The essays in this book explore the major developments, both domestic and international, that shaped the first quarter-century of Ukraine's independence: the simultaneous construction of a nation-state and the privatization of its economy; a formal democratization of the political process alongside the capture of state institutions by big business oligarchs; their efforts to gain social acceptance at home while maneuvering between competing Russian, EU, and American projects to hegemonize the region; the impact of the financial crises of 1997 and 2008 on Ukrainian society and the national economy's place in the world market; the growing inequality of society, the mass revolts in 2004 and 2014 against corruption and injustice; and the beginning of Russian military intervention in Ukraine.

Marko Bojcun (B.A., M.Litt., Ph.D.) taught at York University in Toronto, University of London, London Metropolitan University, and New York University. He also worked as a journalist, researcher for documentary films, and leader of European Commission and British Foreign Office projects to foster research, organize student exchange, and train senior Ukrainian civil servants. Since 2014, he is a member of the London-based Ukraine Solidarity Campaign. Bojcun's previous books include The Chernobyl Disaster (The Hogarth Press 1988, with Viktor Haynes), Ukraine and Europe: A Difficult Reunion (Kogan Page 2001), and the first volume in Ukrainian translation of The Workers' Movement and the National Question in Ukraine (Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung 2017). The complete English edition will be published by Brill in 2020. The author of the foreword: Dr. JohnPaul Himka is Professor Emeritus in the Department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta, Canada.