The country’s postwar future is almost as riven as the war itself.
At a breakfast discussion at Davos in January 2023, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink stated that Ukraine’s postwar recovery could become “a beacon to the rest of the world about the power of capitalism.” The comment could easily have been mistaken for a parody of Russian propaganda, with the head of a major American asset firm telling the Western business and political elite that Ukraine’s reconstruction would not only be a financial windfall but a capitalist success story to be celebrated in future discussions. For Fink, Ukraine’s rebuilding presented not only a business opportunity but also an ideological one. While Western leaders viewed the war as a chance to expand the EU and NATO, Fink and his peers saw it as an opportunity to restore faith in capitalism.
Fink’s remarks echo a decades-long project that has been imposed on Ukraine and its neighbors, particularly since the fall of the Soviet Union. The so-called “disaster capitalism” during the current war builds upon the radical neoliberal reforms of the 1990s known as “shock therapy,” a series of economic policies that Ukraine never fully recovered from. But the current war has introduced a new twist: the combination of neoliberal policies with rapid technological advances, including artificial intelligence (AI) and digitalization.
The war in Ukraine has sparked a surge of Western donor funds, consultants, and technology experts, leading to the introduction of AI-driven platforms for mine clearance and the collection of satellite data, largely supported by companies like Palantir, founded by Peter Thiel. Additionally, Ukraine’s government has proposed a “fast state” model, a vision for a state so efficient that it could almost disappear into its own streamlined operations. These innovations, while promising in their potential, also signify a broader shift toward a neoliberal, technology-driven future for the country, one that is far from universally accepted.
As Ukraine moves towards recovery, the postwar landscape remains deeply divided. While Western corporations and political elites see the war as an opportunity to inject their values and policies, critics argue that the country’s future could become dominated by foreign interests and technological experiments that may not align with the needs of the broader population. This struggle for control over Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction highlights a broader battle over its identity and the kind of society it will rebuild after the war.
