Contra Spem Spero : The Third Sector’s Resilience in the Face of Political Turbulence and Legislative Change in Ukraine

Abstract The iconic Ukrainian poem, “Contra Spem Spero,” with its theme of resilience in the face of enduring hardships, appears as salient for the Ukrainian people today as when it was composed more than a hundred years ago. Political instability and a far from favorable legislative system have affected Ukraine’s society in a variety of ways since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. How have Ukraine’s nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) been shaped by these conditions? A review of academic and applied literature, as well as governmental reports and legislative texts, reveals that the political and legislative environment in Ukraine is highly unstable and, at times, antagonistic to NGOs. However, indicators of sector activity and interviews with Ukrainian nonprofits suggest that the sector, overall, has not changed significantly during the last decade of substantial political and legislative changes. This paper suggests that Ukrainian nonprofits (much like Ukrainian society in general) appear to exist in a parallel universe with the governmental and legislative world. Ukrainian nonprofits are generally not supported by and are largely independent from the government. The concept of a shadow economy in Ukraine is discussed as a way of understanding how nonprofit organizations continue to function in what is often an adverse policy environment. “Contra Spem Spero” (1890), translated from Latin as “Against all Hope I Hope,” is the title of a poem by one of Ukraine’s most revered poets, Lesya Ukraїnka.