My core insight after the first year of full-scale war: Ukraine’s key asset is its social capital.
This is the asset that leading nations are competing for today. It is the foundation of any powerful, successful country and, though we may not fully realize it yet, social capital must become the cornerstone of building a new Ukraine.
The strength of this social capital became the backbone that allowed the country to withstand Russia’s assault and hold on ever since. It was the factor nobody accounted for — not Putin, not our Western partners and allies. They built their forecasts on the premise that the Ukrainian state was weak, its institutions barely functional, its officials thoroughly corrupt. Ukraine was given a week at most. Yet here we are, a year in, still standing. The reason is our people and the ties between them — the enormous social capital that has taken shape in Ukraine in recent years.
What did this look like in practice?
From the very first days of the war, virtually the entire nation organized itself into tens of thousands of horizontal teams, networks, and groups. Through self-organization, they began solving thousands of complex problems: defending the country, supplying the army, evacuating civilians, managing logistics, finances, manufacturing, cyber operations, PR campaigns, sanctions pressure, and diplomacy. Each group could act independently — and when needed, join forces with others to tackle bigger challenges and amplify impact.
The scale of this volunteer movement is staggering. What matters most is that it has lasted — operating effectively for a full year. At its core: fast-forming trust, selfless motivation, efficient collaboration, creative energy, and above all, the shared understanding that together we can do more. Nearly the entire country became one such team.
What conclusions do I draw from this?
1. The scale, duration, and systemic nature of Ukraine’s volunteer movement tells us that the state is either effectively absent or functioning so poorly it cannot cope. I understand that in the early weeks and months everyone was disorganized, including the government apparatus and volunteers stepped in to fill the gaps. But the movement remains active a full year into the full-scale invasion. That speaks to the weakness of the state.
2. The complexity and sheer volume of tasks that volunteers have handled would not have been possible without the level of entrepreneurial drive and creativity inherent in our people. This points to an enormous, boundless reservoir of entrepreneurial energy in this country. That is precisely why the only viable economic model for building a new Ukraine is one that gives this creative energy and talent maximum freedom. Simplify every procedure to its core, remove restrictions, and let people run. In time, that entrepreneurial energy will turn Ukraine into one of the most dynamically developing countries in the world. Ukrainian history shows that the state has always been traditionally weak here, while people’s capacity for self-organization has been remarkably high. This is the key to understanding the future economic model: minimal state, maximum entrepreneurial freedom.
3. Research consistently shows that the quality of a country’s social capital shapes its fundamentals — economic success, political stability, social wellbeing. Trust, cooperation, interaction, and the density of civic associations directly determine how successful a country becomes. The correlation is direct and measurable. The level of social capital present in Ukraine today is evidence that we already have the social potential to become one of the most progressive countries in the world.
Unfortunately, Ukraine’s current political elite lags far behind the society it nominally leads. What we need is a new elite, one that actually reflects the level of development of the people themselves.
Source: "NV" news portal.