New Forms of Political Participation

Political opposition in Ukraine and its effectiveness

“…parties. 16 On the other hand, the percentage of the population that did not belong to any civic or political organisations was 83.9%. A high level of citizens' political participation which is a condition for a strong and developed party system is not fulfilled in Ukraine.…”

“…But this paper will argue that the multi- 15 Ibid. 16 Ibid., 336-338. 17 Lawrence LeDuc, Richard G. Niemi, Pippa Norris, ed., Comparing Democracies 2.…”

“…17 Third, trust in the political parties as the representatives of the interests of different social groups is low and has never reached more than 1.1% of the population (see Figure 2.3), with a majority of the population distrusting political parties as institutions. Distrust in political parties is combined with an absence of support for the 16 Only 0.4% of the population belong to trade union organizations, the representatives of the civil society, which will not be discussed in this study. 17 The average percentage of the population that belongs to the political parties in the established democracies is varies from 2.5% in Great Britain, 6.3% in Canada and 10.5% in Sweden.…”

“…This paper contends that even the works and studies of the opposition in postcommunist states of Eastern Europe 15 cannot be generalised and applied to Ukraine. The countries of Eastern Europe experienced shorter periods of the communist regime and had a stronger base for the development of civil society, 16 which helped in creating their respective political oppositions.…”

“…3 (1991): 285-313. 16 The civil society is defined as the organizations, groups of citizens that united by the same interests (social, economical, cultural, and political) outside the state but operate with respect to the state institutions and the rule of law. This will be further discussed in chapter five.…”