The Ukrainian pension system has been inherited, and everybody understands that it is a yesterday’s practice typical of the "developed socialism." But fifteen governments in the course of 20 years of Independence did their best to leave the long-overdue implementation of pension reform to their successors. Prior to IMF demands they resorted to preterition.

In the life of the country 20 years is just one generation time, but 20 years for a man is a significant period, as it often happens that two to three decades may become the most productive in your life…

20 years in the life of a country is a very short period. However, if the reference point at the beginning of this interval marks the birth of a new state, then 20 years of independence of Ukraine is a good reason to ponder on wherefrom we actually started and whereto we came. And determine at the same time to determine where we wend and recollect, if we fancied it this way in August 1991? Which statements, intentions and plans became a reality, and which ones remained but a good intention, or turned into a myth? May it happen that the abundance of myths in the past 20 years led to apathy and indifference typical of Ukrainian society now?

Some people consider national character a non-existent notion. Others recognize its existence but reckon that the discussion only leads to accusations of nationalism or racism. At the same time, in the Western philosophical and psychological literature, the concept of national character has been of great interest for many decades now, and scientific works keep deliberating on whether there is such thing as national character and what it means.

The revision of land relations is a global trend. However, when the state is unwilling or unable to protect the land rights of ordinary citizens, thereby enhancing its social capital, the attempts to breathe life into the market relations in the black-earth region of Ukraine do not evoke trust of country's population.

The "Dialog.UA" decided to discuss this subject to understand the dynamics and prospects of relations between Ukraine and the European Union. Most countries in Central and Eastern Europe have joined the EU, while Ukraine has no concrete prospect of membership in the expanded Europe yet. Will it really be admitted? Does our country need it? Or the time is not ripe yet? Are we closer to or farther from the EU than in 2005, when Europe froze off Ukraine that was too big, too poor, and too corrupted to be integrated easily? What has changed since then? Have we become smaller, richer, or less corrupted? So, mind the doors!

In August, Ukraine commemorated the 19th anniversary of its independence. According to the article 5 of the Constitution, "Ukraine is a republic. People are holders of sovereignty and only source of power in Ukraine. People exercise authority directly and though government agencies and organs of local self-government."

The elections are over, and now it is time to fulfill campaign promises. However, the new President has a narrow range of choice: decision-making deadline, lack of resources, burden of external and internal debts, promises, and agreements; nevertheless it is for him to decide. Ukraine is eager to change and afraid of it at the same time; this is an inevitable paradox of new times and the new president’s agenda. Together with our authors and experts, the "Dialog.UA" is trying to assess the short- and long-term challenges facing the country.

The pre-2005 majoritarian local electoral system failed to meet the needs of community and was replaced by proportional one, which also proved to be ineffective. Today's law introduces a mixed system, but will this experiment improve the protection of local interests? The experts maintain that this innovation is unlikely to amend local self-government. Moreover, the skeptics insist that the current local elections will not only fail to become a milestone in the democratic process, but will put on the back burner the idea of local self-government, turning the elected bodies into a part of State apparatus.

Plato said: "Ideas rule the world. Getting control the minds of people, ideas gave rise to civilizations, created and destroyed great empires. The progress (as well as reforms and revolutions) is possible only when people believe in the fundamental principles of its realization. Thus, the ideas are the basis for any change in the community of people, and our society is no exception.

Today Ukraine is sorrowfully watching the emerging and growing inequality in education, property inequalities, inter-regional disparities and other "achievements" during the last 20 years of independence, which are rapidly destroying society, tearing our country apart. The changes in education and tutoring expenditure patterns became an unbearable burden for Ukrainian families. The growing socio-economic and educational inequality is evident in the east and west, south and north of the country. Academician Myroslav Popovych formulated it in not so many words: "The poorer is a nation, the more it is stupid. It is simply scratching out. It simply cannot afford long-term planning, because it has to pay its shot. That’s the way we live. We grow stupid. Everything is based on personal enthusiasm."

For over 200 years an idea of inevitability of fight between labor and capital determined the strategy of companies and corporations, philosophy of management and labor relations, policy and culture of capitalism. Today we witness the end of successor epoch in economic history of mankind. The post-war "social pact" between labor and capital based on their peaceful coexistence has been broken. In fact, the capital has pulled out of the social agreement and pursues more aggressive policy against the organized labor. With the emergence of global economic crisis the identical processes set off in Greece, Spain, and Ukraine.

The majority of people want to improve their living standards, which needs reforms. Meanwhile no government can guarantee that the necessary changes will be fast enough, and all the negative consequences are minimized. But if the changes are not carried out for a long time, the problems keep accumulating, and reforms will inevitably become more painful.

“In recent years, in Ukraine, one takes notice of squeezing of democracy and deterioration of observance of human rights," reads the report on the state of democracy and human rights, prepared by international human rights organization Freedom House. The document brings out the decline of democracy and formation of "unhealthy political climate" in our country. However, the Freedom House has been riveting attention to global decline of democratic freedoms for the second year in a row. Does mean a fiasco of Democratic Rights and Freedoms and Exporting Democracy projects?

The Ukrainian model of humanitarian space has been and remains a subject of endless debate and discussion, where each view is opposed to dozens of other, often directly opposite. The majority of experts agree only that, theoretically, it has dissociated itself from the Soviet model of humanitarian policy and its ideological dogmas, but has failed to get away from it in its practical manifestations remaining faithful to the set of "rudiments" of the Soviet ideology and politics.

Maybe this is one of the most difficult topics that we have ever had to discuss. Its difficulty is in the fact that multiple fixations of consequences do not allow to formulate the holistic understanding of the causes and prospects for the phenomenon that recently has been increasingly referred to as "the new global economic order." Both in the East, and in the West only a few thinkers have any idea about the underlying economic changes taking place in the world and their impact on the welfare of the global population or international stability.