In Ukraine's presidential election of 2004 the establishment candidate Viktor Yanukovych had
the advantage of a solid regional base access to administrative resources dominance in the
media Russian spin-doctors and the support of Moscow. Yet the winner was the pro-Western
challenger Viktor Yushchenko. How did Ukrainian voters break through the barrage of propaganda
so as to deliver their ultimate verdict? Was the divide between East and West Ukraine fact or
PR fiction? In this volume scholars from two continents examine various aspects of the election
that turned into an Orange Revolution. Following the editor's scene-setting chapter which looks
at the electoral laws and their consequences in the previous decade's elections presidential
and parliamentary the other contributors take up specific features of the 2004 contest. The
critical part played by a single independent television broadcaster is one such contribution.
Another reviews the coverage of the elections in the Russian press in Moscow generally
favourable to Yanukovych and always looking for parallels between Russia and Ukraine as well as
for Russia's interests. The myths and stereotypes of the campaign are taken up by two other
contributors. Clearly these overshadowed real issues. A fascinating essay exposes the
linguistic innovations of the campaign including the irony and humour unleashed by such
incidents as the egg attack on Yanukovych. In the final essay the machine politics
administrative resources and fraud which had worked so well in Donets'k are shown to have
been less than successful on the national level for reasons of scale and impersonality. But
like so much of contemporary politics one still wonders if the Orange Revolution was only a
media event.
