Fóti, G. and Ludvig, Zs. eds.: Economic Crisis and Political Turmoil in Ukraine


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Fóti, G. and Ludvig, Zs. eds.: Economic Crisis and Political Turmoil in Ukraine. East 
European Studies No 2. Institute for World Economics of the Hungarian Academy of 
Sciences, Budapest 2010. 153 p. 

In late 2009 the Institute for World Economics launched a new publication series entitled 
“East European Studies”. The second piece of this series is devoted to the research topic 
of the impacts of global economic crisis on Ukraine. Since this crisis has been accompa-
nied by a lasting political turmoil in the country the volume treats the two phenomena 
in parallel while also analyzing their interdependence. 

The fi rst study (Economic Crisis and Ukraine’s Financial System) by Valeriy Heyets 
leads the reader to the true substance of the Ukrainian economic crisis focusing on its fi nan-
cial issues. As it is widely known, Hungary’s eastern neighbor is one of the most hardly hit 
economies by the global crisis even in a broad international comparison. However, before 
the crisis period Ukraine’s economy had a prolonged growth stage with annual rates ex-
ceeding 7%. Even though in its separate phases the causes of growth were quite diff erent, 
this period terminated in the middle of 2008, Later these triggers appeared to be the factors 
determining the very actuate character of the crisis arising in 2008 and 2009. The author 
gives a comprehensive explanation why this should and could happen, and presents an 

analysis of the previous fi scal and monetary 
policies and their relationship with domes-
tic political developments.

The second article (Crisis Manage-
ment in Ukraine: State, Private and International 
Actors) by Tetyana I. Yefimenko deals with 
the challenging issue of crisis management 
and draws some predictions concerning 
the future of public private partnership in 
Ukraine. Yefimenko also argues that it is an 
objective development trend worldwide that 
new institutions emerge to promote interac-
tions between government authorities and 
private business. International experience 
shows that PPP-based co-operations boost 
the effi  ciency of society’s essential systems 
and divide the risk between the state and 
the private sector in a rational manner.

The third study (The Effect of 
Presidential Elections and the World Economic 
Crisis on Power Politics in Ukraine) by István 
Szabó closely connects the problems of the 
economic crisis and the issue of domestic 
political landscape with a special att ention 

L I T E R A T U R E

Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 60 (2) (2011) pp. 217–220.



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to Ukrainian oligarchs. Oligarchic structures are present in almost each post-Soviet pol-
ity, although their role and position may alter from country to country. Opposite to their 
Russian counterparts, Ukrainian oligarchs need to spread out their business activities on 
almost all sectors of the economy due to the scarcity of natural resources. One major thesis 
of the author is that the economic crisis amplifi ed the scope for change in the political elite, 
whereas oligarchs managed to survive during the last nearly two decades. Nonetheless, 
the challenge they have to face at present, namely the global economic crisis is a dreadful 
one.

The second block of studies focusing on key Ukrainian economic issues contains 
two prominent studies on the state and prospects of the agrarian sector and the processes of 
migration. In his economic geographical study (The Ukrainian Agrarian Sector and the Global 
Economic Crisis) Dávid Karácsonyi raises the question whether European and worldwide 
agro-ecological conditions could off er an inexhaustible source of wealth or not. The study 
analyzes the history of agrarian transformation since the systemic change in Ukraine with 
an emphasis on the product structures and production dynamics, the issues of agricultural 
employment, ownership and production effi  ciency with a regional approach, and the par-
ticipation in global agricultural markets. Eventually Karácsonyi highlights the impacts of 
the global crisis on the Ukrainian farming sector. It should be highly appreciated that the 
study is rich in thematic maps demonstrating diff erent scales of indicators of agricultural 
activity in Ukraine.

The closing study (Migratory Process Transformation under Conditions of a Global 
Crisis) by Ella Libanova leads the reader to the intriguing issue of Ukrainian migration as 
it is one of the most precise characteristics of any given population’s att itude to the quality 
of life and living standards, assessments and expectations of possible changes in the region 
of permanent residence and in other places accessible for in-migration. It is only since 2005 
that migratory balance turned positive again in Ukraine. The study provides rich statistical 
database to these processes while trying to give answers to basic motivations for the move-
ments as well. Regretfully, maps showing the main geographical directions and volumes 
of migration across the country are sorely missing. 

With this publication the authors contribute to the bett er understanding of today’s 
Ukraine and hopefully the readers from the academic and the educational fi elds as well as 
from  the administration sphere will fi nd this volume valuable and useful in their work. 

Tibor Tiner