For generations raised on the promise of freedom of 1991, the Euromaidan protests in Kyiv in the winter 2013-2014 were a sudden, electrifying chance to make that promise real. But what happens when hope collides with the complicated realities of politics, society, economy, and the competing against notions of history?
Drawing on intellectual discourses from 2013 onwards, this book maps those collisions, reconstructing Ukraine’s “noumenal parliament” — the constellation of voices that have vied to define the nation’s future. Bogdan Kolesnyk explains why Ukraine’s is not a single story but a composite of many, why neither liberal consolidation nor national stories alone provide a sufficient answer, and suggests how justice, reason and republican institutions might be the anchors for plural polity to endure.
In attempting to understand Ukrainian socio-political reality on its own terms from beyond its borders, this book urgently enquires what kind of future is worth fighting for?

Dr. Bogdan Kolesnyk is a scholar specializing in Ukrainian political discourse and European political thought. He earned his doctorate at the University of St. Gallen with a thesis on political narratives in Ukraine. Originally trained in finance and economics, he combines his academic and public activities with professional commitments in business.

List of Tables
List of Figures
Preface
Introduction 2
1. Describing the Present 16
2. Defining the Future 46
3. Between the Two Worlds 74
4. Euromaidan: The Axial Event 107
5. Modernization 136
6. Shock Therapy 2.0 172
7. The Republic 197
8. Nation Building 220
9. State Sovereignty 248
10. Alternate Accounts 265
11. Analysis: From Narratives to Ideologies 280
12. Conclusions: Ukraine as Res Publica 304
Epilogue 319
Bibliography