Four years after the 2013–2014 Euromaidan uprising, a mass mobilization in which approximately 20 percent of Ukraine’s population either protested against the government or supported the protesters, Ukrainian civic activists have still not seen their demands for far-reaching political change met, according to analysts Natalia Shapovalova and Olga Burlyuk.
A closer investigation of civil society efforts in different sectors, however, shows that the post-revolutionary picture is different this time compared to Ukraine’s previous eruptions of protest, they write for Carnegie’s Civic Research Network:
Unlike in the aftermath of the Orange Revolution, a mass mobilization against the fraudulent presidential election in 2004, Ukraine’s civic activists did not simply go home after 2014’s protests. They organized to support the army and the displaced population as well as to advocate for reforms and monitor their implementation. They did this through both existing and new civic groups and networks, such as the Reanimation Package of Reforms. They combined forces and created coalitions among civic and political actors to promote reforms. Many older civil society organizations transformed themselves by seeking new ways to connect with wider society and learn the culture of compromise and cooperation.
The Euromaidan has had a lasting impact on the culture of civic engagement by institutionalizing the social norms and values spread following the revolutionary moment, they add. Yet, the impact these efforts have had on the state remains debated. RTWT
