Breaking the Authoritarian Past: Political Consequences of De-Sovietization in Ukraine

How does the authoritarian past shape politics after the transition to democracy? We study this question by examining the electoral effects of the ‘de-Sovietization’ in Ukraine. During a short period of time, thousands of Soviet toponyms were replaced and most of the monuments to Lenin and other Soviet figures were removed from the public spaces across the country. Using differences-in-differences design, we find that removals of the Lenin’s monuments, on average, increased votes for the parties sympathetic to the past Soviet regime, most likely by mobilizing the supporters of those parties to turnout. Even when normatively justified, the attempts to break with the authoritarian past by reshaping the public space can carry short-term electoral costs.