The Moulding of Ukraine

The Constitutional Politics of State Formation

Kataryna Wolczuk

• Publisher: Central European University Press
• Year: 2001
• Print ISBN:
  9789639241244
• eBook ISBN:
  9786155211645
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: Law

With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, a number of new states were created that had little or no claim to any previous existence. Ukraine is one of the countries that faced not only political, social and economic transformation, but also state formation and the redefinition of national identity. This book uses Ukraine as a case study in trying to trace the key moments of decision making in the course of creating a new state while shedding the legacies of "Soviet-type" statehood. The Moulding of Ukraine offers a systematic examination of competing ideological visions of statehood and discusses them against the backdrop of historical traditions in Ukraine. This well-documented and lucidly written book is the only coherent account available in English of the process of constitutional reform, offering an insight into post-Soviet Ukrainian politics. A useful addition to university course reading lists in Ukrainian studies, post-Soviet studies, post-communist democratization, comparative constitutionalism, state-building and institutional design.

Table of contents

• cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Tables
• List of Abbreviations
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• 1. Introduction: Constitutions and Statehoods
• Constitutions and Constitutionalism: the Anglo–Saxon and European Continental Perspectives
• Functions of the Constitution
• Constitution and State Formation
• Plan of the Book
• Notes
• 2. In Search of a Tradition: Discontinuities of Statehood in Ukraine's History
• From Kyiv Rus’ to the Hetmanate
• The Ukrainian Revolution
• Ukraine’s National ’Awakening’ in the Nineteenth Century
• The Ukrainian Revolution, 1917–1921: an Overview
• The Ukrainian State, 1917–1921
• The Political Community
• The Institutional Framework
• Institutions at the Centre
• The Territory and Territorial–Administrative Model
• The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic: 1919–1991
• The Institutional Framework: the System of Soviets
• The Territorial Changes and Administrative Division
• The Political Community
• Conclusion
• Notes
• 3. Independence Without a Vision: Constitution Making in 1990–1991
• Ukrainian Society under the Soviet Union: an Overview
• Ukraine on the Eve of Independence
• The Passage to Independence
• The Limits of Change: Constitutional Debates and Institutional Reforms, 1990-1991
• The Form of Government
• Socialism in Sovereign Ukraine: Ideology of the New State
• Defining the ‘Sovereign People’
• Conclusion
• Notes
• 4. Simulating Reforms Amidst Constitutional Disarray: Ukraine Under Kravchuk's Presidency
• The Political Scene after the Independence
• The National-Democrats
• Centre
• The ‘Former 239’ and the Left
• Executive–Legislative Relations: from Impasse to Crisis
• The Aggrandisement of the Presidency
• Kravchuk as the Chief Executive
• The Rise of the Prime Minister
• A Stalemate
• Constitution Drafting, 1992–1993
• Conclusion
• Notes
• 5. How to Organise the State? Constitutional Debates After the 1994 Elections
• The 1994 Parliamentary and Presidential Elections
• The New Parliament: an Undecided Balance
• The New President: the Eclectic Electoral Platform
• Defining Ukrainian Statehood: the Constitutional Issues and Preferences
• The Form of Government
• The Left: Norodovladia
• The National-Democrats: away from the Soviets
• The President: in Pursuit of Executive Powers
• The Territorial Framework of the State
• Federalism versus Unitary Models
• Federalism
• Unitarism
• Crimea
• The Unitary Model: ‘Reformers’, ‘Restorationists’ and Decentralisation
• Regional Units
• The Role and Powers of the Regional Self-governing Bodies
• Representation of Regions at the Centre
• Defining the ‘Political Community’
• The National-Democrats: the ‘Ukrainian People’
• The Left: ‘the People of Ukraine’
• The Parliamentary Centre and the President
• Conclusion
• Notes
• 6. The Passage of the Constitution: Process, Actors, and Strategies
• From a ‘Little’ to a ‘Big’ Constitution
• The Unpromising Re-launch of Constitution Making (July-December 1994)
• The ‘Little Constitution’ (December 1994–June 1995)
• The Constitutional Commission (Summer 1995–February 1996)
• The March Draft
• The Parliamentary Commission (March–May 1996)
• Plenary Debates in Parliament (June 1996)
• The Constitutional Night (27–28 June 1996)
• Actors’ Preferences, Strategies and Institutional Resources
• The Presidency
• The Left
• The National-Democrats
• The Centre
• Conclusion
• Notes
• 7. Ukraine as a Nation State: The Conception of Statehood in the 1996 Constitution
• The Political Community
• Private Property, Rights and Liberties
• The Institutional Framework
• Institutions at the Centre
• The Territorial–Administrative Model of the State
• Conclusion
• Notes
• 8. Ukraine Under the New Constitution: The Anatomy of a Crisis
• ‘The Morning after’: Executive–Legislative Relations under the New Constitution
• The 1998 Parliamentary Elections
• A Futile Search for a Parliamentary Majority
• From the Presidential Elections to a Constitutional Crisis
• Tipping the Balance towards Super-presidentialism?
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Primary Sources
• Archival Materials and Documents
• Interviews Conducted by the Author
• Ukrainian Newspapers and Periodicals Used for the Research
• Secondary Sources
• General
• Books and Articles on Ukraine (in English)
• Books and Articles on Ukraine (in Ukrainian, Polish or Russian
• Index