Will the colours fade? The successes and failures after the Orange Revolution in Ukraine

This thesis explores the aftermath of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. The author also examines and identifies the most insightful approaches in understanding revolutions today. Structural theories of revolutions and conventional transitology share a negative evaluation of the nature of the Orange Revolution concluding that it cannot be qualified as a revolution. Agency-centered theories of revolutions and the critical school of transitology evaluate the same event positively due to their emphasis on civil society. Analysis of the after-Orange tendencies demonstrates that the negative trends (political instability and power struggles) do not threaten the long-term democratic developments in Ukraine. The positive results of the Orange Revolution (civil society maturity, increased media freedom, and political participation) are fundamental in building democratic governance. The author concludes that agency-centered theories are more insightful in studying the new generation of non-violent revolutions, whereas structural theories of revolutions retain a conservative outlook on revolutions and neglect the positive changes that are the result of the Orange Revolution.;Keywords. Orange Revolution; Ukraine; civil society; democratic transition; non-violent revolutions.