Good Governance and Policy Addressing Poverty Alleviation in Ukraine

After almost two decades of independence from the Soviet regime, Ukraine – a young European state, inceptive democracy – turns out in a deep political, economic and social crisis. The inherited ‘bad governance’ with its widespread poverty and ubiquitous corruption have led to overall dissatisfaction with politics and political mistrust. The massive protests of 2001-2004 have finally resulted in an outburst of the Orange Revolution in fall 2004. The renewed political elites with a new vision of Ukrainian breakthrough, refreshed state structures, inspired citizenry and NGO’s were expected to bring about a powerful change in political institutions, forums and organizations. Put differently, the Revolution was supposed to bring in an international organizational concept of ‘good governance’ into Ukrainian policy making. This paper examines Ukrainian governance and its implications on poverty alleviation within the post-revolutionary period (2005-2008). The research dwells on the three revolutionary lines of good governance in the Ukrainian nation: accountability, transparency and the rule of law. It is carried out by means of documentary analysis of the post-revolutionary legislation.