It is easy to despair about Ukraine ever reforming and becoming a normal European state. Nevertheless, such despair would be a mistaken response to the flood of stories depicting obstructions to reform—even if they are true. While anyone who has dealt with Ukraine in the last twenty-five years has experienced the frustrations of trying to achieve innovation and reform there, that is only one side of the picture.
In fact, the passage of a new health care reform and the vitality of civil society, expressed in the unceasing pressure for reform and the recent round of demonstrations on the Maidan, signify that Ukrainians will not stand for the status quo. The impulse that began a generation ago under Mikhail Gorbachev continues today, despite multiple obstacles.
