It has been said that young leaders are the foot soldiers of democracy, and the grassroots campaign that swelled up during Orange Revolution is proof that Ukraine is no exception. Still, five years later, the Orange Revolution’s promise of reform has yet to be fulfilled. This is in large part due to a lack of leadership not only at the top of the government machine, but throughout the system. Still, even the best reform strategy will fail without strong leaders to promote and undertake it. More

Ukraine greeted 2009 with a thus-far unseen worsening in the consumer mood as the crisis in the country’s economy worsened. In January 2009, the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) fell a further 12.1pp over December 2008, to 41.8. This is a new record and the absolute lowest the Index has ever been since it began to be tracked. This level of the CCI indicates that more than three-quarters of Ukraine’s consumers are feeling pessimistic. More