The Maidan past and present : Euromaidan and the Orange Revolution

Book section

This chapter’s aim is to analyse and contextualizes the EuroMaidan as a critical case of mass protest, by placing it in comparative reference to the ‘Orange Revolution’. First, the chapter will briefly outline the data used. Second, the chapter will highlight some key writing on mobilization and activism in Ukraine and identify potential contributions of this analysis to the literature. The majority of the text will assess the EuroMaidan mobilization. Employing interview and focus groups data collected by the author, we will be able to contrast and compare the parameters and trajectories of two protest waves (duration, location, and geographical diffusion); the central actors involved in the mobilization process and their main claims. At each step highlighting the convergence and divergence between the 2004 and 2013/14 mass mobilizations. Finally, once the main boundaries of the mobilization have been mapped out, the chapter will address the recent focus among the media and social scientists alike on: the rise of the right, the rise of violence, and the ‘new’ role of social media in the EuroMaidan mobilizations. This initial analysis seeks to provide a blue print for larger studies of the EuroMaidan mobilizations and in the conclusion will highlight key hypotheses for future testing.

Authors: Onuch, O

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: ibidem-Verlag
• Host title: Ukraine's Euromaidan : Analyses of a Civil Revolution
• Pages: 27-56
• Publication date: 2015-01-01
• Edition: Author's Original
• ISSN: 1614-3515
• ISBN: 9783838207001
• Language: English
• Keywords: civil society; activism; radical direct action; political participation; Ukraine; Orange Revolution; protests; Euromaidan
• Subjects: Political science; International studies; Sociology; European democracies; Democratic government