Please join the Ukrainian Studies Program at Columbia University's Harriman Institute for a presentation by Volodymyr Kulyk on the reasons behind Ukraine's controversial 2017 education law and its foreign policy repercussions.

When the Ukrainian parliament adopted a new law on education in September 2017, this development was welcomed by civil society and Ukraine’s Western partners as an important part of the post-Euromaidan reform agenda. However, the new law provoked an outcry from neighboring states, particularly Hungary, as it drastically reduced the use of minority languages in the education process. Notwithstanding their warning that its implementation would jeopardize not only their country’s bilateral relations with Ukraine but also Ukraine’s European integration, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko enacted the law, thus exacerbating the controversy. To understand why Kiev supported a minority-insensitive law despite its predictable foreign policy repercussions, one should look at the domestic political context. Similarly, it is the domestic contexts of the respective kin-states that can shed light on their harsh response to Ukraine’s assertive move.

Speaker

Volodymyr Kulyk, head research fellow, Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine