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Ukraine & Croatia:
Problems of
Post-communist Societies




Edited by
Mislav Kukoc & Volodomyr Polokhalo






Croatian Commission for UNESCO



Among others, the Croatian MOST network is based on co-operation between Croatia and Ukraine. In June 1996, a scientific meeting between experts from the two countries took place in Kiev, Ukraine. The outcome has been published in the book of proceedings Ukraine & Croatia: Problems of Post-communist Societies.

Overview

The publication compares Ukrainian and Croatian perspectives on the current changes taking place in Eastern Europe. Using the paradigm of 'post-Communism' the authors undertake a comparative analysis of social transitions in Eastern Europe, and evaluate ideological tendencies in the region. They suggest developing a multidimensional analytical framework sensitive to economic and political, institutional, social and psychological issues. The empirical contributions focus on the problem of state-formation in the Ukraine and Croatia. On the one hand, the newly independent states claim legitimacy by referring to a pre-Communist and ethnically rooted national symbolism, thus giving rise to multi-ethnic conflicts. On the other hand, it is argued that the administrative structure in several countries in the region is still built on the power of the old nomenklatura, and that the Communist elites have profited from the political reforms after the breakdown of Communism, transforming themselves into what can be called a new 'mafiocracy' or 'kleptocracy'. The resulting system of 'neo-totalitarianism', which the authors trace back to persisting power dynamics of a dominating state and authoritarian attitudes among the population, is the cause of the weakness of civil society and serious deficiencies in the development of democracy.

On the basis of their analysis the contributors propose concrete policies to overcome 'neo-totalitarian' trends in the Ukraine and Croatia and to strengthen democratic institutions, a legal system based on civil liberties and a free, pluralist and tolerant political culture. Among other things, they call for close co-operation with religious institutions which, under Communist rule, provided opportunities to articulate political opposition, and suggest promoting integration into the political and legal system of the European Union.

In a declaration on the basic problems of Croatian and Ukrainian post-Communism, the authors articulate their intention to continue scientific cooperation and to contribute to further democratization of Eastern European societies.

Table of contents


  • Preface

    Darko Polšek
    A Few Thoughts on the Social Inertia of Countries in Transition

    Oleh Bilyi
    Ideology and Utopia in Postcommunist Transformations in Ukraine

    Antun Mijatovic
    Boundaries of Democratization in Transition

    Serhiy Makeyev & Natalia Kostenko
    The Uninvented Fifth World and Post-Soviet Ukraine

    Mislav Kukoc
    Postcommunism and Multiculturalism

    Slaven Letica
    Post-post-communism in Central and Eastern Europe

    Yevhen Bystrytsky
    National State in Ukraine: The Problem of Legitimation

    Josip Kregar
    The Effects of Postsocialist Reforms: Temporary Diagnosis

    Vedrana Spajic-Vrkaš
    Cultural Discontinuity and Search for Identity:
    The Case of Post-communist Croatia

    Volodymyr Polokhalo
    Postcommunist Totalitarianism in Present-Day Ukraine

    Oleksandr Dergachov
    The Neototalitarian Paradigm of State-Building in Ukraine

    Esad Cimic
    Religion Under Communism and Post-communism

    Ivan Grubišic
    Catholicism and Post-communism in Croatia

    Boris Graljuk
    The Ukrainians: The Ethnic Minority
    on the Post-communist Divison Lines of the Former Yugoslavia

    Yevhen Pashchenko
    Ukraine - Croatia: In Search of Analogies

    A Declaration on the Basic Problems
    of Croatian and Ukrainian Post-communism

  • About the authors

    For further information, please contact:

    Croatian Commission for UNESCO
    Ministarstvo kulture
    Ulica kneza Mislava 18, HR-10000 Zagrheb
    Republic of Croatia
    Tel: +385 1 4556 751 / 4556 510
    Fax: +385 1 4556 510
    E-mail: natcom@UNESCO.hr

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