Baudrillard Goes to Kyiv: Institutional Simulacra in Transition
Journal: Bournemouth University Research Online (Bournemouth University)
Year: 2015

The transition process in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union from 1989 onward has been focused on the reform of institutions in order to re-orient the economy. However, throughout the former Soviet space, “transition” has been merely a label for many countries, covering the reality of a fundamental lack of change in either political or economic institutions. Using the idea of simulacra and simulation, first posited by philosopher Jean Baudrillard in 1981, I show how instituti