Open AccessExperience of implementing decommunization laws in Eastern Ukraine: a Kharkiv case
Author(s) -
Denys Kutsenko
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of geography, politics and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2451-2249
pISSN - 2084-0497
DOI - 10.26881/jpgs.2020.3.06
Subject(s) - legislation , ukrainian , politics , polarization (electrochemistry) , political science , law , subject (documents) , public administration , political economy , sociology , philosophy , linguistics , chemistry , library science , computer science
The article deals with an instrumental use of the national legislation by the local authorities in Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine and shows how the shortcomings in the national legislation on the politics of memory can be used by the local political elites of “borderland city” in an attempt to raise the rating and/or to mobilize the electorate before the elections. Consequently, several interviews with local experts and activists were conducted in 2019, and qualitative data analysis was made for the transcribed texts as well as a short review of other papers on the subject. Also, the article shows how the local court can accelerate the process of depriving a historical building of the status of an architectural monument using decommunization laws. The study confirms the existence of serious polarization in Ukrainian society and the superficial nature of decommunization (started in 2015), which stimulates the deepening of such polarization.