1 / 15

The State of Democracy in the Ukraine

The State of Democracy in the Ukraine. An Examination of Civil Society and the Media Recep Aktas, Alesha Black, Shawn Mongin, Manmeet Mehta. Ukraine and the EU. Economic-EU is Ukraine’s largest Trading Partner Geographic-Ukraine is a bridge country

nicole
Download Presentation

The State of Democracy in the Ukraine

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The State of Democracy in the Ukraine An Examination of Civil Society and the Media Recep Aktas, Alesha Black, Shawn Mongin, Manmeet Mehta

  2. Ukraine and the EU • Economic-EU is Ukraine’s largest Trading Partner • Geographic-Ukraine is a bridge country • Political-Ukraine is a Transitional Government that is Progressing toward Democracy

  3. Justification • Objective: To advise the EU on the state of democracy in Ukraine and make recommendations on the role of EU in that process • Structure: Civil Society and Media as indicators of democratic health • Perspectives: EU Expansion, Importance of Democratization of Eastern bloc states

  4. Ukraine Background

  5. EU-Ukraine Relations • Partnership and Co-operation Agreement(PCA), • European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), new patterns in the movement of people, capital, goods and services • The Action Plan would be the main tool for ENP implementation • The EU Supports Ukraine’s accession to the WTO, and has provided technical assistance to this end • Ukraine’s EU prospect is Ukraine’s strategic goal • Article 49 of the Treaty on the European Union

  6. Orange Revolution

  7. Orange Revolution • Direction of Ukraine takes Center stage in 2004 Presidential Election • Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych supports maintaining ties to Russia, Opposition Candidate Viktor Yushchenko promotes expanding relationship with EU • Nov. 24, 2005 Election Board declares Yanukovych Presdient by slim margin of victory, Western election observers allege wide scale voter fraud. • Yushchenko supporters protest election results. Supporters cloaked in orange scarves peacefully lay siege to Government Buildings • Supreme Court requires new election • December 26, 2005 Yushchenko wins Presidency

  8. Recent Developments • Sep. 2005 President Yushchenko's chief of staff resigns and makes corruption allegations against several senior officials. • Sep. 2005 President Yushchenko dismisses Orange Revolution ally Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her entire government. • Sep. 2005 President Yushchenko and Presidential rival, former PM Victor Yanukovych, sign cooperation deal. • Nov. 2005 At the Focus on Eastern Europe conference, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey said Switzerland wants to smooth the way for Ukraine's entry into Europe.

  9. Current State 2551 Newspapers 1374 Magazines Internet Boom, 2.18 million internet users Media Control Violence against Journalists Criteria for Media Health Freedom House Criteria: legal, political, economic Change in Rating Cautious Optimism Media

  10. Recommendations • Language • Ownership of media • Taxes • Licensure • Press Law • NGOs and Watchdogs • Training

  11. Civil Society & Democracy Edward Gibbon said of the ancient Athenians, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free." Citizen Sector ( The Third Sector) • Participatory Society • Free and fair elections • Increasing the role of education • Reorienting public administrators towards greater citizen involvement • Expanding research into and conducting regular evaluations of the state of civil society itself

  12. Mapping Civil Society : Post Orange Revolution • 1 in 5 Ukrainians took part in protests in November and December 2004 • Freedom House Ranking: From 4.0(1997) to 3.0(2005) • Sep 2005, 40,000 NGO’s registered • Changes in the rules of play / concept paper • Justice Ministry’s working group • NGO’s actively defend their rights

  13. Mapping Civil Society : Post Orange Revolution • Community councils attached to State Administrations • Independent policy analysis of first 100 days of Presidency • Government – NGO Collaborations on Community Development • Foreign funded projects • EU • World Bank • CIDA

  14. Civil Society - Recommendations • Continued engagement with civil society organizations – non-combative • Technical Assistance • Capacity building and training government officials • Models of participation, monitoring and assessment • Human rights based approach to development – UN • Possible issues • Administrative reforms in system of institutions of public governance • Judicial reform • Policy making procedures

  15. Recommendations • Broad Recommendations • The “Big Picture”

More Related