I still remember feeling a bit awed when I first arrived in Ukraine in 2002. I had already spent five years in the region, so I was no stranger to Eastern Europe or to post-communist societies. Yet Kyiv was different. It was much larger than other regional capitals, like Warsaw, Prague, or Budapest, and it carried an air of what felt like destiny.
Still, Ukraine was a cynical place. Corruption was endemic. There was little civic discourse, and almost no appetite for political or social mobilization. The prevailing attitude was, “Nothing will ever change, so why bother thinking about it? Just do your job, take care of your family, and maybe save enough for a decent vacation every now and then.”
Today, Ukraine has been utterly transformed to an extent very few thought possible. And it’s worth looking back to understand underwent such a profound shift. Because if change can happen in Ukraine, where everything once seemed so completely hopeless, then there is no limit to how we can impact the world. That is something truly worth exploring.
A Material Desire Emerges
It’s important to take into account the atmosphere in Ukraine when I arrived. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, foreign investment had poured into other Eastern European countries. NATO and European Union accession programs, which mandated…