Description

Ukraine has had a turbulent year. It has experienced yet another massive popular movement – Maidan II, which has led to a new opening with a chance to cleance the system and introduce real reforms. That has been followed by Russian annexation of Crimea and its aggression in Donbas; Ukraine has become a country in war. The protracted economic recession, Yanukovich’s legacy and the war expenditures have brought the country to the edge of a default. The tasks at hand are formidable: withstand an aggression, reinvigorate economy and introduce reforms.

The last year has proved wrong the simplistic picture of Ukraine as divided in West and East. It has turned out to be much more diversified. In the so-called “East” we saw Northeast, Donbas, Southwest, Crimea, – all of them different from each other. The Southwest of Ukraine emerged without V. Yanukovich and his Party of regions – its most frequent electoral choice previously. Geostrategically it has found itself locked between Russian occupied Crimea and pro-Russian breakway region of Transnistria. Economically the region had to cope with the consequences of Crimean annexation, war situation, lack of investment, slowdown in number of visitors and other factors. Culturally the fight was now in full scale for the “soul” of the region: is it, indeed, a part of the “Russian world” or “Novorossiya” (as Mr.Putin would imply) or is it rather a specific, but yet loyal and integral part of the Ukrainian nation-state? Can it be a former considering its predominantly Russophone character?

The city of Odesa – regional hub of trade, industry, culture, education, politics – had to define itself in these extraordinary circumstances. Some fights are verbal and others are physical (like the events of May 2, 2014 have shown). These struggles of Ukraine, its Southwest and city of Odesa are, of course, far from being over.

Volodymyr Dubovyk has graduated from the history department of the Odessa State University in 1992. He has received his Ph.D. (Candidate of Sciences) in political science/international relations from the same university in 1996 and has remained with OSU (now ONU – Odessa National University) in various positions up to the present day. V. Dubovyk has been an Associate Professor and Assistant Chairperson at the Department of International Relations since 1996 and, also, a Director of the Center for International Studies since 1999. Among his teaching and research interests are U.S. foreign policy, U.S.- Ukraine relations, theory of international relations, Black Sea regional security, international conflict studies, foreign policy of Ukraine. He has had his fellowships at the Kennan Institute, W. Wilson International Center for Scholars in 1997 (RSEP), at the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM), University of Maryland in 2002 (CI program) and again at the Kennan Institute in 2006/07 (Fulbright). Volodymyr has been a visiting scholar/faculty at the University of Washington in January-June, 2013. Over years V. Dubovyk has been a member of the ISA, ECPR SGIR, CEE ISA and various other professional associations. He participates in PONARS Eurasia (New Approaches to Research and Security in Eurasia), project based in George Washington University since 2003.