A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details Capitalist bloc formation, transnationalisation of the state and the transnational capitalist class in post-1991 Ukraine Yuliya Yurchenko Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations University of Sussex, April 2013 ii I hereby declare that this thesis has not been submitted either in the same or different form, to any other university for a degree. Signature ………………………… iii Summary This thesis uses transnational historical materialist theory and methodology to explicate the transformation of Ukraine's economy after the demise of the USSR, examining specifically the period from 1991 to the present. Thus, the thesis explores the ways in which the formation of the capitalist historic bloc, the ascent and agency of Ukraine's capitalist and ruling class(es), and the agency of transnational capital are the driving forces behind that transformation and its socially destabilising nature. Social agency is one critical issue in this argument, in that as this thesis shows the main reason behind the inability to stabilise the social order in Ukraine is the ongoing rivalry in the process of class formation. Neoliberal marketization reforms (actively supported by IMF, WB, and EBRD) allowed Ukraine's rival ruling and emerging capitalist class and their fractions to pursue their personal economic interests and by that undermine possibilities for socio- economic stabilisation. Thus Ukraine's economy has been shaped through processes of accumulation by dispossession (Harvey, 2003), or privatisation, and capitalist class fractional formation and rivalry. In the latter process a capitalist class-for-itself has emerged through organising its fractions around political parties and through actively engaging with the EU and US lobby and interest groups. Through these practices, a process of trasformismo (Gramsci, 1971) and effective strengthening of Ukraine’s capitalist historic bloc is evolving. Ukraine’s ideologically semi-denationalised ruling (Sassen, 2007) and capitalist forces that emerge from the trasformismo dialectic by transnationalising Ukraine’s state for their own political and/or economic gain essentially institutionalise the discipline of capital and facilitate a passive revolution (Gramsci, Ibid.) towards a generation of consent to the global hegemony of neoliberal market ideology. This ‘passive revolution’ further incapacitates possibilities for the emergence of ideological and thus political counter-movements and alternative institutional forms. iv Acknowledgements I would like to use this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to all members of faculty of the IR department at Sussex but first and foremost to Professor Kees van der Pijl. Over the last 5-6 years his support as my main supervisor and his confidence in my work have helped me carry on when I was losing mine. By minimal interference and maximal encouragement, he allowed my project be my own while providing wise and succinct guidance through the abundance of analyses and methods towards a better articulation of the ideas I needed help expressing. The years of experience as both a supervisee and a tutor of van der Pijl’s course on Global Political Economy have left an imprint on me, and my work that will last a lifetime. The debt I owe to Kees I can only hope to repay by following his fine example of excellence in research, undaunted integrity, and continuous self-reflection and learning. To the academic environment at Sussex that was inspiring and intellectually stimulating and that helped me shape my academic vision that could not be possible without my MA tutors and many other faculty members who have all in different ways been a part of the above process: Andreas Antoniades (my short-term supervisor), Benno Teschke, Anastasia Nesvetailova, John Maclane, William Outhwaite, Adrian Treacher, Jorg Monar, Sam Knafo, Ben Selwyn, Martin Shaw, Jan Selby, Justin Rosenberg, Louiza Odysseos, Fabio Petito, and many more. The years of being a Master and then a DPhil student at the Sussex University have been as enlightening and exciting as they were full of moments of hardship and analytic impasses that are inevitable and that would have been much harder provided I was not fortunate to have company of dear friends and fellow DPhil students Maia Pal, Cherine Hussein, Ishan Cader, George Moody, Andrea Lagna, Bhabani Nayak, Can Camgil, Clemens Hoffman, Andrei Gomez, Paul Fean, Staffan Wyn-Jones, Synne Laastad- Dyvik, Ole Johannes, Mary-Beth Kitzel, Larissa Begley, Sam Appleton, Clare Rodgers, Danny Weddup; Marie-Louise Reimann, Famke Schaap, Maksym Butkevych and, of course, Staci Shatek-Howlett – the first year at Sussex (and the consecutive ones too) would be so different without you; my dear friends Verena Erlenbusch, Gunjan Sondhi, Barbara Holler, Esther Lopez, Kamna Dodd, and Emma Bell (thank you for your editorial input!) who through the last few years have supported me both with their example and their friendship; my old school and university friends Olya Khrystyuk, Katya Pyatkova, Tanya Hrinchyshyna, Olya Aydayeva, and Lesya Lazarev who have been bringing joy to my life for over a decade now and helped me remember what life is on the outside of academic bubble. And of course to my dear, Mark, whose love, patience, and care helped me remain (mostly) sane and happy despite the stress of the last few months. A separate thank you goes to my family. Extended, who are too many to name but who provided me with their continuous support and encouragement. And nuclear: my parents – Petro and Larysa, my sister - Larysa, and her little son, Vova. They filled my life with such a melange of love, support, and inevitable familial drama that through my whole life helped me remember what is important and what is superficial. v A Note on transcription and transliteration of Slavic proper names In this thesis translation, transliteration, and transcription of all Ukrainian and Russian (and occasional other Slavic) names was performed in accordance with the rules customarily utilised by the international community of interpreters and translators, the International Interpreters Association, the International Association for Translation and Inter-cultural Studies, and as is documented in Korunets’ Theory and Practice of Translation (2001, pp. 92–169)). So, proper names are transcribed/transliterated and are conveyed on the basis of their phonetic structure in the language of origin and are not translated. Names of companies, associations, publishing houses, governmental and information agencies, etc. are transliterated/transcribed on the same basis however their explication is translated (e.g. company, firm, concern) and expanded where considered necessary (e.g. oil and gas import company, confectionery producer Geographical names are transcribed/transliterated in the exact manner that the proper names. All transcriptions/transliterations were performed in accordance with the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution N55 “On Normalization of Transliteration of the Ukrainian Alphabet by Means of the Latin Alphabet” (2010). In cases with the names of the companies, organisations, and people that are well known and are customarily transliterated differently from the standard set by the Resolution exceptions were made (e.g. Naftogaz Ukrainy, Yuliya Tymoshenko). vi TABLE OF CONTENT SUMMARY .............................................................................................................................................. III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................... IV A NOTE ON TRANSCRIPTION AND TRANSLITERATION OF SLAVIC PROPER NAMES .... V LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES .................................................................................................... VIII CHAPTER 1 ............................................................................................................................................... 1 A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ..................................................................................................... 1 UKRAINE’S POST-SOVIET TRANSFORMATION, 'TRANSITION' LITERATURE AND ITS LIMITATIONS .......................................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................... 1 TRANSITOLOGY: A FAILURE OF THE THEORY OR THE THEORY OF A FAILURE? .......................................... 3 THE CRITIQUE OF TRANSITOLOGY AND ITS LIMITATIONS ....................................................................... 12 HOMOGENISED SOCIAL FORCES, FETISHIZED INSTITUTIONS, AND THE FRACTIONED TRANSNATIONAL(- ISING) SOCIAL AGENCY .........................................................................................................................