Free Essay About Political Science

Ukraine

Ukraine is a post-Soviet State that is located in the Eastern Europe. It has a long history of struggle for independence and long history of political turmoil. In 1991 this country proclaimed its independence. After 5 years the Constitution of Ukraine entered into force. Yet Ukraine has kept close relations with such CIS countries as Russia and Belarus.
Though this country more than 20 years ago started building democracy and declared its interest in cooperation with all developed countries in building peace and security together with sharing European values, still this aims are not reached. Speaking in terms of conceptual model of developed countries (OAOs) and developing countries (LAOs), Ukraine definitely possesses LAOs main features.
Elite factions (or oligarchs, as they are called in Ukraine) divide control of the economy of the country between themselves and get profits out of their share. This access to wealth creates necessity to control violence in the country. Thus elites limit access to labor, land, capital for other population groups, bureaucracy is sky high and business initiatives are surpassed (Douglas North et al.).
Violence in Ukraine is dealt with by police officers who report to the officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. This establishment proved to be inefficient during the EuroMaidan events and now they face challenge in the East of Ukraine. People in Ukraine have never felt secured and protected by government forces. This public service was used for the benefit of particular elites who gained access to control of it by bribing or fraud.
This military and police forces respond to the state but the state itself is governed by the elite factions. That is why the orders the state gives to these forces are made for the benefit of these groups. There were no military or police take overs in this country. The recent events showed that people of Ukraine are tired of lawlessness and tyranny and also of being unprotected by forces that are devoted to grant security in the country.
Also in a time of revolution there have appeared new non-governmental organizations such as “Praviy Sector” that state their aim at building nationalist state and now are not controlled by the government. Members of such organizations are armed and they keep their presents in the conflict territory of the East of Ukraine. They do not commit violence or threaten people but they show their grievances against the authorities actions.
The elite groups are represented in all branches of power in Ukraine. They are called oligarchs and they created network of corruption and bureaucracy. According to the Constitution of Ukraine, a deputy can not carry business activity but in fact everyone among 450 deputies of the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament) does. They do everything to eliminate competition in the spheres where big business is represented (metallurgy, energy, gas transit and so on) to make greater profits as monopolists. Tenders are won always by those who have bribed a responsible person in advance.
Government often shows strong opposition to any reforms if they are not beneficial for particular elite faction. Thus any institutional setup mostly hinders development and growth of the whole country for the benefit of making fortune by a few people.

Works Cited

North, D. et al. Summary. Limited Access Orders in the Developing World: A New Approach to the Problems of Development. By Douglass C. North et al. GSDRC Applied Knowledge Services, Sept. 2007. Web. Nov. 2007. ‹http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3989›.
“Polity IV Country Report 2010: Ukraine”. Systemicpeace.org, 1 June 2011. Web. n.d. ‹http://www.systemicpeace.org/polity/Ukraine2010.pdf›.
The US Department of Justice. Constitution of Ukraine. 2004. PDF file. ‹http://www.justice.gov/eoir/vll/country/foreign_law/ukraine/constitution.pdf›.