Democracy in Ukraine: Four years after the Euromaidan

Today, four years after the start of the Euromaidan, which called for pro-democratic and pro-European choices, Ukrainians are again encouraged to take to the streets, with tent camps of protesters rising near the walls of the Verkhovna Rada. Meanwhile the opposition is again accusing the state of corruption and inefficiency as oligarchs have taken over the offices of high-ranking officials and control the political activity of many parliamentarians. Furthermore, the work of the president and the government still has an extremely low level of public support. Does this mean that Ukraine’s second attempt at a democratic transformation has failed? This question is difficult to answer because the process of political and economic transformation, which began four years ago, remains unfinished. Nevertheless, several important features of the current Ukrainian situation give us some sense of Ukraine’s progress in this direction.