Peter Korotaev writes on political movements, class relations, and economic policy in Ukraine.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has been criticized for recent moves to centralize power. But these developments are less about the actions of a single leader and more the result of decades of state weakness following the dissolution of the USSR.
States at war generally adopt interventionist economic policies to mobilize resources and manpower. Ukraine hasn’t followed suit, instead pursuing dogmatic free-marketeer measures that suit Western creditors more than its own population.