On August 17, 2023, another discussion of issues of resuming the military modernization of Ukraine took place within the framework of the project “Voice of civil society reforming and implementing the recovery plan of Ukraine” (“Luhansk Declaration”). This project is administered by the public organization “Agency for Reconstruction and Development” with the support of the European Endowment for Democracy in partnership with the Center for Political and Legal Reforms. In total, 20 thematic discussions for the participants of scientists, representatives of civil society institutions, politicians and government officials have already taken place within the scope of the project.
The focus of the August discussion is the planning of the executive branch of government, its adaptation to the needs of the post-war transformation of Ukraine and institutional changes in the context of compliance with EU standards.
The leading researcher of the Department of Political Institutes and Processes of the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, candidate of political sciences Natalia Kononenko took part in the discussion. The scientist focused on the fact that in order to increase the institutional efficiency of the executive power and its synchronization with the activity format of similar European institutions, it is necessary to supplement the State Administration Reform Strategy for the period 2022-2025. ). .2021) norms, goals and indicators for measuring the effectiveness of public administration developed by SIGMA for countries seeking EU membership. Nataliya Kononenko emphasized that SIGMA is one of the most prestigious analytical centers of the EU, which was founded by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Union in 1992 and is an agent of the EU in matters of developing public administration standards for national European governments.
During August 13–17, 2023, the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies organized the educational seminar-school “The History of the Holocaust in Ukraine: Study, Teaching, Memory.” The founder and head of the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies, the leading researcher of the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Candidate of Historical Sciences Anatoliy Podolskiy and head of the Department of Political Culture and Ideology of the Institute, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Yuriy Nikolaiets.
Yuriy Nikolaiets is speaking
In his speech “Multiple Crimes Against Humanity: Holocaust, Famine, Genocide, War Crimes and Their Modern Qualification”, Yuriy Nikolaiets characterized modern approaches to defining war crimes, highlighted the main limitations of the methods of waging war, recorded in international humanitarian law. He also identified separate actions of the Russian Federation in the war against Ukraine, which can be qualified as war crimes, namely: physical extermination of the part of the population of the temporarily occupied territories; deportations of the population of temporarily occupied territories; relocation of the population from the Russian Federation to the temporarily occupied territories; attacks on civilian infrastructure objects (including the unprecedented destruction of hydraulic structures, which was considered a war crime as early as the 3rd millennium BC in Ancient Egypt); tortures of prisoners of war and civilians; mobilization of the population of the temporarily occupied territories into the armed forces of the Russian Federation; the destruction of settlements, not due to the needs of conducting hostilities; forced removal and non-return of children. The scientist also highlighted analogies in the war practices of Germany in 1939–1945 and the Russian Federation in the Russian-Ukrainian war from 2014.
Anatoliy Podolskiy is speaking
Anatoliy Podolskiy in his speech “Peculiarities of the history of the Holocaust in the European context” emphasized the importance of understanding the typology and peculiarities of events from the history of the Holocaust on the territory of Ukraine and other lands of the European continent. Special attention of the speaker was given to modern academic and educational challenges, regarding the comparison of the crimes of National Socialism during the Second World War and the war crimes of the Russian occupiers in Ukraine during their aggression and war against our state. It was noted that the policy of state anti-Semitism of the Hitler regime in Germany during the Second World War has common features with the overt Ukrainophobic policy of Putin’s totalitarian regime during the Russian war against Ukraine.
Participants of the seminar
30 history teachers of comprehensive secondary educational institutions and teachers of higher education institutions from 16 regions of Ukraine took part in the work of the seminar-school.
On July 28, 2023, a round table “Actual issues of the protection of the national statehood in modern conditions” was held on the basis of the National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine. The event was co-organized by the Security Service of Ukraine and the Center for the Protection of National Statehood. The main thematic areas of the round table were defined as: the Security Service of Ukraine as the main subject of the protection of national statehood; the legal grounds for the interaction of the Department and regional divisions of the National Statehood Protection Service of the Security Service of Ukraine with other subjects of the security sector, authorities and management on matters of national statehood protection; peculiarities of the investigation of crimes related to encroachments on state sovereignty, constitutional order, territorial integrity, and information security of Ukraine under the conditions of the introduction of the legal regime of martial law; foreign and national experience of countering special information operations based on the analysis of open sources of information, etc. The work of the round table was attended by acting head of the Department of Political Culture and Ideology of the Institute, Doctor of Historical Sciences Yuriy Nikolaiets and leading researcher of the Department of Political Institutions and Processes, Candidate of Political Sciences Rostyslav Balaban.
Yuriy Nikolaiets
In his report, Yuriy Nikolaiets noted that the emergence and development of the informational society made possible a sharp increase in the influence of mass communication on the development and course of interstate conflicts. In modern conditions, mass communications have become an important element of conducting hybrid warfare. Analysis of the information space of Ukraine allows us to state that the information war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine began immediately after the collapse of the USSR and was aimed against the establishment and development of Ukrainian statehood. Informational and psychological special operations were aimed at restoring a union state centered in Moscow, discrediting the processes of Ukrainian state-building and the ability of Ukrainian politicians to participate in effective state management, provoking inter-ethnic and inter-regional enmity, forming regional identity, discrediting law enforcement and judicial bodies, spreading in Ukrainian society negative attitude to service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Means of mass communications were used to form separatist attitudes, irredentism in a number of Ukrainian regions. For this purpose, messages were spread about the so-called “Galician separatism”, the development of political Ruthenism, “the original belonging of Crimea and Donbas to Russia.” For a long time in Crimea and Donbas, local mass media, which acted quite legally, participated in the dissemination of anti-Ukrainian messages. Anti-Ukrainian statements were present even in the pre-election programs of a relatively large number of candidates for people’s deputies, program documents of individual public associations. The long-term absence of a balanced state information policy made possible the formation of anti-state sentiments in Ukrainian society. This was especially noticeable among the population of the South and East of Ukraine. The anti-Ukrainian informational campaign of the Russian Federation intensified at the beginning of the 21st century in the conditions of the pre-election struggle in Ukraine and the Orange Revolution and acquired clearly defined anti-state features already during the time when V. Yushchenko was the President of Ukraine. It was then that theses about “the existence of two Ukraines”, “the spread of fascism and neo-Nazism” in Ukraine and “the development of Ukraine as a Western project of ”anti-Russia”” were formed. Over time, the informational war became one of the most important components of the Russian-Ukrainian war, at the beginning of which the enemy managed to temporarily occupy Crimea and part of Donbas. The current position of the leading players on the world political arena will contribute to the preservation of the Russian Federation on the political map of the world in a certain “updated” form. In the near future, there are no prerequisites for the disintegration of the Russian Federation as a result of the sharp deterioration of the economic situation in this country. Therefore, it should be taken into account that the agreement concluded with the Russian Federation on the end of the war/special military operation will not mean the refusal of the Russian side to continue the hybrid war against Ukraine in the format of information warfare, economic and trade wars, political pressure and war in cyberspace, etc. And even Ukraine’s prospective accession to NATO cannot be a guarantee of the Russian Federation’s refusal to continue the hybrid war against Ukraine.
Rostyslav Balaban
In his speech, Rostyslav Balaban emphasized that the successes of the Armed Forces, Security Service of Ukraine, intelligence, volunteers, optimistic public mood and consolidation, all that today fills the essence of statehood, ensures its legitimacy and stability – can be leveled by corruption. Russia’s war against Ukraine revealed that the state management apparatus, law enforcement and judicial bodies are saturated with agents of the Russian Federation, whose task was the destruction of Ukraine’s statehood. As of August 2022, the Chesno movement declared that 348 politicians had become traitors. The large-scale spread of corruption has become a problem for Ukraine. Corruption schemes did not cease to exist even during the war, when new means appeared for the enrichment of corrupt officials. In Ukraine, there are still opportunities for obtaining illegal benefits due to imperfect competition and theft of property on a particularly large scale. Unfortunately, there are also rare cases of embezzlement of humanitarian aid that comes to our country from foreign partners. The growth of trust in the state, which took place in the conditions of a full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, is threatened by the spread of information about corruption in power structures of various levels. Countering the spread of corruption does not lead to its elimination as a phenomenon. On the contrary, certain acts of corruption are becoming increasingly attractive to citizens. At the same time, the organization of repelling the aggressor gave rise to new creative initiatives, literature, humor, the emergence of new performers, some of whom are in the war zone, which can testify to the cultural phenomenon of revival and is an important component of state formation. Corruption has turned out to be a permanent institution that threatens the economic competitiveness of the state and the existence of statehood in general. Despite the presence of eight anti-corruption bodies and individual cases of detaining corrupt officials, the fight against corruption has not become systematic. It is fundamentally important that the fight against corruption does not become the destruction of opponents, the political opposition, a mechanism of raiding, which has a high probability. In order to ensure a more successful fight against corruption, the Security Service of Ukraine must undergo reform itself, since it has not escaped the problems inherent in the state system. Overcoming corruption is an important systemic step in the protection of the national state of Ukraine. The consequences will be an increase in the level of defense capability, an acceleration of economic development, an increase in trust in government institutions, and the formation of a comfortable environment for society.
The journal “Political Studies” is posted on the digital platform of the Library Portal of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine “LibNAS UA” in the “Journals of the Academy” section.
LibNAS UA is an information system designed to consolidate, unify, store and provide wide access to a complex of scientific data accompanying the results of the scientific activities of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
The library portal of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine adheres to the policy of open access to published material, recognizing as a priority the principles of free dissemination of scientific information and the exchange of knowledge for the sake of global social progress.
The information block of the portal contains the full texts of articles published on the pages of the journal “Political Studies”, the founder and publisher of which is our Institute.
Users of the portal have the opportunity (under the terms of the Creative Commons license) to freely read, download, copy content for educational and scientific purposes, as well as distribute it with a mandatory indication of authorship.
The organization and support of the digital format of the publication, despite its time-consuming nature, provides significant advantages for researchers in the process of finding sources of scientific information, partners, reporting and evaluating the results of scientific activity. In addition, such a system implements the strategic function of preserving the scientific heritage in digital format.
On July 15–19, 2023, the 27th IPSA World Congress of Political Science was held in Buenos Aires (Argentina). The theme of this year’s congress is “Politics in the Age of Cross-Border Crises: Vulnerability and Resilience.”
The challenges of the modern world are that the domestic and foreign policies of countries are always faced with complex cross-border issues, including climate change, cyber-terrorism, global migration flows, financial instability and the COVID-19 pandemic. Added to these problems is the war waged by Russia against Ukraine, and in fact against the whole world, which is rooted in Russia’s desire to change the rules of the game in the international arena, which are based on respect for the sovereignty and borders of countries, regardless of the size of their territories and economic development. These issues are transboundary in the sense that they cross national borders in an era of intense global connectivity. Disruptions in one part of the world quickly spread across the globe through highly integrated global networks.
27th IPSA World Congress of Political Science
The congress noted that transboundary issues reveal the dire consequences of the tragedy of the common heritage, as coordinated global responses are often inadequate and sometimes non-existent. Global collective actions, which are so urgently needed for the comprehensive solution of cross-border problems, have been found to be absent. States face the challenge of dealing with the influence on citizens and political institutions, often confused by the vulnerabilities evident at all levels of political life.
During the IPSA World Congress of Political Science
The focus of the Congress was essentially state capacity – as a crucial focus in terms of joint approaches of both state and non-state actors to solve the so-called “wicked” problems in the era of cross-border crises. Many governments experience a “rally-around-the-flag” effect with a surge in support following political upheavals due to a cross-border issue (financial crisis, political violence, natural disaster, etc.), but these effects are temporary in relation to normal politics through citizens, social movements, political parties and leaders inevitably declare themselves.
During the IPSA World Congress of Political Science
In order to explore, understand, and contribute to scholar and public debates about these complex cross-border challenges and opportunities, political science needs conceptual lenses and theoretical approaches that span traditional disciplinary boundaries and cut across social, cultural, economic, religious, ethnic, sexual and language boundaries.
Great attention at the Congress was paid to Russian military aggression against Ukraine. Within the framework of the congress, there were several panel discussions devoted to the socio-political situation in Ukraine, the nature of the political regime in the Russian Federation, the geopolitical situation around the Russian Federation, etc.
During the IPSA Council meeting
The 2023 congress will be historic for IPSA, as it will be attended by the largest number of delegates since the association was founded 74 years ago! More than 3,000 scientists, researchers, professionals and students from more than 100 countries gathered at the event. More than 2,800 papers were presented at the Congress in 650 panels covering a wide range of topics and perspectives in the field of political science.
In addition, attendees had the opportunity to interact with 20 international exhibitors, including publishers, associations, universities, government organizations and technology companies, who will showcase their latest publications, products and services.
Halyna Zelenko among the participants of the congress
The official representative of the Association of Political Science of Ukraine (APNU) at the congress was our colleague – the head of the Department of Political Institutes and Processes, Professor Galyna Zelenko, who participated in the elections of IPSA governing bodies.
According to the results of the elections from the Association of Political Science of Ukraine to the Council of IPSA, the president of APNU, the director of our Institute, Oleg Rafalskiy was re-elected.
Yuko KASUJO (Professor of the University of Tokyo, Japan) was elected President of IPSA, and Pablo Oñate (Professor of the University of Valencia, Spain) was elected General Secretary.
The next IPSA congress will be held in Seoul (South Korea) in two years.
According to the order of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine dated 04/05/2023 No. 184, in 2023, the regular competition of scientific research projects of young scientists of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine was organized in 2023 for their funding in 2023–2024. The Commission for Work with Scientific Youth of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine received 108 requests for funding of scientific research projects. The first stage of the selection was the work of the competition commissions of the branches of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, which identified the best scientific projects and recommended them for participation in the competition.
According to the results of the competition, among its winners is the scientific project of young scientists of the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Valery Novorodovskiy and Olena Dmytrenko “Civil society institutions of Ukraine: prospects for development in the post-war period“.
We sincerely congratulate our young colleagues on this success!
We wish to adequately realize the creative potential in the process of implementation of the approved and in all subsequent scientific projects.
On June 28-30, 2023, the Australasian Association for European History (AAEH) international conference was held in Canberra, the capital of Australia, at the Australian National University. This was the first gathering of scientists after the Covid-19 epidemic, to which traditionally, in addition to Australian researchers, researchers from various countries are invited.
The purpose of such conferences is, first of all, the exchange of experience in the study of European history of various periods, the identification of promising directions, as well as discussions around the delivered reports.
This year, researchers from Australia, Great Britain, Italy, Canada, Germany, the United States, and Taiwan took part in the conference.
During the conference (photo by Yu. Shapoval)
The organizers of the event decided to dedicate a special section to Ukrainian issues. For this purpose, the employee of the Institute of Cultural Studies of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Nadiya Honcharenko, and the chief researcher of the Department of Theory and History of our Institute, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Yuriy Shapoval, were invited to the conference. During the work of the section, they gave reports: “Transformation of historical narratives of the Second World War and the politics of memory in Ukraine” (N. Honcharenko) and “Memory of the Holodomor: what sources help to construct it” (Yu. Shapoval).
During a trip to Sydney
In the photo (right to left): one of the organizers of the conference, professor of the Australian National University Filip Slaveski, Nadiya Honcharenko, Yuriy Shapoval
On June 29, 2023, during the meeting of the Institute’s academic council, a solemn signing of the Cooperation Agreement between the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Research Service of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
The signing of the document was accompanied by motivational speeches by the heads of the signatory parties. In his speech, the Director of the Institute Oleg Rafalskiy noted that the Institute has experience of long-term fruitful cooperation with the predecessor of the Research Service – the Institute of Legislation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. One of the main directions of scientific research of our institution and our new partner, the Research Service of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, was and remains political institutions and processes, among which the parliament and parliamentarism have a prominent place.
In view of this, O. Rafalskiy noted, cooperation with the Research Service of the Verkhovna Rada becomes a priority for our partnership.
Oleg Rafalskiy and Lesya Vaolevska during the signing of the Cooperation Agreement
The head of the Research Service of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Lesya Vaolevska, emphasized that the institution headed by her combines expert and scientific functions. In view of this, its important task is to establish close ties with scientific institutions in order to use the intellectual potential of Ukrainian scientists for the formation and implementation of state policy in various spheres of life. Our cooperation, L. Vaolevska emphasized, will take the form of organizing joint expert and scientific events, mutual examination of draft laws, discussion of the possibilities of applying foreign experience in law-making activities, conducting trainings for employees of the Verkhovna Rada Apparatus and people’s deputies, etc. All these tasks will be implemented within the framework of the Cooperation Agreement between the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnonational Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Research Service of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
On June 27, 2023, within the framework of the project “Youth Reflects on the Holocaust and the Second World War”, a scientific and methodological webinar (online) was held for university teachers, teachers of history and social sciences of secondary general educational institutions of Ukraine on the topic “Commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust today: key themes and the need for change”.
Anatoliy Podolskiy, a leading researcher of the Department of Ethnopolitics of our Institute, candidate of historical sciences, gave a lecture at the webinar.
Anatoliy Podolskiy is speaking
The conversation focused on changes in traditional approaches to commemorating Holocaust victims as a result of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. The lecturer paid special attention to the discussion of new commemorative trends. A. Podolskiy proposed the following questions to the audience for discussion.
- How is our vocabulary changing?
- What topics are gaining special importance and relevance?
- How to identify new manipulations or outdated clichés and abandon them?
- What forms of commemorative events should change and how?
During the work of the webinar
35 participants of the webinar – scientists, lecturers, teachers, public figures from 13 regions of Ukraine – joined the discussion and actively participated in the discussion of the proposed issues.
The webinar was held on the initiative of the Kyiv Educational Public Association “Space of Tolerance” in partnership with the Ukrainian Center for the Study of the History of the Holocaust and with the support of the German Foundation “Memory. Responsibility. Future”.
June 20, 2023 at the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine presented the first scientific results of the scientific research “Institutional capacity of state authorities and local self-government in Ukraine: state and optimization directions” in the form of a round table “Institutional capacity of the state: assesment parameters“. The research, which is currently ongoing, is conducted under the leadership of a corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Doctor of Political Sciences, professor, head of the Department of Political Institutes and Processes of our Institute, Galyna Zelenko.
In his introductory speech, Oleg Rafalskiy, director of the Institute, vice-president of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, doctor of historical sciences, professor, corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, emphasized the problems of implementing development strategies, which were saturated with the thirty-year period of our state’s existence. The scientist noted that the vast majority of these strategies, unfortunately, were unable to achieve their goals and implement the tasks set. Among the main reasons – the Great War, which stood in the way of the implementation of plans, the focus on achieving victory. The country will face new challenges – post-war recovery in conditions of probable threats of Russian aggression.
Oleg Rafalskiy is speaking
Rafalskiy also noted that the scientists of the Institute, searching for tools and mechanisms to strengthen the institutional capacity of the state, are in the mainstream of tasks and problems that the state is trying to solve, because the task of building the institutional capacity of the state is one of the points of the National Revival Program of Ukraine, which was first presented last year in Lugano (Switzerland).
Vitaliy Pereveziy
Candidate of Historical Sciences Vitaliy Pereveziy presented the Ukrainian case of the institutional capacity of the national parliament. Doctor of Political Sciences Mariya Karmazina introduced the participants of the round table to the results of the analysis of the institutional capacity of the Institute of the President of Ukraine and outlined the prospects for its assessment. The problems of measuring the institutional capacity of the government in the context of post-war modernization, polycrisis and fragility were actualized by candidate of political sciences Nataliya Kononenko. Doctor of Political Sciences Tetyana Lyashenko presented the results of the analysis of the indicators for assessing the institutional capacity of public administration, which are used to measure its efficiency and development. Candidate of political sciences Svitlana Sytnyk’s speech was devoted to the peculiarities of measuring the institutional capacity of representative bodies of local self-government. Rostyslav Balaban focused the attention of the participants of the round table on the parameters of the institutional capacity of communities, which are indicators of the effectiveness of decentralization in Ukraine. Candidate of political sciences Svitlana Breharya characterized the role of judicial authorities in ensuring the institutional capacity of the state and emphasized the existing problems of applying relevant indicators for assessment. In her speech, Doctor of Philosophy in Political Sciences Olena Dmytrenko emphasized the importance of interaction between the state and civil society, and the need to take this parameter into account in the formation of indicators for measuring the institutional capacity of the state.
During the work of the round table
In the photo (from left to right) Oleg Zarubinsky, Galyna Zelenko, Yuriy Nikolaiets
The problems of the validity of the presented indicators for assessing the institutional capacity of the state, the peculiarities of their use by scientists and managers, became the subject of a discussion, which was attended by speakers and participants of the round table, in particular: a doctoral student of the Kuras Institute of the NAS of Ukraine Oleg Zarubinskyi, editor of the policy department of ZN.UA Iryna Vedernikova, associate professor of the Department of Legal and Information Technologies of the Khmelnytskyi Institute of Social Technologies of the University “Ukraine” Ihor Moroz, senior communications adviser in the Canadian Parliament Anna Lachikhina, scientists of Kuras Institute of the NAS of Ukraine Mykola Gorbatyuk, Yuriy Nikolaiets and others.
The public discussion of parameters for assessing the institutional capacity of the state became a kind of event for the concentration of intellectual resources of scientists, public experts, and politicians, and proved the importance of a professional discussion on solving institutional problems of Ukraine’s development.
On July 11, 1943, a bloody Polish-Ukrainian confrontation began in Volyn. In Poland and Ukraine, discussions about the causes, consequences and assessment of the mentioned confrontation, starting from 2003, have gained extraordinary political and historical sharpness. They went beyond the scientific study of this issue. In 2016, deputies of the Sejm and Senate of the Republic of Poland, as well as the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, joined this process.
It should be recognized that a consensus has not yet been found in Ukraine and a position regarding the Polish-Ukrainian conflict that began in Volyn has not been clearly articulated. In Polish society, there has been an evolution in the perception of those events – from the popularization of this topic in society and attempts to establish a dialogue with Ukraine to the unilateral recognition in 2016 of July 11 as the official Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Genocide of Poles in Volyn.
On July 7, 8 and 9, 2023, Poland and Ukraine will host church celebrations on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Volyn crime. They will be accompanied by the announcement of the joint message “Forgiveness and Reconciliation” of the Catholic Church in Poland, the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine.
On this occasion, the Catholic Information Agency (KIA) organized a special session for journalists in Warsaw on June 19, 2023. At the session, the clergy talked about the modern process of Polish-Ukrainian dialogue and reconciliation. A detailed program of this year’s church events was also presented.
KIA also invited two researchers to participate in the session – director of the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, doctor of history, professor Grzegorz Motyka and chief researcher of the Department of Theory and History of Political Science of our Institute, doctor of historical sciences, professor Yuriy Shapoval.
During the session
In the photo (from left to right): Head of the Catholic Information Agency Marcyn Przecyszewski, Professor Grzegorz Motyka, Professor Yuriy Shapoval and other participants of the session
The scientists familiarized those present with the approaches of Polish and Ukrainian scientists to the interpretation of the Volyn tragedy in the context of the Second World War and the current state of Polish-Ukrainian relations. G. Motyka delivered a report “Volyn crime in the light of historical research”, and Yu. Shapoval – “Volyn 1943: how to do research and how to remember?”.
The participants of the session answered numerous questions of journalists and attendees.
On the website of the Institute, in the section “Our Publications”, the text of the collection of scientific works “The Unity of Ukraine: History and Modernity” is posted.
The collection contains the materials of the All-Ukrainian scientific conference “The Unity of Ukraine: History and Modernity”, which took place in Kyiv on January 19, 2023 and was dedicated to the Day of the Unity of Ukraine.
The scientific event was organized and conducted by the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine together with V. I. Vernadsky Taurida National University.
The text of the collection of scientific works (PDF)
On June 4-6, 2023, the annual international conference of the Association of Jewish Museums of Europe was held in the Jewish Museum of Berlin.
Scientists and specialists in museum affairs from Ukraine took part in the work of the conference and spoke for the participants of the scientific meeting (online): leading researcher of our Institute, Candidate of Historical Sciences Anatoliy Podolskyi (Kyiv), Director of the Museum of History and Culture of the Jews of Bukovyna, Candidate of Historical Sciences Mykhailo Kushnir (Chernivtsi), head of the Ukrainian Association of Judaics, Doctor of Art Studies Yevhen Kotlyar (Kharkiv)
Ukrainian scientists spoke at the opening and the first plenary session “Ukraine: Jewish museums and Jewish cultural heritage in conditions of war – a report on the state of affairs and changing narratives”, which was dedicated to the preservation of Jewish cultural heritage and research on Judaica in our country during the Russian war against of Ukraine.
The questions of the European audience that arose during the discussion mostly went beyond the framework of cultural and museum discourse and related primarily to the war in Ukraine, the crimes of the Russian military on the territory of our country.
During the discussion
In his speech, A. Podolskyi emphasized that as a result of Russian bombings and rocket attacks over the last fifteen months of Russian aggression, hundreds of cities and villages, thousands of civilians were affected. Among the crimes of Russian aggression are the destroyed Jewish community centers, synagogues, Jewish cemeteries, and memorials to the victims of the Holocaust. In particular, there are memorials in Drobitskyi Yar in Kharkiv and Babiny Yar in Kyiv, the 19th-century Jewish cemetery in Glukhiv in Sumy Oblast, choral synagogues in Kharkiv and Mariupol. The Russian aggressor is destroying everything that was preserved and created in sovereign Ukraine in the realm of the Jewish cultural heritage of Ukraine. He must be punished according to international law. In particular, for these crimes.
Video recording of the plenary session
The text of O. Maiboroda’s monograph “Ethnic Traps of Decolonization: African Experience” is posted on the Institute’s website in the “Our Publications” section.
The book examines the influence of the ethnic factor on such aspects of the post-colonial development of African countries as the lack of noticeable socio-economic progress, the decorative nature of the democratization of their political systems, the establishment of a neo-patrimonial style of government and a prebendable economy, the ethnicization of the political space, the generation of conflict situations in domestic political life and in international relations, the nation-building process has slowed down. For scientists, teachers, students, everyone who is interested in issues of political life in foreign countries.
“The European research hub for the study of anti-Semitism and the development of Jewish life can be opened in Ukraine” (Interview with O. Kozerod to European Interest).
On May 8, 2023, Oleg Kozerod, a senior researcher at the Department of Ethnopolitics of our Institute, Doctor of Historical Sciences, gave an interview to the publication European Interest. In it, he praised the efforts of researchers from the British Center for the Jewish Policy Research and the European Jewish Research Archive in London, who in April jointly issued a report commissioned by the European Commission, “The Field of Research on Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Jewish Life: Working to Create a European Research Center.”
During the interview, Oleg Kozerod supported the idea of starting the implementation of the tasks of the EU Strategy on Combating Anti-Semitism and Promoting Jewish Life (2021-2030) precisely by creating a scientific hub and involving Jewish Studies specialists in this process. He emphasized that before allocating multimillion-dollar funding within the framework of this Strategy, it is necessary to define priorities and a strategy with the help of European scientists, which should include the interests of the largest Jewish communities both among EU member states and candidate countries for EU accession.
Oleg Kozerod supported the European Commission’s decision to attract research centers from Great Britain, because the British Institute for Jewish Policy Research and the European Jewish Research Archive in London are well known in the EU for their analysis of the life and development of Jewish communities. But at the same time, the scientist emphasized, the European research hub of anti-Semitism and the development of Jewish life should be located and work in continental Europe, so he suggested opening it in Ukraine, which is a candidate for EU membership. O. Kozerod reminded that Jewish studies in Ukraine are developing mainly on the basis of the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the NAS of Ukraine. The opening of a research hub under the auspices of the European Commission in Ukraine would be logical given the plans to open the College of Europe and other scientific European institutions in Kyiv. The researcher also offered his own vision of a plan for the development of Jewish life. According to the scientist, this plan may contain five consecutive steps. Namely: 1) activation of the restitution of Jewish property; 2) restoration of citizenship to descendants of Jews illegally expelled from European countries; 3) creating legislation that will protect the rights of believers in the workplace; 4) protection of the right to preserve the kosher method of slaughtering livestock in Jewish communities; 5) measures to support the birth rate in modern Jewish communities and social support of Jewish families.
The text of the interview by O. Kozerod
On May 23-24, 2023, the annual Brussels Forum (Brussels, Belgium), organized by The German Marshall Fund of the United States was held. This year, the event was held in the SQUARE conference center and was dedicated to the formation of the post-war international system, the key pillar of which, according to the forum organizers, should be the restoration of Ukraine in accordance with the modern Marshall Plan.
World opinion leaders, representatives of business and civil society gathered at the forum. The main issues discussed at the forum were:
- the role of civil society in the recovery process and its leadership in certain aspects;
- a system of collaboration between key stakeholders to fill gaps in the recovery process and avoid duplication of efforts;
- improving cooperation between donors and civil society in order to strengthen joint efforts.
At the workshop of the Forum, dedicated to the problems of Ukrainian restoration and development of civil society, a report on the topic “Energetic civil society as a transformer of change” was presented by Doctor of Philosophy in Political Sciences Olena Dmytrenko, a junior researcher of the Department of Political Institutions and Processes of our Institute.
Olena Dmytrenko at the Brussels Forum
The speaker emphasized that modern Ukrainian civil society has become more active, and the number of public organizations has increased significantly, while, as the results of the study have shown, 80% of public organizations are ready to participate in the restoration of the country.
On May 14, 2023, Anatoliy Podolskiy, a leading researcher of the Department of Ethnopolitics of our Institute, candidate of historical sciences, gave an interview to Suspilne Television (Public. Culture) as part of the program “Cultural Instinct”. The interview was devoted to the problem of falsification, the use of the historical past for anti-Ukrainian political purposes by our enemy Russia during the modern war. The list of interview questions was quite broad and touched on the problem of the origins of anti-Semitism, why the Stalinist regime was partly responsible for the Holocaust, and how today Russian propaganda instrumentalizes anti-Semitism…
During the interview, Anatoliy Podolskiy drew attention to the fact that the fates of Ukrainians and Jews during the communist dictatorship in the last century were similar, both peoples were stateless and suffered both during Stalinism and during the Second World War. Speaking about today’s radical Ukrainophobia of the criminal Russian Putin regime, the scientist drew historical parallels with the policy of state anti-Semitism in the times of Nazi Germany. In general, the interview emphasized that xenophobia and discrimination were inherent in all totalitarian regimes of the last century. A. Podolsky noted: “the current Putin regime in Russia absorbs the worst anti-human features of both Stalinism and Hitlerism.”
Video recording of the interview
On May 25-26, 2023, the international conference “Poland-Ukraine. On the way to a good neighborhood.” was held in Ossolineum National Institute. Ossolineum is one of the most important and oldest Polish cultural centers with a rich library collection. The University of Wroclaw, the Association of Ukrainians in Poland, the Lviv Polytechnic National University, the Center for Europe of the University of Warsaw and the Center of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Poland joined the scientific organization.
The Rector of Wroclaw University Robert Olkiewicz, Consul General of Ukraine in Wroclaw Yuri Tokar, President of the City of Wroclaw Jacek Sutryk spoke at the opening of the conference.
Ossolineum House (Photo by Y. Shapoval)
Conference participants discussed a wide range of problems related to Polish-Ukrainian relations in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was, in particular, about Ukraine’s struggle for independence in 1917–1923, attempts at Polish-Ukrainian understanding in the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the development of Volyn in the interwar period. The issues of schooling, scientific Polish-Ukrainian dialogue and problems of dialogue between Polish and Ukrainian emigration were discussed. A special section of the conference was dedicated to modern Russian aggression against Ukraine.
During the conference (Photo by Y. Shapoval)
At the conference, the chief researcher of the Department of Theory and History of Political Science of our Institute, Doctor of Historical Sciences, professor Yuriy Shapoval, gave a speech on the topic “Bohdan Osadchuk and the Polish-Ukrainian dialogue in the European context”.
One of the organizers of the conference, professor of Wroclaw University Grzegorz Hrytsyuk (Poland) and Yuriy Shapoval (Ukraine)
On the website of the Institute, in the “Our Publications” section, there is an electronic version of the scientific publication – the journal “Political Studies”, the founder and publisher of which is the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the NAS of Ukraine.
In the next issue of the journal, articles on the problems of the theory and history of political science, the study of political institutions and processes, political sociology, political culture and ideology, scientific intelligence on the problems of world political development, ethno-political science and ethno-state science are published.
Until October 1, 2023, the editorial board of the journal accepts manuscripts of articles for publication in the next issue – No. 2 (6)’ 2023 – issue of the magazine.
Today is a professional holiday for scientists!
According to the Decree of the President of Ukraine, every year – on the third Saturday of May – Ukraine celebrates a professional holiday – the Day of Science Workers.
Science Day is a symbol of spiritual freedom and personal development, a holiday of creative work aimed at scientific progress and social consolidation.
Despite the difficult conditions of martial law, domestic scientists selflessly work on the implementation of scientific research programs and, bringing our Victory closer, they help the Armed Forces of Ukraine and join the volunteer movement.
Happy holiday, dear colleagues!
Victory, peace and prosperity to Ukraine!
To the scientists – inexhaustible energy, inspiration and new creative achievements!
May the desire for new knowledge never die out, and inspiration
always accompanies scientific activity!
Scientific journal «POLITICAL STUDIES»
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