Archives: Новини

Kyiv officials, represented by Director of Public Communications Department Maryna Honda in every way impede the exhibition of pictures that IWP intended to demonstrate on the Day of Europe to promote European values.The Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine has supported the campaign and the letter of endorsement was sent to the KCSA.

“Negotiations with the Kyiv administration lasted for about a month and the permission was signed by Olexandr Popov. However, five days before the campaign we have received an ultimatum stating that either we postpone the exhibition for indefinite period, or to demonstrate pictures elsewhere. In addition, outright censorship of art was put as another requirement” stated the director of the Institute of World Policy Alyona Getmanchuk.

Head of the Supervisory Board of the IWP Victor Shlinchak asserted “Kyiv officials did not even consider that Ambassadors of the European Union member-states were invited to the exhibition, and that action was to take place on the Day of Europe. If the situation will not change we will arrange the protest instead of exhibition demanding not to impede the advocacy campaign in support of the European vector of the country.”

Sorry, this entry is only available in Ukrainian.

The authorities of Zaporizhzhya have prohibited the advocacy campaign of Ukraine on the advantages of the European Union. This prohibitory message was sent to the Institute of World Policy in written form.The full text is available in Ukrainian only.

Institute of World Policy held a videoconference with MEP Professor Danuta Hubner.During the event, guests of the IWP had the opportunity to ask Professor Hübner questions about gender equality in Ukraine and across the globe, and the prospects for signing the Association Agreement with the European Union.

The member of Ukrainian Parliament and the member of interfactional association “Equal Opportunities” Boris Tarasyuk, the Deputy Head of the EU Delegation in Ukraine Maria Yurikova, representatives of the embassies of Poland, Germany and Canada as well as journalists and representatives of civil society visited the event and took part in the discussion.

The transcript of the videoconference is available in Ukrainian only.

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Professor Danuta Hübner expressed her position on the effectiveness of quota system in the process of establishing gender equality. Thus, the MEP said that she initially opposed the practice of quotas but gradually became its supporter, when perceived the changes and the results the quota system brought in Poland. The representative of the European Parliament emphasized not only the importance of approving laws for enhancing gender equality but also stressed on the vitality of their proper implementation. Professor Hübner provided an example of the law on equal pay that was adopted in the EU. But the level of its implementation, according to the MEP needs to be improved. Therefore, as the representative of the EP noted in order to raise awareness in the sphere of gender relations there is need for debates at national and regional levels.
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In addition, Professor Hübner stressed that Ukraine is one of the key issues that concerns the EU and that the EU will not block the signing of the Association Agreement, but it is very important that Ukraine fulfils the conditions for signing the agreement.
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Videoconference was held under the “Global virtual forum of women leaders,” which is supported by Internews, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the European Headquarters in Brussels and European Parliament Office in Warsaw.
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On Friday 25th of January at 5 p.m., the Insrtitute of World Policy will show the documentary film by Gerald Knaus and Fritz Ofner “Moldova – Lost in Transition” that is part of the Return to Europe film series (www.returntoeurope.org) initiated and supported by ERSTE Stiftung.This is the story of a post-Soviet country struggling to overcome the steepest economic decline any society ever experienced in peacetime. We meet musicians and activists, communists and secessionist, Europhiles, young urbanites and desperate pensioners, in a society caught between the EU in the West and an increasingly authoritarian East. As Moldova develops a clearer sense of where it wants to go as a country it deserves to be taken into account elsewhere in Europe, now more than ever.

The movie screening was followed by “Why Moldova matters?”

Gerald Knaus, ESI chairman and filmmaker, Ion Stavila, Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to Ukraine, Leonid Litra, IWP senior policy fellow and moderator attended the event.

The event was held within the framework of the IWP project “How to get rid of post-Sovietness?” under the support of the GMF Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation

The Institute of World Policy presented the policy brief of analytical notes “Twitter-diplomacy. How new technologies could enhance the position of Ukraine on the international arena?”The senior research fellow Leonid Litra and analyst Julia Kononenko presented the research. {4}

The purpose of the research is emphasize the importance of employing tools of e-diplomacy for Ukrainian diplomats to diffuse information and receive feedback from public and international community, to strengthen connections with country’s foreign partners as well as to make communication within the MFA easy, practical, rapid and cost-saving. {5}
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Experts underscored that Ukrainian diplomacy has made its first steps in this sphere and now it has to be more assertive in benefiting from the opportunities offered by the digital diplomacy. Therefore, experts offered five recommendations for diplomats and policymakers to foster institutionalization of practices that would lead to the adaptation of e-diplomacy within Ukrainian diplomatic circles and engender structural changes within the realm of foreign policy.
– To develop specialized program and unit that would be solely dedicated to promoting and building capacity of the digital diplomacy within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This department would be responsible for fostering diplomats to use social media in the twofold way. First, to ensure the outreach to wider public within the country as well as to foreign nationals in order to increase awareness of major foreign policy issues, employ digital channels to inform public in case of crisis, and utilize it as an opinion-making tool. It is vital to underscore that messages delivered through social networks by diplomats should be consistent with the general policy pursued by the MFA. Second, to build digital networks within diplomatic corpus and promote e-diplomacy for diplomatic representatives and diffuse it across the MFA. It is especially important for the institutions that are stationed outside of the country such as embassies and consulates.

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– To employ training programs and specialized courses that would be offered to the diplomats in order for them to learn how to apply means of digital diplomacy in their work and face challenges of e-diplomacy. It is salient to encourage diplomats to be bold in employing innovative practices and use twitter diplomacy in order to craft their image as of diplomat open to the public in their daily work. Moreover, it is vital to ensure that personnel have space, time, and incentives to make training a crucial part of their careers. As well, it should become a special course at the Diplomatic Academy on how to use e-diplomacy.

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– To increase the web presence of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by publishing messages in news, blogs, and videos across global web network. Moreover, this initiative should be aimed at turning virtual space into the proper forum for public debates, forming partnerships with relevant organizations and implementations of initiatives that reflect foreign policies. Furthermore, the MFA has to ensure that conferences, summits, and forums initiated by the ministry need to have high presence within social networks and promoted by the tools of the digital diplomacy. This is especially relevant on the eve of Ukraine’s chairmanship in the OSCE
– To duplicate twitter accounts, social media pages into English – the diplomatic lingua franca on the international arena – that will allow Ukrainian diplomats to be more active within the realm of virtual diplomacy and become more interconnected by the means of the twitter diplomacy. For instance, the ability to have twitter accounts in English and Ukrainian could allow following greater number of the heads of governments, foreign ministers and diplomats.

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– To encourage public, non-governmental organizations and media space to use more actively means of digital diplomacy in its communication with the MFA and as a platform to deliver its initiatives and claims to the Ministry in order to ensure fruitful mutual communication between grassroots and top level of diplomacy.
The full version of the policy-brief could be accessed here

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The group of students of the Hartwick College (USA) led by Amy Forster Rothbart, Ph.D, Assistant Professor of the Department of Political Science, visited IWP on January 11, 2013 to discuss the IWP’s project “How to get rid of Post-Sovietness”, which was included in the college’s curriculum.The presentation of the the study “How to get rid of post-Sovietness?” was by Sergiy Solodkyy, IWP’s First Deputy Director and Leonid Litra the IWP’s senior analyst. After the presentation the students had an ooprtunity to ask the experts, who were involved in the project implementation, their questions regarding the results of the study.
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The large-scale project “How to get rid of post-Sovietness?” was implemented in partnership with the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (Tbilisi, Georgia), the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul” (Chisinau, Moldova) and with support of the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation.
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The project consists of three parts, in which the phenomenon of post-Sovietness in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia is studied. Choice is motivated not only because those countries were part of the Soviet Union, but also by the fact that they have officially declared the will to join the European Union. In the course of the study, the Institute of World Policy identified attributes of post-Sovietness in politics and society.

The study “How to get rid of Post-Sovietness” has been presented in Moldova
The study “How to get rid of Post-Sovietness” has been presented in Moldova

The presentation of the the study “How to get rid of post-Sovietness?” was held on February 8th in Moldova by Leonid Litra the IWP’s senior analyst, Liubomir Chiriac, IDIS Viitorul (Moldova) Executive Director, and Cornel Ciurea, senior expert of IDIS Viitorul (Moldova). In the presentation the leading political experts and social scientists took part.

The large-scale project “How to get rid of post-Sovietness?” was implemented in partnership with the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (Tbilisi, Georgia), the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul” (Chisinau, Moldova) and with support of the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation.

The project consists of three parts, in which the phenomenon of post-Sovietness in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia is studied. Choice is motivated not only because those countries were part of the Soviet Union, but also by the fact that they have officially declared the will to join the European Union. In the course of the study, the Institute of World Policy identified attributes of post-Sovietness in politics and society

The IWP have also developed 10 recommendations that aim to eliminate post-Sovietness in social-political context. Among them:

1. Europeanization and socialization. The implementation of the set of reforms that would bring all three countries closer to the EU. The introduction of a visa-free regime with the EU, which would allow more Ukrainian, Georgians and Moldovans to see firsthand the benefits of liberal values.
2. Demythologization Soviet legacy. The need for broad public discussion of crimes of the Soviet era, the appropriateness of Soviet symbols in the infrastructure, etc.

3. Active civil society. The higher is the level of public participation and self-organization, the faster democratic traditions will take roots in society and more responsible the government will be.

4. The key role of the media. In the transition period, leading role should be given to the civic journalism and to so-called “muckrakers,” who acutely respond to cases of corruption, nepotism within the government.

5. Implementation of e-governance. Using the latest electronic technology will reduce the level of bureaucracy of the state apparatus and hence would reduce corruption.

6. Exchange programs between regions. The increase of travel of citizens within their countries will reduce social tension assist in overcoming stereotypes, engendered to a certain extent by the Soviet propaganda machine.

7. Contests for public offices. Introduction of more transparent procedures (involving representatives of civil society) for selection of individuals for public office will help in the struggle with nepotism.

8. The fight against corruption. Eradication of corruption using the experience of Georgia.

9. Debureaucratization. Reducing the number of officials and simplification of procedures for receiving certain documents in government

10. Improving educational standards. Recommendations in this area could be summarized in three main points: the decentralization of higher education, strict punishment for any form of plagiarism at university level, and the involvement of employees with Western education and knowledge of foreign languages (especially English) in public administration.

The Institute of World Policy research «How to get rid of Post-Sovietness?» was included in the curriculum of the Hartwick College (USA).Amy Forster Rothbart, Ph.D, Assistant Professor of the Department of Political Science Hartwick College informed IWP about it.

Institute of World Policy undertook a big project «How to get rid of Post-Sovietness?» In cooperation with the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (Georgia) and the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives Viitorul with the support of the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation Marshall Fund.

The purpose of the research is to eradicate the negative phenomen in politics and society inherent post-soviet period of development. The post-Sovietness in this study is defined as a kind of socio-political mutation, where old Soviet values, practices and standards get modified, combined, mixed and interlinked with their Western counterparts.

The project consists of three parts, in which the phenomenon of post-Sovietness in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia is studied. Choice is motivated not only because those countries were part of the Soviet Union, but also by the fact that they have officially declared the will to join the European Union. In the course of the study, the Institute of World Policy identified attributes of post-Sovietness in politics and society

Text of the study can be found here

The Institute of World Policy conducted a survey among almost 180 officials, Ukrainian and foreign experts, diplomats, journalists and active citizens on which issues should be covered in 2013.Unsurprisingly, the European integration issues are the most popular among the respondents being closely followed by advocacy campaign on EU integration and the post-Sovietness dismantling. The Institute also received almost 40 research proposals which will be taken into consideration next year. In this way, the IWP is forming its agenda for 2013, based, first of all, on your expectations. The Institute of World Policy will be grateful to development partners for providing support in conducting research and implementation of projects on the selected issues.
Below, the IWP presents the TOP-15 most voted research and advocacy issues.

On which issues should IWP conduct deeper research and advocacy in 2013? (please select maximum 5 options)

1. Implementation of the Association Agreement (Association Agenda) – 45,8%
2. Visa Liberalization process with the EU – 41,0%
3. Implications of the DCFTA provisional implementation in Ukraine – 41,0%
4. Advocacy campaign on why Ukraine should be in the EU (carried out in Ukraine with a focus on citizens) – 39,8%
5. Dismantling post-Sovietness in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia – 31,3%
6. Expansion of Customs Union – 27,7%
7. Democratization: innovative global practices to revive democracy in Ukraine (e-democracy, deliberative democracy, etc) – 21,7%
8. China’s influence in Ukraine – 21,7%
9. Geopolitical priority of the middle-class in Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus – 21,7%
10. NATO related issues: a “roadmap” on how to move from non-bloc policy to MAP? – 20,5%
11. Assessment of the 2013 OSCE chairmanship of Ukraine – 20,5%
12. Transnistrian conflict: what could Ukraine do? – 19,3%
13. Russia’s soft power influence in the post-Soviet area: Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine – 18,1%
14. Russian Orthodox Church as a tool of influence in the post-Soviet space – 16,9%
15. Education – organize a school for young diplomats and civic leaders – 16,9%

The videoconference with Larisa Burakova, economist and author of the book “Why did Georgia succeed?” took place at the Institute of World Policy.The topic of the discussion was the current situation in Georgia, relations between Georgia and Russia.
The videoconference was moderated by Vakhtang Kipiani, manager of the publication of the book “Why did Georgia succeed?” in Ukrainian.

Larisa Burakova, is a Russian economist, author of the book “Why did Georgia succeed”. She is a scholar of the Institute of economic analysis, student of the London School of Economics.
She has been working for the Economist and won several international competitions.
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