Explores the role of former president Kuchma and the oligarchs, societal attitudes, the role of political opposition and civil society, the importance of the media, and the roles of Russia and the West. As keen observers of the recent transition, Aslund and his co-authors write with authority about the challenges and opportunities Ukraine faces today. Drawing on board experience in the region, they examine the situation through a comparative lens. This book should be read carefully by students and policy makers alike. The dramatic series of protests and political events that unfolded in Ukraine in the fall of 2004- the "Orange Revolution" - was seminal both for Ukrainian history and the history of democratization. Its effects have already been felt from Kyrgyzstan to Lebanon and are likely to travel even further. Yet few anticipated such a dramatic democratic breakthrough in Ukraine. Revolution in Orange is a pioneering effort to describe and explain the events leading up to and through December 2004 from authors who had on-the-ground experience interacting with the various Ukrainian, Western and Russian dramatis personae of the Orange Revolution. The result is a highly readable, deeply informed, and insightful volume with lasting value as an explicator of this remarkable episode in the history of Ukraine and Eastern Europe.
