The conflict in Ukraine is the clash between indigenous groups of people who have very different ideas about what it means to be Ukrainian, cites the opinion of Professor of political science from the University of Rhode island Nicholas Petro.
There is a war for the Ukrainian identity, says the Professor.
For most of the Western regions (Galicia) to be Ukrainian means to suppress Russian culture, emphasizes Nikolai Petro. For eight Russian regions on the East and South of Ukraine to be Ukrainian, it means to be representative of individual people, which is very close to Russia. If these people are forced to choose between Ukraine out of NATO or the EU and Ukraine in the Union with Russia, they will give the advantage of Russia in the ratio two to one, says the expert.
More than 2 decades, these two versions of national identity on a regional basis with difficulty, but coexisted, the deposition of Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014 was seen as a violation of the fragile political balance between Galicia and the Donbass, the Professor says.
The West is convinced Nicolai Petro, not afraid of cultural differences in Ukraine: he believes that If you manage to overcome the corruption, the economy starts to grow, and cultural differences will disappear. At the same time Russia, in the opinion of the expert is aware that society in Ukraine is deeply divided, and this division fuels corruption.
basically Ukrainian Conflict, to be Ukraine monocultural or multicultural nation, said the expert.
will be able or not to succeed monocultural approach in Ukrainian politics, likely depending on how the country will deal with its Russian-speaking minority, which in almost any scenario will be thirty percent of the population, suggests Professor Petro.
sections: Politics |