Ukraine´s Civil Society: Drawbacks as Stimuli?

By addressing such concepts as external/internal political efficacy, political opportunities, mobilising structures, organizational capacities and state policies I would like to analyse how they account for the emergence and development of NGOs in Ukraine. Two civil society organizations “Wave of Freedom” and “Pora” will be analysed in terms of their composition, structure, activities, etc. in order to determine their formula of success and apply their lessons to a wider range of CSOs. General factors contributing to the weakness of CSOs in Ukraine are both a product of communist legacies and deliborate sabotage of CSO-friendly policy elaboration and implementation by the state. Reasons of CSOs failure to function properly and provide a platform for participation from organisational perspective will be analyzed.. The Conception for Civil Society Development, which was introduced by the government as a policy paper in 2007 but not fully implemented till now will also be analysed. Further legal acts which regulate the operation of CSOs will be assessed in order to detect main problems of national legislation and realisation. In spite of positive post-2004 legislative proposals the Ukrainian state still does not see the third sector as a viable partner as far as consultation, policy formulation and service provision are concerned. The government neither created necessary stimuli for citizens and business to support CSO projects nor did it introduce favourable terms for their creation. The situation exacerbated when Victor Yanukovych, who is well-known for his anti-civil society attitudes won the Ukrainian Presidency in 2010.