Lessons from the Ukrainian Transition to Democracy

Date: 

Wednesday, February 3, 2021, 12:00pm to 2:00pm

Location: 

YouTube

Francis Fukuyama, Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow, Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies, and Mosbacher Director of Stanford's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law

Note: This event is part of our Seminar in Ukrainian Studies series as well as the Keynote Address for the inaugural TCUP conference "Why Is Ukraine a Democracy?" You may watch the event on YouTube without registering or register to join the Zoom webinar. The Zoom webinar will offer a separate channel with Ukrainian-language audio; YouTube will stream the English audio only.

Illustrative image of Ukrainians placing ballots in boxesAbstract

After the Revolution of Dignity in 2013-14, the expectation for democratic reform was high. Ukraine has had some great successes in the post-Maidan period, but also some serious setbacks in its reform process. For some, the revolution has not finished but continues as the country shapes its democratic future.

Francis Fukuyama will discuss three major lessons to be drawn from Ukraine's extended transition to democracy:  

  1. The importance of a vibrant civil society
  2. The importance of governance and the exercise of democratic power
  3. Power and the control of corruption

About the Speaker

Francis Fukuyama

Francis Fukuyama is Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), Mosbacher Director of FSI's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), and Director of Stanford's Master's in International Policy Program.  He is also professor (by courtesy) of Political Science.

Dr. Fukuyama has written widely on issues in development and international politics.  His 1992 book, The End of History and the Last Man, has appeared in over twenty foreign editions.   His most recent book, Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment, was published in Sept. 2018.

Francis Fukuyama received his B.A. from Cornell University in classics, and his Ph.D. from Harvard in Political Science.  He was a member of the Political Science Department of the RAND Corporation,  and of the Policy Planning Staff of the US Department of State.  From 1996-2000 he was Omer L. and Nancy Hirst Professor of Public Policy at the School of Public Policy at George Mason University, and from 2001-2010 he was Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University.  He served as a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics from 2001-2004. 

Dr. Fukuyama holds honorary doctorates from Connecticut College, Doane College, Doshisha University (Japan), Kansai University (Japan), and Aarhus University (Denmark), and the Pardee Rand Graduate School.  He is a non-resident fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and at the Center for Global Development.  He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Pardee Rand Graduate School and the Volcker Alliance.  He is a member of the American Political Science Association and the Council on Foreign Relations.  He is married to Laura Holmgren and has three children.

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