Uncommon Sense Revolution, with Volodymyr Ishchenko
Jun 6, 2025
Volodymyr Ishchenko, a Ukrainian sociologist specializing in protests and revolutions, discusses the complexities of modern revolutions. He explores 'deficient revolutions' and critiques outcomes like ethnic polarization in the wake of the 2014 Euromaidan uprising. Delving into the crisis of hegemony, he links political representation issues to class and regional tensions in Ukraine. Ishchenko also highlights the importance of sociologists in complicating nation-building narratives and reflects on the Strugatsky brothers’ insights into progress.
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NGOs Brought Resources And Dependencies
- Western-funded NGOs and civil society actors played large roles but created dependencies and pushed neoliberal agendas.
- Ishchenko warns these NGOs often did not represent broader Ukrainian societal interests.
Modern Uprisings Differ From Classical Revolutions
- Contemporary uprisings lack the structural economic transformations of classical social revolutions.
- Ishchenko notes modern revolutions don't reshuffle class power or produce the same state-building outcomes.
Deficient Revolutions Explain Partial Outcomes
- Ishchenko coins 'deficient revolutions' to describe uprisings that topple governments but fail to produce deep social change.
- These revolutions still have decisive outcomes like polarization and asymmetrical empowerment of certain groups.
