The Post-Modernization Theory as a Methodological Instrument for Studying the Crises of the State and the Society in Ukraine of the 2010s. Author: Leonid Kyianytsia

Abstract

ABSTRACT

The development of the post-Soviet politics has been viewed as a rather complicated and non-transparent subject, which makes the task of its conceptualization and theorization all the more urgent one. The case of Ukraine as a major post-Soviet nation situated on the cross-roads of the geopolitical influence of Russian Federation and the West deserves a particularly in-depth attention in that regard, as the country’s succession of political crises from 1991 on would raise the question of their theoretical evaluation and understanding. Accordingly, this research seeks to highlight the peculiarity of the aforementioned crises on the basis of the post-modernization theory – a major theoretical framework devised to succeed the classical modernization theory in respect of explaining the societal development of contemporary advanced societies under the condition of post-modernity. The present article strives to apply the theoretical framework of the post-modernization theory to the specific case of Ukraine by focusing on the cases of four major political crises that have transpired in the nation between 1991 and 2019, namely the ‘Ukraine without Kuchma’ protests of 2000-2001, the Orange Revolution of 2004, the ‘Euromaidan’ and the separatist movement in the East in 2013-2014, and the polarization following the 2019 presidential election. With the reference to theoretical concepts derived from the field of the post-modernization theory, it is argued that the post-modernization theory may indeed be an effective methodological instrument for comprehending those developments as well as for placing them into their effective global historical and political context.