The End of the Soviet World? Essays on Post-Communist Political and Social Change

This is the fourth volume prepared by the initiators of the Three Ukrainian Revolutions (3R) project ongoing at the College of Europe in Natolin since 2016. The present collection of essays analyses the changes that have taken place in the post-Soviet space since 1991 and which have determined both the process of democratization and the return to authoritarianism in the new republics. Since 2022, researchers gathered around the 3R project have been asked: Had there been no revolutions and mass pro-democratic protest in Ukraine and other post-Soviet states, would there also be no war today? Answers to this and similarly intriguing questions are provided by: Marek Cichocki, Kinga Anna Gajda, Garry Kasparov, Magdalena Lachowicz, Wojciech Michnik, Georges Mink, Justyna Olędzka, Iwona Reichardt, Anton Saifullayeu, Kacper Wańczyk, Andrew Wilson and Kataryna Wolczuk.



The three revolutions in Ukraine, together with other pro-democracy actions in countries such as Belarus, Georgia and Moldova, have demonstrated to the world and authorities in the Kremlin that what was once known as the Soviet world is collapsing. This long-lasting process has taken different forms in different republics. It has been welcomed by the democratic and free world, but despised by the Kremlin. Had there been no Ukrainian revolutions, would there be a war in Ukraine? This is the main question that drives the team of researchers gathered around the Three Revolutions (3R) project carried out by the College of Europe in Natolin. An attempt to answer it is included in this publication, which I highly recommend to all scholars of international affairs.

Mykola Kniazhytskyi

Ukrainian journalist and politician



This collection of essays analyses the changes that have taken place in the post-Soviet space since 1991.