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 • Ukraine in its present borders exists as an independent state only since 1991. • Historically, it is possible to distinguish six 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.

4. The formerHabsburg regions in the far west – southwest. • Western Volhynia – the north-western region of Ukraine. • The areas to the right of the Dnieper River • The areas to the left of the Dnieper River and the lands to the east. • The former Ottoman lands of the Black Sea littoral. • Crimean peninsula

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), 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) • 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 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 parliament • 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 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 parliament • 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