoz Student Research-2021
- formal democratic practices but informal control over all political
institutions just like President Vladimir Putin’s model of government
in Russia.
Ukraine lacks the overwhelming force, the central military control
that could prevent mobilization. The idea of managed democracy fails
to be implemented in Ukraine, in comparison with Russia. In case of
Ukraine, it rather causes incentives to move the partially democratic
state to a full democracy,
Informal division of Ukraine
The next factor giving blurred visions of Ukraine’s foreign policy
is the internal component. The internal structure of Ukraine is not so
clear, it is divided into two sides in many ways: East and West, Russian
speaking and Ukrainian speaking, Orthodox and Catholic, supporters
of the regime and democrats, etc. East and Southeast Ukraine and the
Crimean Peninsula are mostly inhabited by ethnic Russians who try to
balance the country towards Russia, but most of the western parts are
ethnically Ukrainian. Their votes in elections diff er, as well as their
language which is fully Ukrainian in West Ukraine and Russian dialect
in East.
What specifi cally splits the country is the recognition that it is
situated between two diff erent worlds, where it comes vulnerable to
the clash of civilizations. According to S. Huntington’s defi nition,
there are “split countries”, that is, large groups belonging to diff erent
civilizations, to which he just referred Ukraine. Therefore, maintaining
their integrity is a diffi
cult task for such countries, because the main
group is trying to defi ne the country as its political instrument and make
its language, religion and symbols state-owned. Huntington also adds
that the separation between Orthodoxy and the West can be traced for
several centuries, as western Ukraine was part of Poland, Lithuania and
the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who recognise the authority of the Pope.
Western parts of Ukraine have more nationalistic traits.
Views on the foreign policy of the state are very polarized, due to its
cultural diversity and extreme sensitivity to public opinion, especially
when it comes to the question of membership in the EU and NATO.
White’s (2008) research on Ukrainians’ attitude to Russia and the EU,
tells that there are few indiff erent citizens who are mediocre about both
possible alternatives. Simultaneously, a high share of “optimists” who
support both options is present.
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