Participating in the Process:
The Importance of Civil Society in the Former Soviet
By Timothy Fairbank
Democratic revolutions are a rare sight. Seeing images of a
massive sea of people protesting rigged elections and demand
ing democracy and government accountability in Ukraine and
Georgia, one cannot help but marvel at the political change
taking place in these countries. Democracy, developed from
the grassroots level, triumphed. How did this occur and what
can other countries learn from it? Many analysts of the region
immediately look at Moldova, Ukraine’s small neighbor and
the next country in the region to have national elections, as
possibly the next locale for political change.
While one should not dismiss the importance and influence
the spread of democracy has on neighboring countries in the
region, to suggest that similar events are likely in other post-
Soviet countries would show a misunderstanding of the factors
and elements which brought such change. Having worked with
civic and political groups from Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova,
Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan as a field representative for the
National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI)
and seen the relatively advanced stages of civil society reached
in the first two cases, though not in the others, it is clear that
the development of an active civil society has been vital in forcing
political reform and change. Without a strong civil society,
both Georgia and Ukraine would not have their current lead
ership. Contrary to the conspiracy theories
promulgated by Russia’s government
and press—and even appearing in the
West’s own yellow journalism—suggesting
that the political change we are witnessing
is all a Western plot, it is actually the
product of grassroots, indigenous organizations
advocating for democracy and
European integration. The roots of the
democratic revolution in these countries
came not from individual leaders, quests
for power, or outside forces, but from an
emerging civil society demanding gov
ernment accountability.
With the exception of the EU-m
member Baltic countries, authoritarian
ism rules over much of the post-Soviet
space. There are, however, a few countries
in the region working to join the
community of Western democracies.
Georgia, while suffering deeply from the
effects of two separatist regions, experienced
its own democratic political
change—the so-called Rose Revolution—
barely one year ago, ushering in a new
government filled with reform-minded,
pro-Western leaders. Similarly, the
events we witnessed in Ukraine in late
November and early December 2004
were demonstrations of civic activism at a
level this region has never seen. Despite
rigged voting that showed the contrary,
the majority of Ukraine’s citizens voted
against the figure who embodied an
extension of the previous corrupt, nondemocratic
regime. As in Georgia, the
people in Ukraine, encouraged by a welldeveloped
civil society, took their
protests and dissent to the streets of the
capital and regional cities. While discussions
of who should be these countries’
leaders must be left to the citizens of
these countries to decide, outside
observers can appreciate the dramatic
increase in civic participation taking
place and the calls for democracy. The
developments are encouraging not
because of the increasing calls for new
leadership, but because of the growing
politically active citizenry.
Moldova will conduct elections in
March or April 2005, and some analysts
suggest that the democratic forces there
desire the Georgia, or Ukraine, scenario;
however, it is not this simple. Nor should
such an outcome be artificially encour
aged. The outcome rests solely on the citizens
of Moldova themselves, and, as I
explain below, Moldova is lacking the key
factors which triggered the democratic
revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine.
Factors of Change in Georgia
and Ukraine. Whether or not one
agrees with the politics or methods of
political change and activism in Georgia
and Ukraine, the degree of civic involvement
should be appreciated and celebrated.
Though very different cases, both
found their roots in an active youth gen
eration and national civil society. In both
Georgia and Ukraine three main factors
united the public and energized civil
society.