Ukraine’s Frozen Future

By Dr. Myron Kuropas

As we cringe at the hardships suffered by Ukrainians during the recent deep freeze - 135 dead thus far - Ukraine’s future appears frozen as well. 

Let’s begin with the economy.  According to the Heritage Foundation’s 2012 rankings of economic freedom, Ukraine has dropped to 163 out of 179 countries, placing it in the “repressed” category for the first time since independence.  Ukraine ranks behind Canada (#6) Estonia (#16), Lithuania (#23), Georgia (#34), Russia (#144), and Belarus (#153) but still ahead of Zimbabwe (#178).

“The foundations of economic freedom are fragile in Ukraine and unevenly established across the country”, the Heritage report reads.  “Poor protection of property rights and widespread corruption discourage entrepreneurial activity, severely undermining prospects for long-term economic expansion... After several years of strong growth, Ukraine’s economic vitality has deteriorated, partly because of the global economic slowdown, and also because of the generally sluggish pace of efforts to improve regulatory efficiency and open markets to international investment. The financial sector is not developed enough to provide the necessary credit for private-sector expansion, and regulatory environment remains opaque and burdensome.”   The foundations of economic freedom - choice, voluntary exchange, open markets, and the rule of law - do not apply in Ukraine.

Rule of law?  We all know what that means under the Yanukovych regime.  Yulia Tymoshenko lies near total exhaustion (or worse) in a Soviet-style jail cell somewhere outside of Kharkiv, the result of a verdict by a kangaroo court. President Yanukovych insists that he is powerless to intervene.  “I have no doubts that the verdict against my mother was sought and approved by President Viktor Yanukovych”, Eugenia Tymoshenko told a group of US Senators early this month.  “But I don’t want you to think that this is only about my mother. It is not. Others are being repressed and unjustly imprisoned.  What we are witnessing in Ukraine is such a twisting of the rule of law that it isn’t possible to distinguish legality from illegality.  It’s hard to see the line between the law and abuse of law.”  Ms. Tymoshenko’s husband, Oleksander has received political asylum in the Czech Republic. The United States and the EU have labelled his wife’s imprisonment “selective prosecution of political opponents”. 

Still another reason to consider Ukraine’s future frozen is the educational system.  Ukrainian history is being rewritten.  One of the first things President Yanukovych did upon assuming Office was to remove the Holodomor from the presidential website.  Elementary and high school textbooks have been revised to coincide with Russian texts, all on the orders of Dmytro Tabachnyk, the Minister of Education, Science and Sports.  And just recently, Mr. Tabachnyk has proposed a draft new law that will paralyze higher education in Ukraine and prevent Ukraine’s universities from ever achieving international stature.  Under Tabachnyk, Ukraine has scrapped the Bologna Process, the purpose of which was to create a European Higher Education Area by making academic degrees and quality assurance standards compatible and comparable throughout the continent.  After joining the Bologna Process in 2005, Ukrainian educators increased secondary education to twelve years from eleven, eliminated the specialist degree, and began to standardize the bachelors (four years) and the master's degree (two years).  Today, secondary education has dropped back to eleven years, and Tabachnyk’s “On Higher Education” proposal would erase university autonomy from universities receiving federal support of any kind.  This would not affect the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, a private institution, but would seriously hamper the progress of the National Universities of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and Ostroh Academy. The budgets of both institutions have already been cut while the budget of the University of Donetsk has increased substantially, ostensibly because it has been “rated” among the top universities of Europe.  

According to Sergiy Kvit, former Rector of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, and an expert on higher education, Ukrainian universities need to become autonomous, develop Ph.D. programs on the international model, enjoy the right to introduce interdisciplinary courses, take responsibility for the quality of education, award diplomas, and establish student governments.  Under the Yanukovych regime, none of this is possible.

So what can we do in the West to “unfreeze” Ukraine’s future?

We need to keep Yanukovych’s feet to the fire.  Let the world know that Hanna Herman, Yanukovych’s mouthpiece, is a shill for an authoritarian government.  Bring more Ukrainians to North America to testify.  Having Eugenia Tymoshenko meet with congressional and parliamentary leaders is an outstanding beginning.

Sponsoring young Ukrainians to Canada and the United States to study is still another excellent way to bring sunshine to Ukraine.  Ukraine’s frozen dikes cannot hold.  They will break, sooner, not later.  People who have been acculturated and educated in the West will find reason to return, and Ukraine will warm-up.  Do not despair, dear reader, but keep your ear to the ground.