NEWSWATCH Carnegie Endowment for International Peace:/ Balázs Jarábik, Mikhail Minakov: “Ukraine’s Hybrid State. Ukraine has new institutions and a vibrant civil society, but a culture of corruption erodes state legitimacy. The state has been captured by enemies within.”

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

With no end in sight to the slow-motion hybrid war in Donbas, the impetus to reform the Ukrainian state has moved in fits and starts. Attempts to carry out a series of fundamental reforms have fallen far short of expectations. These efforts have produced what some observers have described as a hybrid Ukrainian state. The country boasts new institutions and a vibrant civil society keen to hold leaders accountable. At the same time, a deeply entrenched culture of corruption and impunity is eroding the government’s legitimacy in the eyes of average citizens and key civil society representatives. Coupled with the dismal political theater surrounding the cabinet reshuffle and a public showdown with Western allies over a long-delayed shakeup in the Prosecutor General’s Office, there is no mistaking the fact that the Ukrainian state has been captured by enemies within.

Click here for Carnegie Endowment for International Peace/BALÁZS JARÁBIK, MIKHAIL MINAKOV: “Ukraine’s Hybrid State. Ukraine has new institutions and a vibrant civil society, but a culture of corruption erodes state legitimacy. The state has been captured by enemies within.”

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