Ukraine and the Empire of Capital: From Marketisation to Armed Conflict

by Yuliya Yurchenko

From the Orange Revolution to Euromaidan, Ukraine has been in turmoil for decades. With Russia now threatening its borders and with simmering civil unrest, the country’s stability hangs by a thread. In Ukraine and the Empire of Capital , Yuliya Yurchenko analyzes these dramatic events through the lens of the country’s post-Soviet past. Providing distinctive and unexplored reflections on the origins of the conflict, Yurchenko challenges the four central myths that underlie Ukraine’s post-Soviet the myth of transition, the myth of democracy, the myth of two Ukraines, and the myth of the other. With a particular focus on Ukraine’s relations with the United States, European Union, and Russia, Yurchenko provides the first deep study of contemporary Ukrainian political economy from a Marxist perspective. 
 

Genres: Ukraine, History, Politics, Economics, Russia

304 pages, Paperback

Published January 15, 2018

Reviews

[Donald · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book uses an international political economy perspective to discuss recent history in Ukraine. There is a lot of charting of networks of power and description of the emergence of political coalitions. As one of the first books I've read about Ukraine it was helpful to get a sense of the extremes involved. I really didn't know much about the scale of the economic collapse and criminal conspiracy. Some of the more painstaking academic work wasn't directly relevant to my interests but the more political essay side of things was helpful.

[Henry Hakamaki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really a 3 1/2 star, but I'm going to be a bit harsh here because of the writing style.

Some of the analyses on Ukraine were fascinating and well fleshed out, absolutely. However, some of the assertions regarding the Soviet Union weren't backed up with nearly as much as the analyses of Ukraine, the assessment of folks like Gorbachev kind of missed the mark (in my opinion), the mentions of modern Russian policy weren't fleshed out beyond the author's assertions, the graphs had potential but weren't presented in a particularly useful way unless you want to spend an hour digging through them, and the writing style was pretty dense. These drawbacks are a shame, because the analysis of the economic road Ukraine has been on since independence is quite interesting and isn't something it's particularly easy to find elsewhere.

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not always an easy read - it definitely requires time to mull over and process - but a vital and necessary one. Yurchenko clearly knows her subject inside and out.

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

In some ways, this book is a powerful critique of nascent kleptocratic capitalism since perestroika in Ukraine. It's a damning account of the post-Soviet project's corruption, opportunistic nationalism, and culmination of this in a "transnational fascist" project with the structured bifurcation between Russia-aligned and EU-aligned blocs. It does a good job of tracing the factionalist contours as they took shape with the overthrow of the USSR.

In other ways, there are massive assumptions about the reflection of organic popular sentiments in certain movements, and a downplaying of their direction by forces that wear their racism on their sleeves. Sure there has been legitimate popular discontent with corruption and "accumulation by disposession" of even the basics for workers' survival. It's also true that we sometimes too easily ascribe spontaneous movements to the influence of shadowy actors. Yet if popular aims were initially as vague or reactive as the author suggests (against corruption and police brutality broadly, without a clear *positive* project i.e. joining Europe), that vacuum is inevitably filled by the best-organized and committed elements that do bring explicit aims.

The author's hope for a pluralistic national Ukrainian identity that rejects xenophobia and an inward turn while standing firm against both Russian chauvinism and neoliberal authoritarianism is commendable. How Ukraine can or will get there is unfortunately much more murky since the time of writing, but what's only become sharper are the contradictions of realpolitik in a buffer zone between declining empires.

[sorrowmancer · Rating 4 out of 5]

pluto press has got to do a better job with its copy editing, but otherwise, a remarkable book. few like it on ukraine. the tracing of capital accumulation by the primary political players of independent ukraine is impressive. the stuff on the culture of coal workers in eastern ukraine was especially interesting, kinda wish there was more on that. appreciate a sober look at maidan as well. the liberal cooption machine goes brr wherever on the globe there is enough risk to capital's interests, it seems

[Edz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting and comprehensive review of Ukrainian political economy since the days of the late Soviet period until the post-Maidan era, with a look at how the formation of oligarchic clans led to the development of an authoritarian neoliberal kleptocracy.

The book starts with analyzing and dissecting the four elite-backed myths that have characterized post-Soviet Ukraine: transition to marketization, democracy building, two Ukraines and following that the myth of the “Other”. Such myths have served the ruling class of Ukraine well in quelling labor organization and militancy and act as a hegemon over the masses. We then follow a brief overview of the Soviet political economy of the Perestroika period, portraying the rise of future oligarchs initiated by mainly Komsomol, red directors and nomenklatura of the criminal-political nexus whose entrepreneurial activities started to acquire a more licit form in due part to Gorbachev’s reforms. Afterwards, the author presents us the aftermath of the Soviet collapse, with the reification of the nascent capitalist class and its fractioning into different oligarchic clans, most notably those of Dnipropetrovsk (headed by the likes of Kolomoisky) and Donetsk (with Akhmetov as its ring leader). We see the rise of transnationalising capital which by means of IFIs (international financial institutions) and FIGs (financial industrial groups) takes control of the political establishment and effectively dictates the way the country is governed, with one bloc supplanting the other and taking its place as hegemon (e.g. ouster of Yushchenko and entrance of Yanukovych into the presidency). All this takes place with the growing enslavement of Ukraine to foreign debt obligations, which coupled with the Credit Crunch only served to run its economy down the ground. Alas, with the events of the Maidan whose slogans promised a good deal for Ukrainians, the outcome of which only helped in destabilizing the country even more and engendering a civil war in the Donbass, along with the annexation/secession of Crimea, whereby once more it was a victory for the oligarchs. Corruption is at an all time high, the country is more divided than ever and, especially considering recent circumstances, looks only to be heading towards a bleaker future.

This was one of the more challenging reads I’ve come across on Ukraine, going deep into historical materialist analysis of the political economy, whose heavily conceptual presentation I’ve come to appreciate. Definitely refreshing to see such a perspective being brought to the table, though it could be done with more straightforward explanations. One thing that deserves some criticism in my eyes is the brusque comments that the author makes about some events, such as when she presents the MH17 tragedy in a very uncritical manner and just lays the blame on the separatists without questioning the official narrative (for a more nuanced take on the matter, see Kees van der Pijl’s “Flight MH17, Ukraine and the New Cold War: Prism of Disaster”). All in all, this is a book worth looking into for understanding today’s Ukraine.

[Peter Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is quite a hard book to read in places and some prior knowledge of Ukraine's recent past is preferable (note - this book was published in 2018 so before the war in 2022). The author generally seems very balanced in looking at all the players that have been involved in said recent past and if you are someone who likes looking for good guys and bad guys in all these affairs then you are going to be disappointed here. In other words nuance is required when assessing the Ukraine of today.

When reading this it is no surprise in many ways that a war has occurred as things were in such a mess for so long with Russia, EU and Ukraine fighting over what Ukraine should be. A good read all the same though.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paints a bleak picture of the country: one stuck between a) the vicious oligarchs that emerged out of organized crime in the 80s that have come to dominate internal politics and industry b) the EU and its demands for neoliberal reforms and c) Russia and its carrot of cheap gas. A little space is given to how these competing forces have played on / produced internal divisions that make the possibility of a national imaginary seem very difficult if not impossible.

Unfortunately, the interesting parts of their argument are marred by poor/non-existent copy-editing. Worth skimming for the good parts.

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book seems well-researched and the author brings up some valid points, but she also makes some assertions I don't think are fully supported by her data, and unfortunately the dense, tedious prose and the preponderance of unenlightening diagrams and long tables of raw data make it difficult for me to confirm.

I would not recommend this book unless you are a serious student of economics or geopolitics.

[Dmitry]

Сложно и поэтому скучно. Такое чувство, что читаю самого Грамши, которого автор так часто цитирует. Ну и, разумеется, слишком левый взгляд, т.е. автор изначально не объективен.

It's complicated and, therefore, boring. I feel like I'm reading Gramsci himself, whom the author quotes so often. Well, and, of course, too leftist view, i.e., the author is not objective from the beginning.

[Hugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I 100% recommend this to anyone who is thinking of reading it, but can't quite give it 5 stars unfortunately.