Short historical overview of the formation of Ukrainian state in its current territory

2. Development and transformation of Ukrainian political institutions:from the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic to independent Ukraine • Short historical overview of the formation of Ukrainian state in its current territory • The institutional framework: • The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic: 1919-1991 • The system of the Soviets • Territorial and administrative division • The political community • The passage to independence • Ukraine after the 1996 Constitution • Competences of the branches of power • Semi-presidential / president-parliamentary configuration of powers • Centre-periphery relations

3. Historical overview of the formation of Ukrainian state in its current territory • It would be interesting to note that Ukraine in its present borders exists as an independent state only since 1991. • Historically, it is possible to distinguish five main regions in contemporary Ukraine according to their varying experience of foreign rule and the way they became a part of Ukraine in its current borders. • The formerHabsburg regions in the far west – southwest. After the Habsburg collapse in World War I the region was split between three countries: Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. These parts were then annexed to the Soviet Union in 1944 after the fall of Germany. Although there are important historical differences among them, the fact that they have never been part of the Russian empire is probably the most outstanding feature of these regions, a feature that probably plays the most important role in political and national orientations of the populations there. • Western Volhynia – the northwestern region of Ukraine. Though long part of Poland, Volhynia was gradually taken over by the Russian empire during the partitions of Poland in the late 18th century. The western portion was given back to Poland after World War I and remained under Polish rule during the interwar period. It was then incorporated into Soviet Ukraine along with the former Habsburg lands after 1944. The post-1945 Sovietisation drive coincided with a massive exchange of population between Poland and the new Soviet territory as well as many deportations of ethnic Ukrainians to Siberia and the Far East.

4. The areas to the right of the Dnieper River were also part of Poland until Russia acquired them in the end of the 18th century. Until the end of the 19th century most of Right Bank Ukraine was owned by Polish landlords, whereas the peasantry which worked the land was mainly Ukrainian. But in 1922 they were incorporated into Soviet Ukraine when the USSR was founded. • The areas to the left of the Dnieper River and the lands to the east. This region has the greatest experience of Russian rule, having been controlled by its northern neighbour since the Treaty of Pereyaslav in 1654 (that put Ukraine under Russian protectorate). By the end of the nineteenth century, a massive industrialisation started in the eastern regions very rich with coal resources, which caused considerable immigration of workers from Russia at that time. • The former Ottoman lands of the Black Sea littoral. At the same time as Russia was expanding into Polish territory in the 18th century, it was also winning land from the Ottoman Empire in the southern steppe territory. This area had previously been wild and undeveloped. But it also underwent extremely rapid settlement and industrialisation during the last years of the Russian empire; the population increased seven times over the course of the 19th century as migrants streamed here to develop lots of trade links along the coast and industry inland. • Crimean peninsula is the only area in Ukraine where Russians constitute the majority of population (58%). This is explained by the fact that until 1954 the peninsula was a part of the Russian Federation and only in this year it was transferred to Ukraine.

5. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic • Created on 25 December, 1917. • Administrative, economic and cultural institutions were provided by Moscow • The decision-making powers were removed from the republican institutions and given to the Communist Party of Ukraine which was an integral part of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union • Institutional structure consisted of the Soviets of People’s Deputies • The Supreme Soviet (the peak of the hierarchy of Soviets) was the highest state body in the republic with exclusive legislative powers and the prerogative to decide on any matter within the republican jurisdiction. • The Supreme Soviet remained under the guidance of the Communist Party rule of a single party (CPSU).

6. Territorial and administrative division of the UkrSSR • highly centralised model of statehood • local and territorial governing bodies formed an integrated part of the state apparatus. • state theory of self-government prevailed (the organs of the local self-government are not distinctive but are created and regulated by the state). 25

7. The passage to independence • 1989 – replacement of the Volodymyr Shcherbytskyi (the first secretary of the CPU from 1972, an apparatchik strongly connected to the Moscow centre and strongly resistant to perestroika) by Volodymyr Ivashko – who was more committed to Gorbachev reforms, which meant the beginning of perestroika in Ukraine. • 1989 – creation of the Popular Movement for Perestroika in Ukraine (Rukh) had more than 600,000 members but was limited to Western Ukraine and Kyiv and thus failed to initiate a bottom-up mobilisation capable of overturning the Soviet regime (unlike the Baltic states)

8. 1990-1991 The main events that took place in this period are: • The republican elections (March 1990) • Leonid Kravchuk who later became the first Ukrainian president, appointed the chairman of Supreme Council • Opposition becomes more influential in the Supreme Council • The Declaration of Sovereignty (July 1990) • proclaimed ‘the state sovereignty of Ukraine to be supreme; the autonomy, totality and indivisibility of the Republic’s power within its territory, and its independence and equality in external relations’. Besides that, the CPU’s ‘leading role’ was de-legitimised by saying that ‘no political party, social organisation or any other association or person can represent the People of Ukraine’. • The Concept of the New Constitution (June 1991) • Was based on the provisions of the Declaration of Sovereignty. • The Act of Independence (August 1991) • The referendum on independence (December 1991) • The Act of Independence was supported by more than 90% of the voters • In the same vote Leonid Kravchuk was elected as the first president of Ukraine

9. Ukraine after the 1996 constitution • On 28 June 1996 the Ukrainian constitution was adopted. • Ukrainian current political system according to the constitution: • ‘State power is exercised on the principle of its division into legislative, executive and judicial power’. • The uni-cameral parliament (Verkhovna Rada in Ukrainian, which means ‘Supreme Council’) is the ‘sole body of legislative power’, whereas the president is ‘the head of state’ and ‘guarantor of state sovereignty and territorial indivisibility of Ukraine’. • The cabinet of ministers is ‘the highest body in the system of bodies of executive power’. • The judicial branch consists of courts of general and special jurisdiction as well as the Constitutional Court.

10. According to the constitution, the authority of the Parliament includes the right to: • Adopt laws and the budget of Ukraine • Approve the prime minister, as proposed by the president • Determine the principles of domestic and foreign policy • Dismiss the cabinet in a no-confidence vote, although this right can be exercised only once a session and not within one year following the approval of its programme • Impeach the president in the event of treason or some other crime

11. The president was granted an extensive array of appointive, policy-making powers as well as some limited law making prerogatives: • Appoint the prime minister with the agreement of the Supreme Council • Appoint members of the cabinet of ministers and heads of central bodies of executive power proposed by the prime minister (without parliamentary consent) • Appoint one third of the Constitutional Court, the Council of the National Bank, as well as the Prosecutor General, and other central executive organs; • Dismiss the prime minister and ministers • Initiate legislation • Veto parliamentary bills, although the veto can be overridden by a qualified majority of two thirds of the parliament • Dissolve parliament if it cannot convene for thirty days during a plenary session

12. The cabinet of ministers, which is composed of the prime minister, the first vice-prime minister, three vice-prime ministers and the ministers, was allocated powers to: • Ensure state sovereignty and the economic independence of Ukraine • Implement domestic and foreign policy • Carry out execution of the constitution, the laws of Ukraine and the acts of the president • Ensure the implementation of the state policies, such as fiscal, investment, employment, education, etc. • Draft the state budget • Implement the state budget and submit a report to the Supreme Council • Issue resolutions and orders, within the limits of its competence, which are mandatory for the execution on the territory of Ukraine.

13. The configuration of powers between state institutions semi-presidential or president-parliamentary (Matthew Shugart’s classification) Two key features

14. Centre-periphery relations • The Soviet-era administrative division was taken over into the new constitution • Rigid vertical executive pyramid of the ‘regional state administration’ • Ukraine – state of regions but only one region (the Autonomous Republic of Crimea - ARC) enjoys territorial autonomy • Has its own constitution, parliament and a Council of Ministers • But is an inseparable part of Ukraine • Its constitution has to be approved by the Ukrainian Parliament • The prime minister of the ARC can be appointed or dismissed only with the consent of the president of Ukraine • The Supreme Council of the ARC can issue ‘normative and legal acts’ in specified areas that have to comply with the Constitution of Ukraine AND with laws passed by the Ukrainian Parliament • The court system of the ARC belongs to a unified system of courts of Ukraine • The ARC has no right to raise taxes

15. Current territorial-administrative model of the state 24