Collectively, the contributors of the newly published book analyze the impact of the Euromaidan protest movement on various developments in Ukrainian civil society, especially in concerning democratization, state building and conflict resolution processes. In her chapter, our guest researcher Dr Zarembo focuses on the contribution of civilian voluntary work on Ukraine’s defense capacity.

The data for analysis are open source materials and public interviews of volunteers as well as face-to-face interviews (n=6, conducted in Kyiv in November 2016 and April 2017) with the representatives of the selected five volunteer organizations and members of “Volunteer Force,” some of whom are anonymized. The analysis concludes that the volunteers in fact contributed to both—strengthening the state and weakening it, depending on the context of interaction. While volunteer participation failed to bring about systemic reform, it did provide powerful democratic oversight over the state’s key defense institution.

Edited by Natalia Shapovalova and Olga Burlyuk, the book was published by Ibidem Press.