Ukraine’s decentralization reform has been hailed as one of the country’s most successful since the 2013-2014 Revolution of Dignity. Recently, a piece in Foreign Affairs claimed that Ukraine’s decentralization has ‘brought the country together’ in the face of Russia’s 2022 invasion, fostering political legitimacy, solidarity, and community pride. Offering a different perspective, in my research paper published in the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, I argue that the political, administrative, and fiscal processes of decentralization in Ukraine during the War in Donbas has further instituted certain inequalities and emboldened oligarchic power, which may pose difficulties for future post-conflict reconstruction, summarised here.
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