One of Europe's old nations steeped in history, Ukraine is today an undisputed independent state. It is a democracy and has transformed into a market economy with predominant private ownership. Ukraine's postcommunist transition has been one of the most protracted and socially costly, but it has taken the country to a desirable destination. Åslund's vivid account of Ukraine's journey begins with a brief background, where he discusses the implications of Ukraine's history, the awakening of society because of Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms, the early democratization, and the impact of the ill-fated Soviet economic reforms. He then turns to the reign of President Leonid Kravchuk from 1991 to 1994, the only salient achievement of which was nation-building, while the economy collapsed in the midst of hyperinflation. The first two years of Leonid Kuchma's presidency, from 1994 to 1996, were characterized by substantial achievements, notably financial stabilization and mass privatization. The period 1996–99 was a miserable period of policy stagnation, rent seeking, and continued economic decline. In 2000 hope returned to Ukraine. Viktor Yushchenko became prime minister and launched vigorous reforms to cleanse the economy from corruption, and economic growth returned. The ensuing period, 2001–04, amounted to a competitive oligarchy. It was quite pluralist, although repression increased. Economic growth was high. The year 2004 witnessed the most joyful period in Ukraine, the Orange Revolution, which represented Ukraine's democratic breakthrough, with Yushchenko as its hero. The postrevolution period, however, has been characterized by great domestic political instability; a renewed, explicit Russian threat to Ukraine's sovereignty; and a severe financial crisis. The answers to these challenges lie in how soon the European Union fully recognizes Ukraine's long-expressed identity as a European state, how swiftly Ukraine improves its malfunctioning constitutional order, and how promptly it addresses corruption.

These analyses of the Ukranian economy show why not all transitions have a happy ending. In the Ukraine, ideology and poor policy choices can be seen to have combined to forestall even the most hopeful signs of recovery. Banaian argues that arrested transition may continue indefinitely.

"The government deficits that have played such a prominent role in Ukraine's continued economic decline reflect in large measure the fact that government has been slow to relinquish the role it played during the Soviet era." Since independence, Ukraine has suffered one of the most severe economic declines of any country in this century. While other transition countries in the region successfully replaced their old command economies with market economies, Ukraine continued to protect unprofitable enterprises to preserve employment and income levels. To support this strategy, the government has borrowed more money than it takes in and, at the same time, competes with private enterprise domestically for credit. As Ukraine's economic foundations proceed to crumble, the Ukrainian Government. the World Bank, and the International Center for Policy Studies in Kyiv examined the issues surrounding the crisis. The group analyzed the data and policy studies that were prepared by various Ukrainian and World Bank teams of experts and formulated recommendations for strategies to stem the growing tidal wave of economic collapse now threatening Ukraine. This report presents the issues that are creating these crises and outlines a course to prevent a crash. This report will be of interest to government agencies, economists, bankers, and academics.