NEWS AND VIEWS: A new Constitution for Ukraine (09/15/96)

NEWS AND VIEWS

A new Constitution for Ukraine

by Michael V. Kostiw

Nothing is so fundamental yet so important to the freedoms we enjoy as Americans as the United States Constitution, which guarantees our right to do and say as we please so long as it does others no harm. For the 52 million people of Ukraine, however, that guarantor of individual and political liberty only recently came into existence.

On June 28, Ukraine severed its final tie to the bear of Soviet communism when the nation's Parliament overwhelmingly approved Ukraine's first Constitution since gaining independence in 1991. It was an act that sent a signal to people around the world that Europe's second largest country is firmly established as a free and democratic nation.

Although not widely reported in the Western media, June 28 takes its place atop Ukraine's historical milestones; more important than its 1990 declaration of sovereignty; and more meaningful than even its first multi-party presidential election. Passage of Ukraine's fundamental law - one that guarantees property rights, the right to political expression and many other freedoms literally unimaginable only a few years ago - demonstrates political consensus on Ukraine's movement toward representative democracy.

Ukraine's plight since communism's failure caused the demise of the Soviet Union is truly remarkable. Naysayers in our government, the media and foreign affairs organizations prematurely predicted Ukraine's inability to govern itself. Despite its rich agricultural and natural resources, geostrategic location and industrial capacity, popular opinion ran against Ukraine's ability to operate independently of Russia or some federation of former Soviet states. Economic ruin, civil war and general political malaise were among the calamities the so-called experts predicted.

Yet, Ukraine proved the pessimists wrong. The streets of Kyiv and other cities have not witnessed violent demonstrations against the government; strife has not erupted among conflicting ethnic groups; the reigns of government have changed hands without coup attempts; and tanks have not pounded a recalcitrant parliament into submission. Thanks to the will and determination of its people, Ukraine has survived and even grown into a stabilizing force in a region long-known for volatility.

As someone with Ukrainian ancestry, I celebrate the fact that the country of my heritage has now fully joined the world of freedom-loving nations and that the people of Ukraine enjoy the right to self-determination. As an American, I am glad that the United States has a new, constitutionally legitimized partner in Eastern Europe that shares our democratic principles. Likewise, as someone intimately involved in promoting democracy's growth around the world, I also take great pride in the contributions made by U.S. organizations that are supporting Ukraine's political transformation.

Organizations such as the International Republican Institute (IRI) and other U.S. groups have provided technical and political advice and training to those pro-democratic activists struggling to restructure Ukraine' s former Communist system. Since 1993, IRI has worked at the grass-roots level with Ukrainians who, because of their commitment to improving the lives of their families and fellow countrymen, desperately seek the experience we as Americans have gained through over 200 years of practicing democracy.

IRI works with people like Loubov Maiboroda, a wife, mother of two young daughters, and a political party leader in a small city in central Ukraine who credits IRI as her "only source of political growth." Ms. Maiboroda vividly remembers growing up with her family stigmatized as an "enemy of the state" after her grandfather was abducted and killed by the Communist regime for alleged crimes against the government.

Her memory of Communist repression is her source of political motivation for the betterment of Ukraine. She and other democratic activists have received from IRI, thanks to American taxpayers, practical information and training on the party development issues and campaign skills they need to reform their country.

During Ukraine's recent constitutional process, IRI traveled to several cities to provide up-to-date and credible information to political activists, elected officials and concerned citizens who had little or no access to material on what would become their nation's fundamental law.

After the Constitution was adopted, U.S. Ambassador William Green Miller wrote that... "knowing the International Republican Institute is here offering its support expertly and enthusiastically makes my job easier and is greatly appreciated by our Ukrainian colleagues."

IRI and other U.S. institutions can take great pride in what they have helped their Ukrainian counterparts accomplish. These Ukrainian-American partnerships have and will continue to pay huge dividends to people such as Ms. Maiboroda and thousands like her.

Make no mistake. A new constitution is no panacea for a country still striving to dismantle a totalitarian system that prohibited independent political expression and a centralized economy that discouraged productivity. Efforts to privatize large state enterprises must be rejuvenated; Ukrainians must be fully empowered with knowledge of their rights and responsibilities in civil society; a new election law is needed; and inflation must be controlled through introduction of a permanent currency.

These are only a few of the many obstacles remaining in Ukraine's path, but the determination and ability of the Ukrainian people, who, after all, are the only ones who can claim credit for their country's successful push for stable democracy, should not again be underestimated.

Michael V. Kostiw is vice-chairman of the board of directors of the International Republican Institute.