Lessons of History 

By Walter Kish

It seems that for the past year or two, all the political events and developments in Ukraine have been specifically engineered with the upcoming Presidential elections in 2004 in mind.The reality of the situation there is that political power, for all intents and purposes, is concentrated around the office of the President.To be sure, there is a constitution, there is a democratically elected Parliament, and there is a judiciary and legal system; but true control - political, economic and legal, rests with President Kuchma. 

It is he who controls who will be Prime Minister, and who is appointed to head the government ministries that run the day to day affairs of the country. It is also he who determines which laws will be enforced and against whom.Through selective manipulation of the legal system, he keeps the rich and powerful oligarchic elite that dominate the Ukrainian economy in line.You co-operate and support the President, his administration and his electoral campaign, or you wind up in court, and subsequently in jail.Because all of Ukraine’s current millionaires and billionaires built their fortunes through less than legal means, they are all vulnerable to political blackmail.

To a large extent, this is simply a continuation of what I call the “strong leader” syndrome that has dominated Eastern European politics for centuries.Prior to this century, Tsars and kings ruled with autocratic power.During the Soviet era, despite the professed utopian ideology, absolutist Communist dictators continued the tradition of power concentrated in the hands of one all-powerful leader.It is ironic that whatever the political system in place – feudal-aristocratic, socialist or nominal democracy - Ukraine, Russia and most of Eastern Europe inevitably wind up being ruled by despots.

What to me is even more ironic, is that in the past century, the most powerful Ukrainian liberation movements, centered around the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian underground during the Second World War (UPA), were themselves governed by this same dedication to the concept of the “strong leader.”In formal terms, the political philosophy underlying these movements was known as Integral Nationalism, who chief feature was the concept of the supreme “Vozhd” or leader to whom all followers would swear unquestioning loyalty.To many, this was just a local variation of fascist movements that became so popular in Europe in the past century, and ultimately resulted in death and destruction of almost unimaginable proportions.

Countries and whole civilizations have been seduced by the utopia of the strong leader, or benevolent dictator who would bring discipline, efficiency, law and order.Their appeal grows particularly during trying times.But it is a Faustian dream.History is replete with the tragic consequences of giving unlimited power to a single individual.Have we not learned the lessons that stretch back to the excesses of the Roman emperors some two thousand years ago? Napoleon, for all his military conquests, cut a swath of death and destruction through most of Europe.In modern times, the genocidal impact of Hitler, Stalin, Mao TseTung and Pol Pot will be remembered for as long as human civilization persists.

The fate of any country or people should never be entrusted to one individual. Democracies such as we have in North America or Europe are successful, both economically and politically because we have evolved political processes and structures where power is shared and balanced between the law-makers, the law enforcers and the administrators who manage the governmental structures that make our societies and economies tick.They safeguarda balance between contending interest groups, and ensure that no one class, party or political “estate”, can dominate any other.Success is achieved through compromise and equilibrium.The resources of the state, both material and intellectual, are harnessed towards providing the greatest good for the greatest number.

Concentration of power in an individual or a small group of individuals leads to a self-serving plutocracy that cannot be maintained for very long no matter how concentrated the power or how brutal the methods.People will only tolerate oppression for so long, and when the straw finally breaks the camel’s back the results are both swift and bloody.

Ukrainians would do well to reflect upon these lessons of history.A stable and successful Ukraine will only arise when the Ukrainian people learn to put their faith and their efforts into building the required democratic processes and effective structures of government and administration, instead of looking for another Moses to lead them out of their political wilderness.