Ottawa conference examines transformation of Ukraine (01/02/05)

Ottawa conference examines transformation of Ukraine

by Alexandra Hawryluk
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

OTTAWA - What should the world make of an independent Ukraine? Historians, economists, political scientists, anthropologists and sociologists from Europe and North America discussed this very issue on October 15-16, 2004, at a conference organized by the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at University of Ottawa. The conference was titled "Understanding the Transformation of Ukraine."

In analyzing the process of Ukraine's evolution from a Soviet autocracy to an independent democratic state, the most important thing is, in the words of Mykola Riabchuk, "the creation of a Ukrainian nation as a psychological and political entity, the transformation of a population into a nation..." (Krytyka, Kyiv, 2000) And it is this process of transformation that fascinates social sciences researchers.

Since one of the best indicators of a strong democracy is the presence of a vibrant civil society, it is not surprising that the discussions in Ottawa centered on the evaluation of civil society in Ukraine. As social sciences do not have any one overarching definition of the concept "civil society," each participant of the roundtable workshop had the opportunity to talk about the social change in Ukraine from the perspective of his or her profession. This interdisciplinary approach to studying contemporary Ukraine, first introduced by Dr. Theofil Kis, the retired Chair of Ukrainian Studies, offered the participants, as well as members of the Ukrainian community, a chance to see many issues in a new way.

It is also worth noting that the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at University of Ottawa is unique among other Ukrainian studies programs in that it is the only program devoted to social sciences, with a particular emphasis on political science. So, as the "Orange Revolution" developed in Ukraine, Dr. Dominique Arel, the Chair of Ukrainian Studies, became the interpreter of the unfolding events. It was his balanced, informed view, expressed in radio interviews and special daily e-mail bulletins, that helped various institutions, scholars and journalists to understand what was happening in Kyiv.

At the October 15 session on regime transformation, Dr. Andrew Wilson, who teaches Ukrainian studies at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, talked about the political system, while Dr. Oleh Havrylyshyn, deputy director, European Department International Monetary Fund, Washington, spoke on the Ukrainian economic system. Neither of the speakers was able to give Ukraine a very high mark.

Mr. Wilson, the author of the acclaimed book "The Ukrainians, Unexpected Nation," said he thinks that "the creation of a self-cannibalizing society where 'corrupt elites feed off their state, their society and their economy, ultimately driving them all to possible perdition' " (p.205) does not bode well for the future. He sees Ukraine as a 'swing' state, "doubly so because the balance of internal and external forces are mutually dependent. Internationally, Ukraine faces both West and East and has to steer carefully between the twin myths of its essentially European or east Slavic destiny." (p.317)

Is there any wonder, then, that respected economists like Dr. Havrylyshyn when asked "How well has Ukraine performed as a nation?," answer "not too well"? That's because "indicators of performance on most dimensions - economic, institutional development, democratic liberalism, media freedom, corruption - do not generally paint a very favorable picture of Ukraine, even with comparison to the other post-Communist societies in the region," said Dr. Havrylyshyn.

Although Ukraine's implementation of economic reforms has been sluggish, Dr. Havrylyshyn said he believes that not all is gloom and doom. "On the positive side, one must list the established fact of an independent nation, the recent economic recovery whatever its limitations, the popularity and name-recognition of its sports and entertainment personalities ... it's participation for better or worse in peacekeeping missions, increasing integration of its populace into global networks."

A brighter picture of Ukraine emerged from the discussion on social transformation. The long-time professor of sociology at the University of Toronto Dr. Wsewolod Isajiw stated that the development of a new civil society in Ukraine is incumbent on the development of free media, a fair legal system, uniform law enforcement and the proliferation of community organizations - "NGBs, non-government bodies" as Prof. Isajiw put it - which in the case of Ukraine would include private businesses, private schools and hospitals. More importantly, Ukrainian society should nurture trust both in private and public spheres of life, he said. As it is, people trust neither the government, nor its agencies. Consequently, a kind of private justice system has emerged: double book keeping, paying out "protection money," etc.

Despite the cynicism of some of his younger colleagues, Dr. Isajiw suggested that the building of civil society does not necessarily have to be associated with NGOs, as it is in Western democracies, but rather with private small business and community projects because they are producing new civil consciousness.

Some of the cynicism of American political scientists and anthropologists, however, "is well-founded," stated Dr. Sarah Phillips, professor of anthropology at Indiana University. "Part of the disillusionment among civil society critics stems from a fundamental misunderstanding - the tendency to equate civil society with NGOs." The trouble is that middle-class intelligentsia in Ukraine often use their positions within an NGO as a springboard for launching themselves into business. On top of that, some NGOs "have close ties to people highly placed in the government, [indeed] are often married to them," said Dr. Phillips. Others use NGOs as an entry point into government employment. In short, transferring the terminology of Western liberal democracies into the Ukrainian context does present certain difficulties.

Dr. Catherine Wanner, professor of history and religious studies at Penn State University, like Dr. Isajiw, spoke about the lack of trust. Having worked in Ukraine for well over a year, she suggested that the rebuilding of both trust and civil society could start at the level of the family. "I mean, one of the legacies of the Soviet period is that it left in its wake a really skeletal family structure: there is rampant divorce, very low birth rate, and unfortunately the life expectancy is falling, so you have less and less multi-generational families," she said. And yet, such families form cohesive groups which could enable their members to become pro-active on many issues, thus building a new civil order.

Dr. Wanner, who is currently researching the Evangelical movement in Ukraine, said in an interview with Radio Canada International that: "Ukraine and the Baltics of the whole former Soviet Union have the best record in terms of religious tolerance and respect for human rights in the religious domain. The result of that has been a real revival of religious life in Ukraine. It seems to me that, that is one area where you do have a civil society being born and functioning. Religious organizations are beginning to assume some of the functions of the state [by] providing elderly care, increasing access to medical care or providing clothing or soup kitchens."

The discussion on identity transformation was interesting, even though it was mainly concerned with methodology. Prof. Nancy Popson of the Kennan Institute, Washington, talked about the impact on Ukrainian society of the arrival of Kurds, Vietnamese, Pakistanis, Uzbeks and Chechens, as well as the immigration of Ukrainians to Europe, most notably Portugal and North America, where they usually work in the services.

Lowell Barrington, professor of political science at Marquette University, whose topic was language, spoke largely about research methodology. He also suggested that identifying with a given region might be more important than speaking a particular language. But, Dr. Arel remarked that the concept of ethnicity in Eastern Europe differs from that of North America, that is, in Ukraine ethnic identity is of paramount importance even though in everyday life people might speak Russian.

Oxana Shevel, associate professor of political science at Perdue University, gave a very detailed paper on how various shifts in policy influenced the liberalization of the Ukrainian citizenship laws. What is interesting, Dr. Shevel said, is that "citizenship has become an important marker of identity. The surveys that have been done in Ukraine show that the Ukrainian population actually identifies with citizenship."

If anyone in the listening audience thought that all the changes are taking place in Ukraine, they were in for a surprise, because the field of Ukrainian studies outside Ukraine is also undergoing a transformation. During the post-World War II era, Dr. Frank Sysyn said in his speech, Ukrainians arriving in North America tried to re-create the whole of Ukrainian civil society outside Ukraine. In Canada, Ukrainian periodicals flourished, Ukrainian language and history courses were introduced into high school and university curricula. In United States, a community fund drive established the Ukrainian Chair at Harvard. The Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, funded by public money, opened its doors at University of Alberta in Edmonton. Nevertheless, with the declining enrollment of the late 1980s, the merging of Slavic programs with other departments was inevitable, as was the introduction of non-Ukrainian professors. So, we now have American, British, Canadian, French, and German Ukrainian studies specialists.

Dr. Sysyn, director of the Peter Jacyk Center for Ukrainian Historical Research at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta, said he believes that the transfer of knowledge between the previous Ukrainian generation of academics and the present non-Ukrainian successors is almost complete. In the near future, most research in Ukrainian studies will be based in Ukraine again. And that means that a number of scholars from Ukraine will be working in Western universities, as is already the case. With these changes, challenging interdisciplinary forums like the one in Ottawa will become more frequent.

Any doubts as to the future of Ukrainian studies was dispelled by Dr. Mark von Hagen's keynote speech titled "What have we learned in studying Ukraine: Reflections of a Historian." To the Columbia University professor of Ukrainian history, the distinctiveness of Ukrainian history, culture, political order and social system, as opposed to those of Russia and Poland, is a lesson of primary importance, because neither the splitting of Ukraine between Russia and the Polish Commonwealth, its partition between the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires, nor Stalin's genocide by famine, were able to eliminate that distinctiveness. He noted that the rivalries between Western and Eastern European powers culminating in both World Wars were responsible for the suffering inflicted on the Ukrainian people: the infamous Eastern front, bloodier and more ecologically destructive than anything experienced in western Europe, the reprisals, the labor camps.

Dr. von Hagen then went on to outline Ukraine's role as a cultural and intellectual mediator bridging Eastern and Western cultures, Eastern and Western Christendom. In fact, the recognition of the distinctiveness of the Ukrainian experience has challenged old paradigms with the result that the history of Eastern Europe will have to be rewritten - this time from the perspective of Kyiv.

Although discussions in Ottawa focused on various problems connected with the development of a civil society in Ukraine, the general atmosphere was not all that pessimistic. Despite the condemnation of the political elite, there were expressions of cautious optimism, which in hindsight, seem almost prophetic in view of the new democratic movement in Ukraine. Certainly the information bank that the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at University of Ottawa has amassed has gone a long way toward helping the world understand what to make of Ukraine.

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