Les clans d’affaires en Ukraine (1991-2007)

Business clans in the Ukraine have formed around businessmen who combine economic with political activities. They exercise a disproportionate influence over policy-making. Powerful financial and industrial conglomerates have arisen out of the capital accumulated by these clans, and gained strength owing to their insertion in networks of power. These networks,formal and informal, are strategic assets for transactions between businessmen and politicians. Ukrainian politics is to be interpreted in the light of rivalries between these clans, which fund political parties and are involved in an ongoing redistribution of power.