The Emergence of Electoral Cleavages: Theoretical Preliminaries

Abstract

Chapter 1 laid the descriptive ground for the construction of an explanatory framework. We saw how elections shaped the actions of Ukraine’s elite during the transition period. The development of political identity in Ukraine has been determined by the interaction between such organization at the elite level and identifications formed at the level of the citizenry. This chapter will elaborate a set of theoretical expectations as to how Ukrainian voters reacted to the momentous political events of 1989–98. These expectations will then be evaluated in subsequent chapters in the light of empirical evidence. A note on data and methods at the end of the present chapter details the means by which the evaluation will be undertaken.