Why is everyone’s adoption experience unique?
Back to the book, State and Institution Building in Ukraine… It was edited by Taras Kuzio, Robert S Kravchuk, Paul D’Anieri and was published in 1999.
While Ukrainian scholars have not applied the label post-colonial to Ukraine. Tazas Kuzio believes the label is correct. He compares Ukraine to other post-colonial countries like Zimbabwe.
Ukraine was bullied and pushed around… told it was inferior in all ways by the Soviet Union. And Ukraine like many post-colonial countries had some major identity issues. AKA What is Ukraine? Who is Ukrainian? What does it mean to be Ukrainian?
There is a chapter devoted to corruption in Ukraine. It makes a very strong point that the corruption that exists today in many former soviet union (FSU) countries is just corruption gone public. In other words people did the same things under Soviet leadership BUT it was not public. There is no proof of an increase in corruption since 1991 but rather a perception of an increase.
There is an estimate that in Soviet times, 10% to 20% of Ukraine’s GDP was black market.
The chapter on corruption mentions judges are paid an average of $100 per month. Cases in front of judges are rarely simple. The laws have not kept up with society. The US has this problem too, but not to the extent that Ukraine. And there is a generally a poor understanding by everyone (judges, court clerks, general society) of what the institutions are required to do. This can partly be linked to poor self-identification for the country and the institutions.
I grew up knowing that if I needed help with other US government offices, I could ask for my Senator/Representative’s help. I know and can count on
the federal and state governments to regulate my food, water, health care, insurance, etc.. Ukrainian citizens don’t have this stability. Their society is highly fluid.
I have a Kazakhstan friend.. a friend who lives in Czech and a friend who lives in Slovak. These are all fluid societies as well. All 3 say the same thing. The love the fact that life is predicable when they live in the United States.
Here are some more quotes from the book on corruption. The chapter on corruption really did give me a big-picture view on the issues of bribes vs expedites fees in Ukraine.
Corruption does play a role in the recent increase in shadow activity because as more people try to access the official structures, they are faced with corrupt practices. Instead of pursuing the official route, new entrepreneurs have simply decided to avoid the corruption they perceive and continue their economic endeavors outside official channels. They are simply escaping the corruption and incompetence of the state.
The shadow economy is valued at somewhere between 40 to 60 percent of GDP according to various figures and estimates. In 1989, the World Bank estimated Ukraine’s unofficial economy as having 15 percent share of GDP.
In 1994, that figure jumped to 45 percent. Reports from several sources agree that the shadow economy is large and that its rate of increase has largely matched the rate of decline in the official economy. In several Western newspapers, it was reported that the shadow economy figures in 1997 were as high as 60 percent.
These estimates are justified by the significant collapse of the official economy and the tripling of the absolute size of the unofficial economy. Based on the higher estimates and 1996 GDP figures, the shadow economy stands at approximately $29 billion. The past eight years have shown a steady increase of shadow economic activity, and there is little to suggest that a plateau or decrease of such activity is likely in the near future.
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Institutional Uncertainty
Chernobyl
Ukraine’s Government from 1991 to 1994
Ukraine’s Government from 2000 to 2006
Why is everyone’s adoption experience unique?
Corruption