The Russian-Ukrainian Political Divide

29 Pages Posted: 16 Jan 2007 Last revised: 16 Apr 2023

See all articles by Amelie F. Constant

Amelie F. Constant

Princeton University; UNU-MERIT; CESifo; University of Pennsylvania

Martin Kahanec

IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Central European University; Central European Labour Studies Institute

Klaus F. Zimmermann

Global Labor Organization (GLO); UNU-MERIT; Maastricht University, Department of Economics; Free University Berlin; University of Bonn; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); Journal of Population Economics

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Abstract

The Orange Revolution unveiled significant political and economic tensions between ethnic Russians and Ukrainians in Ukraine. Whether this divide was caused by purely ethnic differences or by ethnically segregated reform preferences is unknown. Analysis using unique micro data collected prior to the revolution finds that voting preferences for the forces of the forthcoming Orange Revolution were strongly driven by preferences for political and economic reforms, but were also independently significantly affected by ethnicity; namely language and nationality. Russian speakers, as opposed to Ukrainian speakers, were significantly less likely to vote for the Orange Revolution, and nationality had similar effects.

Keywords: Orange Revolution, ethnicity, Ukraine, voting preferences, transformation

JEL Classification: D72, J15

Suggested Citation

Constant, Amelie F. and Kahanec, Martin and Zimmermann, Klaus F., The Russian-Ukrainian Political Divide. IZA Discussion Paper No. 2530, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=957231 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.957231

Amelie F. Constant

Princeton University ( email )

189 Wallace Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544
United States

HOME PAGE: http://opr.princeton.edu/visitors/

UNU-MERIT ( email )

Keizer Karelplein 19
Maastricht, 6211TC
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://www.merit.unu.edu/about-us/profile/?staff_id=2419

CESifo ( email )

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.cesifo-group.de/ifoHome/research/Network/Members.html

University of Pennsylvania ( email )

Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States

Martin Kahanec

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Central European University ( email )

Nador utca 9
Budapest, H-1051
Hungary

Central European Labour Studies Institute ( email )

Zvolenská 29
Bratislava, 82109
Slovakia

HOME PAGE: http://www.celsi.sk

Klaus F. Zimmermann (Contact Author)

Global Labor Organization (GLO) ( email )

Bonn
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://https://glabor.org/

UNU-MERIT ( email )

Keizer Karelplein 19
Maastricht, 6211TC
Netherlands

Maastricht University, Department of Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 616
Maastricht, Limburg 6200MD
Netherlands

University of Bonn

Postfach 2220
Bonn, D-53012
Germany

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

Journal of Population Economics

Tiergartenstr. 17
D-69121 Heidelberg
Germany

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
106
Abstract Views
1,229
Rank
448,752
PlumX Metrics