Ukraine has been shaken by both sociopolitical disorders and a deep humanitarian emergency. Sophie Falsini explores the way and the extent to which events since late 2013 - the Euromaidan revolution, the annexation of Crimea, and the war in the East - have transformed civil society, looking at organizations active in providing help to internally displaced people to show how Ukraine's 'civil society 2.0' saw the rise of grassroots and voluntary movements that triggered social mobilization.

This book is among the first comprehensive efforts to collectively and academically investigate the legacy of the Euromaidan in conflict-torn Ukraine within the domain of civil society broadly understood. The contributions to this book identify, describe, conceptualize, and explain various developments in Ukrainian civil society and its role in Ukraine's democratization, state-building, and conflict resolution by looking at specific understudied sectors and by tracing the situation before, during, and after the Euromaidan. In doing so, this trailblazing collection highlights a number of new themes, challenges, and opportunities related to Ukrainian civil society. They include volunteerism, grassroots community-based activism, social activism of churches, civic efforts of building peace and reconciliation, civic activism of journalists and digital activism, activism of think tanks, diaspora networks and the LGBT movement, challenges of civil society relations with the state, uncivil society, and the closing of civic space.

The papers presented in this volume analyze the civil uprising known as Euromaidan that began in central Kyiv in late November 2013, when the Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych opted not to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union, and continued over the following months. The topics include the motivations and expectations of protesters, organized crime, nationalism, gender issues, mass media, the Russian language, and the impact of Euromaidan on Ukrainian politics as well as on the EU, Russia, and Belarus. An epilogue to the book looks at the aftermath, including the Russian annexation of Crimea and the creation of breakaway republics in the east, leading to full-scale conflict. The goal of the book is less to offer a definitive account than one that represents a variety of aspects of a mass movement that captivated world attention and led to the downfall of the Yanukovych presidency.

The large-scale mobilisation of Ukrainian society is the most farreaching legacy of Euromaidan and its tragic aftermath. Civil society intervened to fill the gap created by the state's failure to fulfil key functions like the provision of security and defence. In so doing, civil society has turned de facto into a security actor. By proposing a narrative of collective responsibility and introducing modern and more transparent working methods in civilian and military institutions, post-Maidan civil society has displayed the potential to act as a "change agent" determined to induce substantial reforms in Ukraine. The condition for this to happen is that state institutions establish and retain arenas for functional representation and guarantee civil society's regular and meaningful access to decision-making beyond the emergency of the current crisis.

In early 2014, sparked by an assault by their government on peaceful students, Ukrainians rose up against a deeply corrupt, Moscow-backed regime. Initially demonstrating under the banner of EU integration, the Maidan protesters proclaimed their right to a dignified existence; they learned to organize, to act collectively, to become a civil society. Most prominently, they established a new Ukrainian identity: territorial, inclusive, and present-focused with powerful mobilizing symbols. Driven by an urban “bourgeoisie” that rejected the hierarchies of industrial society in favor of a post-modern heterarchy, a previously passive post-Soviet country experienced a profound social revolution that generated new senses: “Dignity” and “fairness” became rallying cries for millions. Europe as the symbolic target of political aspiration gradually faded, but the impact (including on Europe) of Ukraine’s revolution remained. When Russia invaded—illegally annexing Crimea and then feeding continuous military conflict in the Donbas—, Ukrainians responded with a massive volunteer effort and touching patriotism. In the process, they transformed their country, the region, and indeed the world. This book provides a chronicle of Ukraine’s Maidan and Russia’s ongoing war, and puts forth an analysis of the Revolution of Dignity from the perspective of a participant observer.

Ukrainian pro-democracy activism since Euromaidan has been called a "civic awakening," and civic coalitions have been credited with new strength and influence over the process of democratic reform. However, neither history nor theory predicts success for these groups: civil society was largely marginalized after the Colour Revolutions, and Ukraine remains a "competitive authoritarian" polity in which incumbents are strongly motivated to block democratic reforms. If this new civil society influence is real, it presents a puzzle: what accounts for this unexpected result? This thesis offers case studies of two important democratic reforms enacted in 2015: political party financing and civil service reform. Using a process tracing analysis of available evidence, this thesis seeks to clarify the extent and character of civil society's new influence in post-Euromaidan Ukraine, and to identify the conditions and strategies that may be allowing activists to overcome the marginalization or co-optation that followed the Colour Revolutions.