World Watch: In Ukraine, a revolution undone
The Orange Revolution has come undone. The coalition that ousted Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma last year and swept into power with a dazzling display of fireworks and orange ribbons fell apart last week when President Viktor Yushchenko fired his prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, along with her cabinet.
The mass dismissal was public, acrimonious, and just as dramatic as the former allies' rise to power. Yushchenko announced in a televised address that the government had "lost the team spirit and faith." There were accusations of corruption on all sides, centered around a deep divide on the issue of what to do about the rigged privatizations of state industry.
"Revolutions are always broad, and they begin to splinter as different actors begin to emerge with a different agenda," says Leon Aron, director of Russian studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
Like President Mikhail Saakashvili, who led the Rose Revolution in neighboring Georgia with promises to rid the government of graft and corruption, Yushchenko has discovered that it's easier said than done.
"It is much easier to change a political regime than it is to change a political culture," says Aron. "That is why we're beating our heads against the wall everywhere. It's a process that's going to take decades."
Yushchenko nominated Yuri Yekhanurov, a technocrat, for the seat of prime minister, and he is expected to win Parliament's blessing. But in January, many of the president's powers will shift to Parliament, so when Ukrainians go to the polls next March, the stakes will be high. Many consider the dismissal a bold (and perhaps even dangerous) power play by Yushchenko, who came into power largely because of Tymoshenko's support and popularity. The parliamentary elections will, like last year's election, offer voters a clear choice.
Orange Revolution Take 2? Stay tuned.