Ukraine’S Authoritarian Signals

Recent unconstitutional legislation is smoothing the way for direct rule in Ukraine — and repeating past mistakes. It is easy to be pessimistic when looking at the history of independent Ukraine. In the 25 years since the collapse of the USSR, Ukraine has had 17 governments and several significant political crises, while its economy has mostly failed to grow. Moreover, Ukraine has lost part of its territory following Russian invasion and a separatist revolt in 2014, and is currently fighting a war with both.