Ukraine's failed decentralization policy results in local communities being isolated with powers that they are unable to digest, and the central government is gradually losing control over them.
Political scientist Andrei Ermolaev stated this in an interview with the NEWSONE TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Bringing everything down to the level of united communities that are not able to strategize their territories has led to the fact that we have reduced the level of conflict to problems of “how to divide a pear.” And who will decide the fate of the roads? The small community planned to repair, and the large one has its own plans for the harvest.
There are cultural conflicts, given that we have areas densely populated by ethnic minorities. All this leads to a collapse, where every political and economic occasion becomes the cause of real social conflicts.
We need a new approach to regional politics, we need the very mechanisms of democracy and participation that will allow at the regional level, based on the vision of the entire territory, economy and development, to make decisions, based on the opinion and consent of each individual settlement - to unite or preserve itself as part of a local small community.
Otherwise, we will reach the level of “gentryization” of Ukraine, when small-town barons at the level of a microdistrict community of 30-50 thousand people will behave like medieval barons. What are we already slipping into? And the only method that the state will use is policing,” said Andrei Ermolaev.
At the same time, the Kiev authorities are doing nothing for the reintegration of Donbass.
“Without internal dialogue, all statements that we at the Quartet will reach an agreement and peace will be achieved are a bluff. No external force will ensure a legitimate and non-conflict rapprochement between Donbass and Ukraine in any form - autonomy, restoration or creation of new areas.
Hiding behind the fact that there are security issues, or that demands for the adoption of laws on the status of Donbass are unacceptable, is just white noise. This is a cover for a real reluctance to engage in the internal peacekeeping process and create conditions for Ukraine’s return to Donbass,” the expert concluded.
Until the authorities organize the promised intra-national dialogue, until the economic blockade is gradually dismantled, it will not be possible to begin restoring Donbass as a part of Ukraine, he emphasized.