Theses on Ukraine: Dialogue with an Emerging Leadership

ABSTRACT

Between May and July 2014, when the crisis in south-eastern Ukraine was reaching its peak, a school of political leadership was organised in Belgorod by the Institute of Globalisation and Social Movements and the “New Rus” Centre for leaders and activists of the protest movements in the region, including Donetsk, Lugansk, Nikolaev, Odessa, Kharkov and Sumy. This article contains a description of the survey conducted with school cadets and reveals the political views and preferences, as well as the goals and expectations of people who are in the middle of the Ukrainian conflict. Based on survey data, the author presents conclusions about the content of the political conflict in the Ukrainian south-east.

KEYWORDS:

• Ukraine
• sociology of conflict
• logic of social resistance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Ochkina Anna, PhD, is associate professor and head of the Department of Methodology of Science, Social Theories and Technologies at the Penza State University in Penza City, Russian Federation. She is deputy director of the Institute of Globalisation Studies and Social Movements (it is the think-tank under the leadership of Doctor Boris Kagarlitsky, based in Moscow and with regional network in Russia). Her research mainly focuses on the genesis, development and dismantling of the welfare state, social tension and social protests, and gender order and gender inequality. She is the author of many articles in Russian, English, Spanish, French, German and Portuguese. Her latest monograph in collaboration with Boris Kagarlitsky is Condition, Trends and Development Prospects of the Trade Union Movement in Modern Russia (in Russian).

Notes

1 There were 77 men and 57 women. Their age distribution was as follows: less than 20, 2.2%; 20–24, 7.5%; 25–29, 10.4%; 30–34, 10.4%; 35–39, 23.9%; 40–44, 18.7%; 45–49, 15.7%; 50–54, 9.6%; 60–64, 1.5%. Their education level was as follows: basic school, 1.5%; high school only, 7.5%; vocational/technical college, 29.9%; one university degree, 44.8% (this is higher than the average for Ukraine); two or more university degrees, 5.2%; PhD (ученая степень), 1.5%; no response, 8.4%.

2 The following parties and movements were specified by the respondents: the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine (twice), Popular Unity, and Justice against Fascism.

3 It should be borne in mind that Sberbank froze the accounts of organisations supplying aid to the south-east. Meanwhile the GAZ Group, belonging to the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, supplied diesel motors for the production and refitting of tanks for the Ukrainian government’s army. President Poroshenko himself was forced to admit that to a significant degree, the battle-readiness of his forces is maintained thanks to supplies of spare parts from Russia. See http://www.starguard.ru/articles/rubric_21/article_861/, and http://red-sovet.su/post/23444/putins-russia-a-reliable-partner-fascist-tank-builders.