Institute of Sociology NASU

Maidan and post-Maidan Ukraine: The regional dimension

stmm. 2019 (4): 12-17

UDC 316.4

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/sociology2019.04.012

Oleksandr Vyshniak (1956-2019) - Doctor of Sciences in Sociology, Head of the Department of Sociopolitical Processes, Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv.

Abstract. The article is based on surveys (The article is based on surveys) 2013-2014, which were devoted to a sociological analysis of changes in the political orientation of people in their regional dimensions during and after Euromaidan. It is argued that political differentiation of Ukraine’s regions is not the result of some situational factors, but it is due to the deeper social and cultural processes rooted in specific historical development of the Ukrainian nation as a part of various empires and states for the last centuries. Over twenty years of Ukrainian independence, before the Revolution of dignity in 2013-2014 these differences even slightly deepened and the political composition of regions practically remained unchanged. Four significantly different types of Ukrainian regions are distinguished. These are: 1) Western Ukraine; 2) Central and North-Eastern Ukraine; 3) South East (Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kharkiv and Kherson), 4) Donbas and Crimea. The peoples’ attitudes in various regions towards the annexation of Crimea, their perceptions of the idea of federalization and the estimations of the war in Donbas are analyzed. Despite of expectations different perceptions of events of the 2013-2014 Maidan in the regions of Ukraine and Russian aggression in the Crimea and Donbas have not strengthened the tensions between the regions (“four Ukraines”). Although socio-cultural differentiation between regions remained (language practices and attitudes of citizens toward status of Russian language can not change during a few months), but the political and electoral views of population in the South-Eastern region changed significantly. Sociological analysis of the surveys also proves that there were no internal reasons for separatism in any Ukraine’s regions, including Crimea and Donbas. Instead the research proves that separatism in Ukraine was inspired from abroad and is supported due to external factor, namely Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Keywords: political orientations, regions, Ukraine, Euromaidan, annexation of Crimea, war in Donbas, separatism

Full article: ukr | rus

References

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