The trials of Yulia Tymoshenko and other Ukrainian politicians from 2010 onwards attracted international attention concerning the malfunctioning of Ukraine’s system of justice.

Burlyuk reveals that there is a low demand for the rule of law among Ukrainian political and business elites, legal professionals and wider population and expose obstacles to meaningful legal change at the level of power structures, professional and popular social norms. This has implications for future research and policy. 

A change for the better is possible, but it is not automatic or inevitable. Nonetheless, the profound enthusiasm among the (new) elites and the population, the determination of the civil society to control every step of the new President, Parliament and Government and the regenerated attention of the international community to Ukraine and its domestic transformations provide a favourable environment for a real qualitative change.