Revolution in Orange: The Origins of Ukraine’s Democratic Breakthrough

The dramatic series of protests and political events that unfolded in Ukraine in the fall of 2004-the Orange Revolution -were seminal both for Ukrainian history and the history of democratization. Pro-Western presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned with dioxin, an industrial pollutant that left him weakened and horribly disfigured. When this assassination attempt failed, the Kremlin-backed ruling party resorted to voter intimidation and massive electoral fraud to win the runoff election. This volume attempts to distinguish between necessary and facilitating factors in the success of the Orange Revolution.