War and Peace
The “Euro-Revolution” in Ukraine
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
After Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych unexpectedly declined to sign the association agreement with the European Union in November 2013, tens of thousands of people gathered on Kiev’s Independence Square to protest this about-face. The protest turned into a broad movement against the corrupt regime and for a life in dignity. The Yanukovych regime tried to stop the protests by using force. In the conflict, over 80 people died. In the protestors’ eyes, the regime lost all legitimacy; shortly thereafter, parliament deposed the president. Ukraine is in a deep crisis of sovereignty and is facing its greatest political, economic, and social challenges since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
(Osteuropa 1/2014, pp. 7–24)