The Agency for Legislative Initiatives (hereinafter — ALI) publishes the Shadow Report on Invisible Veteran Policy for 2014-2022
Studying the needs and problems of veterans and, more generally, veterans’ policy has been going on in Ukraine for the past 11 years. However, it became more pronounced when the war went beyond the ATO/JFO and affected almost every Ukrainian family. Many relevant actors, experts, and observers are still of the opinion that the veterans’ policy is not really formed and that the set of tools for its development is still almost entirely borrowed from the state practices of the Ukrainian SSR.
But if the changed context is a window of opportunity for systemic change, how long can this window be open? Will the changed context allow for the creation of a veterans’ policy capable of addressing veterans’ concerns?
In order to answer these questions, the Agency for Legislative Initiatives has analysed the experience of the development of veterans’ policy in the 2014-2022 period, with a clear focus on the question “Why did it happen this way?” at all stages of the policy cycle.
The ALI considers veterans’ policy as a case study and an important precedent. Answering the question, “Why did we fail to develop a qualitatively new veterans’ policy in 2014-2022?” the report also provides a detailed look at the work of the Ukrainian system of decision-making and implementation.
Methodology
We use several approaches and methods to answer these questions, primarily institutionalism and public policy analysis.
- Institutionalism: The object of research is viewed through the prism of formal and informal rules, institutions, and policymaking mechanisms. This model allows policy to be divided into stages of a single system — the policy cycle. The political cycle model is used in this study as a kind of “optic” that allows us to better see what is happening in the decision-making system.
- Analysis of state policy: We have included an analysis of the actions of the Verkhovna Rada, the President and the Government to provide a more comprehensive view of the whole policy cycle.
The study focuses on veterans’ policy and identifies systemic problems that have arisen at each stage of its development. The study also contains tasks and recommendations for optimising and improving the design of veterans’ policy.
Read more about the issues of veterans’ policy 2014-2022 — in the new ALI study.
