The village and peasantry at the juncture of opportunities and the crossroad of hope

The authors provide a socioeconomic assessment of the processes that have taken place in rural areas and the agricultural sector after the establishment of Ukraine's political independence. They reveal the controversial nature of agrarian reforms resulted in the unnecessarily polarized dual structure of agriculture and the divergence between agricultural and rural development. In agriculture, a division of activities between different groups of producers took place. Growing the high tech export oriented crops together with the profits from trading them were monopolized by the agricultural holdings. The marginally profitable production of labor-intensive products was concentrated in private farms, which are the most numerous representatives of the underdeveloped family-style farming. All that has restricted the resources for economic and social development of rural communities and led to a situation in which, with the growth of agricultural output, the rural areas are degrading. The article shows that the Ukrainian village remains a scene of social reforms in three areas: agriculture, social services and local government. Its future will greatly depend on how well the process of reform will ensure the priority interests of rural community and the general public over the commercial goals of big business.