Understanding Ukrainian Politics: Power, Politics, And Institutional Design

Contents......Page 5
List of Tables, Figure, Appendices, and Maps......Page 7
Acknowledgments......Page 9
1 Introduction......Page 13
The Puzzle: Authoritarianism in Ukraine......Page 14
Ukraine’s Democratic Shortcomings......Page 15
Institutional Design Versus Power Politics......Page 16
Specific Empirical Questions......Page 18
Broad Themes......Page 19
Roots of the Problem: The Institutional Legacy of the Soviet Union......Page 23
Alternative Explanations......Page 24
Ukraine in the Post-Soviet Region......Page 26
2 Institutions and Democracy Questioning the Connections......Page 33
Qualifying the Notions of Democracy and Democratization......Page 34
Institutions and Democracy: Key Questions......Page 41
Presidential Versus Parliamentary Rule......Page 44
Defining Presidential and Parliamentary Systems......Page 45
The Case for Presidentialism......Page 46
The Case for Parliamentarism......Page 47
Presidentialism Versus Parliamentarism in Ukraine......Page 48
Parliamentary Electoral Laws: Proportionality Versus Majoritarianism......Page 50
The Problem of Weak Political Parties......Page 53
What the Institutional Design Literature Does Not Tell Us......Page 55
3 Power and Institutions Overview of the Argument......Page 58
Societal Fragmentation as a Challenge......Page 62
Institutional Design......Page 64
The Missing Dimension of Institutional Analysis: Rules on Parties and the Parliament......Page 68
Summary......Page 83
4 The Evolution of Ukrainian Politics, 1989–2006......Page 84
The Demise of Soviet Rule in Ukraine, 1989–1992......Page 85
The Road to Parliamentary and Presidential Elections: 1993–1994......Page 92
The 1998 Parliamentary Elections......Page 95
The 1999 Presidential Election......Page 96
The Path to Hyperpresidentialism: The Fallout from Kuchma’s Election Victory......Page 98
The 2000 Constitutional Referendum......Page 100
The Gongadze Affair......Page 102
Parliamentary Elections, 2002......Page 103
Post-Revolution Ukraine......Page 108
Appendix 4.1: Key Figures in Ukrainian Politics, 1991–2006......Page 111
Appendix 4.2: Political Leaders of Ukraine, 1991–2006......Page 112
Why Are Societal Cleavages Important?......Page 113
Cleavages in the Ukrainian Parliament......Page 115
Conceptual and Methodological Issues......Page 116
Data: Regional Cleavages in the Verkhovna Rada......Page 119
The Salience of Traditional Left–Right Cleavages......Page 123
Leonid Kuchma Between Left and Right......Page 125
Shifting Alliances......Page 128
Implications of Parliamentary Voting Patterns......Page 129
Conclusion......Page 133
6 The Constitution and Executive-Legislative Relations......Page 135
Overview: The Tortured Birth of the Ukrainian Constitution......Page 136
Origins of the 1996 Constitution......Page 138
Would Ukraine Be Better Off with a Parliamentary System?......Page 153
Conclusion......Page 157
Explaining the Absence of a Majority......Page 158
Institutions and Coalition Building......Page 162
Electoral Laws......Page 163
Revised Laws for the 2006 Elections......Page 173
Effects of the Presidential Election Law on the Party System......Page 176
The Self-Reinforcing Nature of a Weak Party System......Page 177
Ukraine’s Electoral Law Dilemma......Page 180
Conclusions......Page 182
8 Parliamentary Rules and Party Development......Page 184
Parties, Blocs, and Factions in the Ukrainian Parliament......Page 185
Parliamentary Rules and Parliamentary Fragmentation......Page 190
Voting Rules and Party Coherence......Page 193
Voting Rules and Parliamentary Immobility......Page 195
The Adoption of the Imperative Mandate......Page 196
Conclusion......Page 200
9 How Power Politics Trumps Institutional Design......Page 202
Selective Law Enforcement......Page 203
Control of Media......Page 208
Patronage......Page 210
Voting Fraud......Page 213
Controlling of the Judiciary......Page 214
The Failure of Power Politics in the 2004 Presidential Elections......Page 217
Division Among the Elites......Page 220
The Limits of “Political Technology”......Page 221
Machine Politics After the Orange Revolution......Page 223
10 Ukraine in Comparative Perspective Electoral Authoritarianism in the Former Soviet Union and Beyond......Page 225
A General Model of Electoral Authoritarianism......Page 226
Summarizing the State of Affairs in the Former Soviet Union......Page 227
Russia......Page 228
Armenia......Page 232
Kazakhstan......Page 236
Kyrgyzstan......Page 239
Malaysia......Page 243
Venezuela......Page 244
Comparing and Contrasting the Cases: Toward a General Understanding of Electoral Authoritarianism......Page 246
A Broader Perspective......Page 249
11 Beyond the Orange Revolution An Agenda for Further Reform......Page 251
Power Politics Versus Institutional Design in the Post-Kuchma Era......Page 252
Institutional Change: Assessing the 2004 Reforms......Page 254
An Agenda for Further Reform......Page 259
Conclusion......Page 265
1. Introduction......Page 269
2. Institutions and Democracy: Questioning the Connections......Page 270
3. Power and Institutions: Overview of the Argument......Page 274
4. The Evolution of Ukrainian Politics 1989–2006......Page 275
5. Societal Divisions and the Challenge of Liberal Democracy in Ukraine......Page 278
6. The Constitution and Executive-Legislative Relations......Page 281
7. The Electoral Law: Cause or Effect of Weak Parties?......Page 283
8. Parliamentary Rules and Party Development......Page 286
9. How Power Politics Trumps Institutional Design......Page 288
10. Ukraine in Comparative Perspective: Electoral Authoritarianism in the Former Soviet Union and Beyond......Page 291
11. Beyond the Orange Revolution: An Agenda for Further Reform......Page 295
Index......Page 297