ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses that one outlines some features of the evolving political situation that have a significant bearing on reform progress. They then discuss the conception of economic reform that appears to be widely held in Ukraine, an uneasy and far from consistent mixture of ideas drawn from the experience of central planning, naive views of the 'market', and economic nationalism. At the same time, it is important to try to understand in what respects Ukraine might be 'special', since the conditions just outlined, perceived as barriers to economic reform, are not greatly different in any of the transition economies, except perhaps in degree. Of equal concern, from the standpoint of constructing a market-type economy, has been the country's limited progress in key microeconomic areas such as privatization and competition policy, the latter being interpreted broadly to include a wide range of measures and policies affecting the functioning of markets.
