Beschreibung
The post-2014 decentralization policy is consolidating the center-periphery relations in Ukraine. Already before 2014, domestic policymakers had been drafting proposals for local amalgamation and an increase of regional authority. Before the 2020 watershed subnational elections, only the local amalgamation policy was completed, however. A significant repercussion of the post-2014 decentralization reform has been a sharp decrease in congruence of the shares of competing national parties in the parliamentary, regional, and municipal electoral arenas. On the other hand, the party system has, at the municipal level, become less fragmented. Regional councils have, in contrast, remained highly fragmented. The outcomes of the indirect elections of regional councils’ heads have benefitted Ukraine’s ruling party.
Methodologically, the book illustrates the added value of investigating elections from a multilevel perspective. It contributes to the comparative exploration of party systems change over time, and constitutes a case study of more general patterns of interaction between municipal decentralization and political development in democratizing states.
Autorenportrait
Dr. Valentyna Romanova studied Political Science at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and the University of Edinburgh. She lives in Tokyo and is a member of the Japanese Association of Russian and East European Studies and the Japanese Association of Ukrainian Studies. Also, she is co-editor of the Annual Reviews of Regional Elections in the UK journal Regional and Federal Studies. Her research has been published in English, German, Russian, and Ukrainian in, among others, Post-Soviet Affairs, Perspectives on European Politics and Society, Politics, Survival, Regional & Federal Studies, Vox Ukraine, Democratic Audit Blog, The Ideology and Politics Journal, Politychni doslidzhennia, and the Kyiv-Mohyla Law and Politics Journal, as well as in reports by Chatham House, the Bertelsmann Foundation, and Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute.
Rezension
“Ukraine’s 2014 law on local government was among the most ambitious reforms in the country’s three decades of independence. Valentyna Romanova provides a detailed analysis of the political sources and consequences of the law. She shows how the increased power of local governments has altered electoral behavior and the party system across the country, as local party politics have become partly delinked from the national level. The consequences that Dr. Romanova demonstrates will have significant effects on politics and democratization in Ukraine. This is a valuable book for those interested in Ukrainian politics or in local government reform.” Paul D’Anieri, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of California, Riverside, USA
“In contemporary politics, authority is divided not only among branches of power but also between central and local levels. This distribution of power is usually contested by different groups and organizations which leads to an important political dynamic in each state. Valentyna Romanova offers a brilliant and detailed analysis of such dynamic in contemporary Ukraine whose political system is still under construction. Based on deep and empirically sound research, this book is a must-read for all students of Ukraine and post-Soviet politics." Mikhail Minakov, Kennan Institute/Wilson Center
“Decentralisation and Multilevel Elections is a timely account of the importance of elections in Ukrainian sub-national governance. Valentyna Romanova presents a rich study based on detailed understanding and years of research of local politics and elections in Ukraine. The book will be an invaluable resource for researchers of post-Soviet Ukrainian politics, and its analysis provides important lessons for Ukrainian policy-makers.” Paul Chaisty, Professor of Russian and East European Politics, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford
“Packed with insightful analysis and providing a longue durée outlook, Decentralisation and Multilevel Elections in Ukraine is an indispensable read to understand the complexity of uprooting the Soviet legacy in governance. This is a profoundly interesting read that highlights the drivers behind the decentralization and also outlines the unfinished business of boosting local electoral democracy. Ukraine’s journey is instructive for many in the region still struggling to reinvent governance. This book offers a fascinating guidance for such an exploration!” Orysia Lutsevych, Head and Research Fellow, Ukraine Forum, Russia and Eurasia Programme, Chatham House
“This is a very sophisticated study of decentralisation and multilevel elections in Ukraine. The study is very well grounded in theory and provides a wealth of new empirical data to back up its novel conclusions. In six beautifully crafted chapters it succeeds admirably in answering the two key puzzles addressed in the book, 1) why reformers consolidated and empowered local governance, but failed to strengthen the directly elected regional authorities, and 2) the implications of decentralisation policy on multilevel elections. The book makes an important contribution to the field of territorial politics and democratisation in Ukraine, and also to the wider field of comparative studies and local politics.” Cameron Ross, Professor, Head of Discipline, Research and Scholarship Convenor in Politics and International Relations, University of Dundee:
“This book provides students of Ukrainian politics with amazing and surprising insights into the peculiarities of local power and a rather contradictory decentralisation process consolidating centre-periphery relations in Ukraine. Moreover, it shows also that decentralisation had considerable impact on multilevel elections in Ukraine.” Nicolas Hayoz, Professor at the Departement European Studies and Slavistik, University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
“Discussions of decentralization are universal, but it is not least through detailed studies of single countries that we learn about some of the more indirect and somewhat unintended consequences of changing the balances between the central, regional, and local levels. Romanova’s book on the most recent reforms in Ukraine is exemplary in that respect, since she unfolds the party systems at the lower political levels in times of changes in the multi-level governance structures. The very careful and detailed study of current affairs in local and regional Ukraine makes this a must-read for students of Ukrainian politics.” Ulrik Kjær, Professor, Department of Political Science and Public Management, University of Southern Denmark
"Decentralisation policy in Ukraine is one of the most significant reforms implemented in any post-Soviet state. Ukraine’s regional policy is not just a matter of domestic politics and scholarly analysis but has also major international ramifications. The study by Valentyna Romanova provides a meticulous analysis of the decentralisation process and outcomes. The book uncovers the complex dynamics that are re-shaping of centre-periphery relations in Ukraine. It is strongly recommended for everybody interested in Ukrainian politics and those interested in understanding and/or promoting reforms in the post-Soviet space." Prof Kataryna Wolczuk, Professor of Politics at the Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies, University of Birmingham, UK
