Fatih Şahin Фатіх Шахін Ukraine, business and international experience — since 2004
National Days & Anniversaries

Day of Ukrainian Statehood 2024

The third observance of a young holiday about an old subject, and a note on what statehood means to somebody who deals with the state daily.

The exterior of an Orthodox cathedral
Photo: Wyslijp16 · CC BY 4.0

A good Day of Ukrainian Statehood.

A thought from someone whose work consists largely of dealing with a state. Statehood, in the abstract, is a historical and constitutional subject. In practice it is a customs officer applying a rule the same way this week as last week. It is a registry that returns an accurate answer. It is a court whose decision can be predicted from the law rather than from who is involved.

Those are unromantic definitions and they are the ones a business lives by. A state that works is one where the same input produces the same output regardless of who submits it.

Ukraine has moved a long way towards that in twenty years, unevenly and with reverses, and the direction has been consistent.

A good day to everyone marking it.

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