The Zigzags of Political Regime Democratization in Ukraine

Abstract

The article is dedicated to discussion of the main features of political regime transformation in post-soviet Ukraine. In definition of political regime the au thor follows the actor-centered neo-institutional approach that allows focusing on individual and collective social practices determined by an actor’s interests, situation, and strategy of action, as well as limited by his/her habits, social skills, resources, and rules. The author argues an illiberal democratic character of former political regime, which was embodied at the end of 1990s in Ukraine, and discusses the zigzags of its future development. The question about social and political factors of the Orange Revolution explosion is also examined.