Two weeks ago the famous economist, member of the Club of Rome, foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and International Academy of Management Bohdan Havrylyshyn visited Ostroh Academy. His visit to Ostroh Academy was extremely substantive and dynamic. The guest met with teachers of the university and delivered an interesting lecture for students based on his book Dorohovkazy v maybutnie – do efektyvnykh suspilstv (Pointers to the Future – to Efficient Societies). In this book the author suggests a methodology of social order analysis, which facilitates the comparison of different nations-states and provides rather accurate prognoses of their future development. Among the most prominent examples one can single out the author’s prediction about the collapse of the USSR more than twenty years before it really happened. During the meeting Bohdan Havrylyshyn also spoke about the system of building efficient societies and creating a modern highly-developed country. After the lecture students bombarded Bohdan Havrylyshyn with different questions regarding his predictions on the future of the Ukrainian state, its integration with the EU, international relations, etc.
Bohdan Havrylyshyn’s meeting with members of the Ostroh Club for Young People’s Free Intellectual Exchange was the culminating moment. Bohdan Havrylyshyn shared his visions regarding the future of our country, spoke about the activity of his eponymous fund and pointed out that the goal of this organization lies in supporting different projects in social, political, economic, and cultural spheres. Potential solutions to the topical problems Ukraine encountered were also discussed. These included the absence of a budget for 2010, incompetence of officials both on the all-Ukrainian level and locally, etc. “We don’t have a political elite. A slightly different situation is observed in the sphere of culture; however, it’s not enough for the appropriate development of the country. I consider the elite as people taking care not only of their own interests and interests of their friends, but taking care of their Homeland, knowing about important social problems and looking for constructive ways to solve them,” highlighted Bohdan Havrylyshyn.
Artem ZHUKOV, student majoring in History, National University of Ostroh Academy:
“Despite his charisma and colossal life experience, Bohdan Havrylyshyn can, and actually does, break established stereotypes of our society, such as the generally accepted thought that the prosperity of a country has a direct proportional relation with its endowment in natural resources. In reality, as students, participants of the Ostroh Club, and even Ukrainian scouts could establish, economic growth depends on each individual, not on the resource potential of the country. The society is efficient when everyone does their work professionally. Then internal conflicts regarding language or ethnic origin lose any sense. One can certainly mention Switzerland as an example, which despite being multiethnic, confederative and officially multilingual state demonstrates, perhaps, the highest figures of economic growth and is politically stable for over 150 years already. Bohdan Havrylyshyn proves that the government shouldn’t be an end in itself for material enrichment, but just an element and means of mutual influence and creating a worthy social order.”
Roman KOVAL, student majoring in Political Science, National University of Ostroh Academy, Ukrainian scout:
“I wanted to communicate with Bohdan Havrylyshyn for a long time about Plast (Ukrainian scouting) as well as on general socioeconomic themes. Then this meeting took place. Bohdan Havrylyshyn, despite having many academic degrees in different universities around the world and being a famous scholar, can explain complex things in simple terms. “In his book Pointers to the Future – to Efficient Societies I like very much the thesis stating that the efficiency of society can’t be measured just in an economic sense, but one should approach it in a comprehensive and systematic way. However, there are ideas which I don’t completely approve. The thesis about Ukraine’s shifting into a federative form of state order, in my opinion, is too bold and not timely.”
