Ukrainian Life and Society
Last update: May 21, 2010 (info updated)
Ukraine often seems to be changing at breakneck speed. In politics, we
see drastic changes of economic and political courses in the space of just a couple years. In the economy, we see rapid technological changes that many
Ukrainians can scarcely keep up with. On Ukraine's real estate
market,
property
prices quadrupled in six years, then fell in half as a result of the 2008-2010 financial crisis. In this
time, Kiev has transformed from a
large, but quiet town with a spiritual side into a traffic-bound
materialistic megapolis.
After the Orange
Revolution — the first event in years that presented Ukraine in a positive light internationally — Ukraine was no longer the
backwater of Europe. Since then, despite near universal dismay at the
Ukrainian government's post-revolution failures, Ukraine has remained
in the public eye. What will happen to the country? Will it be engulfed
by expanding Russian influence? Will it try again to break away from
its Soviet past
and embrace European values and social institutions? Will it be torn apart by the cultural,
linguistic, and political rift between the western and eastern halves
of the country?
Throughout the thousands of sleepy villages
of Ukraine, one would hardly guess that anything is happening in the
nation at all. Ukraine remains a distinctly agrarian country, where
politicians come from villages and small towns and babushki sell home-grown produce to
city dwellers on the sidewalks of Kiev and other big cities. And doing business
still often involves ceremonial
drinking and comradery unseen in the West. Ukraine holds on
to its traditional culture despite economic change and political
inconstancy.
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