Methodological Background of Post-Soviet Regionalism: The Case of Ukraine

The transformational 1990s significantly differentiated the regional model of Ukraine, which eventually began to resemble a system of uncontrolled chronic economic decline, as the existing planning and regulatory methods had become redundant, the market-based approaches being not actualized. The methodological vacuum in which Ukraine found itself did not allow regions to solve the existing problems by means of European economic convergence instruments. Despite the fact that more and more theories and concepts appeared in the leading developed countries (regional competitiveness, city- region, beautiful places, creative city, localization, etc.), national science used outdated ideas of planned regulation, inappropriate in market economy. The effect of government policies resembled core measures of the neoliberal model, while maintaining a high degree of administrative centralization.

FDI inflow fundamentally altered the regional landscape. The leading position in accumulating the FDI stock belonged to Kyiv, which also produced the largest per capita GDP. In the last five years a revival of innovation activity took place in the Ukrainian regions. Eventually it obtained an undulating character, moving basically along two axes: Lviv-Kviv and Kyiv-Kharkiv. However, low FDI level in the worst performing regions could create an erroneous impression about the positive impact of FDI on regional economy.

A region's development trajectory> might also be affected by the mentality of its inhabitants, as well as the media, whose impact can convey either a cohesive or disintegrating character. This was evidenced by the recent events in Ukraine, as well as the "East versus West” confrontation, which resulted in frustration, whereas the lack of tolerance among the population of certain regions provoked the bloodshed. Thus, identification of methodological background of post-Soviet regionalism on the example of Ukraine is an important scientific task, which may explain the essence of regional asymmetries in the post-Soviet states.