On the website of the Institute, in the section “Our publications”, there is an electronic version of the analytical note “Political security of Ukraine: problems of political and state governance. Predictive assessment, mechanisms of provision”.

The analytical note contains an analysis of the current situation and predictive assessments of probable dangers that may threaten political stability in Ukraine in war conditions, as well as individual proposals for overcoming them. Research attention is focused on problems that may arise during the exercise of state power, especially along the “center-region” line, in relations between subjects of the country’s political field. The problems associated with the implementation of the tasks of mobilizing the country to resist military aggression are highlighted and analyzed, as well as existing contradictions in inter-ethnic relations, in inter-church confrontation in the Orthodox environment, and in the state’s geostrategic efforts. The analytical note was prepared based on the results of the research work “Forecasting the security environment of Ukraine in the political sphere” (state registration number 0123U102067).

On February 15-16, 2024, the capital of the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, the city of Mainz (Germany), hosted an international workshop on the topic “The European history(s) of Ukraine. About the value and values of the European past”. The organizers of the conference were the Institute of European History in Mainz and the Georg Eckert Institute in Braunschweig. Both institutions are part of the non-university (public) sector of scientific researches. It includes the institutes of all major national research organizations, including the Leibniz Association. Thanks to this association, stable and sufficient funding for research work is provided.

In recent years, public opinion in Germany was dominated by the image of Ukraine as a post-Soviet, dysfunctional state with a lot of corruption. After February 24, 2022, European politicians began to emphasize that Ukraine is a “member of the European family.” Intellectuals, the media, and a large part of public activists began to distinguish Ukrainian history from the history of Russia and the Soviet Union, noting that Ukraine’s past and present was in Russia’s shadow for a long time, emphasizing Ukraine’s European perspective.

How did Ukraine become part of Europe? What is the value of the European past for social actors in Ukraine and beyond? What values do they fit into the European past?

These and other issues became the subject of discussion by the seminar participants. Among them was the Chief Researcher of the Department of Theory and History of our Institute, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Yuriy Shapoval. Together with Yulia Ostropalchenko, an employee of Borys Grinchenko Kyiv Metropolitan University, he prepared and delivered the report “Russian history textbooks of the 2023 edition: stereotypes and new accents.”

A group of Ukrainian participants of the seminar: Yuliya Ostropalchenko, Yuriy Shapoval, Maria Kovalchuk, Tetyana Portnova

On February 14, 2024, the 3rd All-Ukrainian Scientific and Practical Conference “Sociocultural Transformations in Ukraine in the XX-XXI Centuries. Overcoming the Soviet Heritage in Education, Culture, Mentality” was held at Hryhorii Skovoroda University in Pereiaslav.

The co-organizer of the scientific event was the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the NAS of Ukraine. Employees of the Institute took part in the conference. At the plenary session, the Head of the Department of Political Culture and Ideology, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Yuriy Nikolaiets, gave a speech “War in the value system of modern Russian society”, and a speech “Resistance of Ukrainian society to the expansion of the ideology of regional separatism and “Russian world”” was given by the Chief scientist employee of the Department of Ethnopolitics, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor Oleg Kalakura. Valeriy Novorodovsky, a Junior Researcher at the Department of Ethnopolitics, Candidate of Historical Sciences, took an active part in the discussion.

Yuriy Nikolaiets and Oleg Kalakura

Valeriy Novorodovsky

Most of the participants of the Conference emphasized that the main goal of imperial Russian policy is the genocide of the Ukrainian people and the destruction of Ukraine as a sovereign state. Russia’s special informational and psychological operations are aimed at combating historical memory and historical heritage and are aimed at destroying the unity of Ukrainian society and erasing Ukrainian identity. To achieve its goals, Moscow, with the help of committed specialists in historiography and historiosophy, imposes a set of Russian national myths on historical science.

Overcoming the Soviet heritage in education, culture, and mentality, the participants of the Conference emphasized, is possible only if the efforts of state authorities, scientists, educators and public initiative are combined.

Participants of the Conference in Pereiaslav

The Ukrainian-Polish strategic partnership is once again being tested for strength. In the conditions of Russian military aggression, ensuring trusting relations between Ukraine and Poland is one of the aspects of national security for Ukraine. It is important that this problem became the subject of discussion within the framework of the Ukrainian-Polish Dialogue Forum, which took place in Kyiv on February 10-11, 2024.

The organizers of the Forum were the Institute of International Security (Ukraine), the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the NAS of Ukraine and the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine was represented at the Forum by: Director Oleg Rafalskiy – Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Vice-President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; Galyna Zelenko – Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Head of the Department of Political Institutes and Processes; Oleg Kalakura – Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor, Chief Researcher of the Department of Ethno-Political Science.

People’s deputies of Ukraine, representatives of the NSDC apparatus, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Institute of National Remembrance, the State Archive of the SSU, the Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, the National Institute of Strategic Studies, the Precarpathian National University of Ukraine and others took part in the work of the Forum.

The holding of the Forum became an example of effective cooperation and interaction of state authorities, law enforcement agencies and scientists of Ukraine and Poland, an effort to coordinate efforts and find answers to challenges that arise in view of the extremely complex geopolitical situation in the region and the EU in general, in Ukrainian-Polish relations in today’s. Also, the Forum is a continuation of the cooperation between the leading political science institutions of the National Academies of Sciences of Ukraine and Poland, declared in the Agreement on Cooperation between these scientific institutions.

Within the framework of the Forum, two panel discussions were held: “Unification of the Ukrainian and Polish peoples against the background of Russian aggression” and “Ukraine-Poland: from misunderstandings in the past to a common future.” Lessons that must be learned in order to prevent new tragedies.”

Vadym Skibitskyi, Major General, Deputy Chief of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine

Andriy Kulikov, moderator of the Forum

Grzegorz Motyka, Director of the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Oleg Kalakura spoke at the first panel with the report “Ethno-cultural dimension of the Ukrainian-Polish partnership against the background of Russian aggression”.

Oleg Kalakura

Forum participants

Lukash Adamskyi, deputy director of the Yuliusz Meroshevskyi Dialogue Center

Serhiy Chernov, President of the Congress of Self-Government of Ukraine

Jakub Bjorny, Head of the Department of International Relations at the University of Wroclaw

Pyotr Kulpa, program director of the School of Ministers of the Kyiv School of Public Administration named after Serhiy Nizhnyi

During informal communication

According to the results of the Forum, a Resolution was adopted with the intention of continuing cooperation between representatives of the authorities and scientists of both countries, outlining further steps to prevent the escalation of contradictions between the two countries. Forum participants emphasized the importance of developing Ukrainian-Polish cooperation as a strategic partnership, reloading the foundational documents and institutions of the Ukrainian-Polish interstate dialogue.

On February 8, Dr. Mykola Riabchuk, a Senior Research Fellow of the Department of Political Culture and Ideology, delivered the keynote lecture at the opening of the international conference “Russia’s War against Ukraine and the Crisis in Eurasia-Challenges for the Humanities” in Sapporo, at the Slavic Research Center of the Hokkaido University.

In his presentation, titled “Mapping a “Nowhere Nation”: Imperial Knowledge and Challenges of Decolonization”, he explored the reasons of Ukraine’s long-time invisibility and de-facto absence on the mental maps of international scholars, politicians and general public. This ignorance, according to the Ukrainian scholar, largely resulted from the specific policies of the Russian (and eventually Soviet) empire aimed at silencing and marginalization of subjugated nations, particularly Ukraine.

Mykola Riabchuk

A set of peculiar narratives (“imperial knowledge”) about itself and its colonies was developed by the empire, in order to legitimize its dominance both domestically and internationally. The uncritical acceptance of these narratives largely facilitated today’s Russian aggression against Ukraine and prevented effective and timely responses to it at the earlier stages. Deconstruction of these narratives, the speaker argued, is a primary task of intellectual community in its pursuit of the de-colonial agenda.

Conference participants

On February 8, Dr. Mykola Riabchuk, a Senior Research Fellow of the Department of Political Culture and Ideology, delivered the keynote lecture at the opening of the international conference “Russia’s War against Ukraine and the Crisis in Eurasia-Challenges for the Humanities” in Sapporo, at the Slavic Research Center of the Hokkaido University.

In his presentation, titled “Mapping a “Nowhere Nation”: Imperial Knowledge and Challenges of Decolonization”, he explored the reasons of Ukraine’s long-time invisibility and de-facto absence on the mental maps of international scholars, politicians and general public. This ignorance, according to the Ukrainian scholar, largely resulted from the specific policies of the Russian (and eventually Soviet) empire aimed at silencing and marginalization of subjugated nations, particularly Ukraine.

Mykola Riabchuk

A set of peculiar narratives (“imperial knowledge”) about itself and its colonies was developed by the empire, in order to legitimize its dominance both domestically and internationally. The uncritical acceptance of these narratives largely facilitated today’s Russian aggression against Ukraine and prevented effective and timely responses to it at the earlier stages. Deconstruction of these narratives, the speaker argued, is a primary task of intellectual community in its pursuit of the de-colonial agenda.

Conference participants

Chief researcher of the Department of Theory and History of Political Science of our Institute, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Yuriy Shapoval gave an interview to Polish Radio. The interview was about Yu. Shapoval’s book “Unforgiven. Oleksandr Dovzhenko and the communist special services”.

The author presents a new look at the figure of director and playwright, Ukrainian cinematographer Oleksandr Dovzhenko. The research work of our colleague is based on the unpublished documents of the case-form, which was opened on Dovzhenko by the Soviet special services, and which they conducted from the beginning of the 20s and actually until the end, until his death in 1956. The Chekists never forgave Dovzhenko for his nationalist past, his Ukrainian patriotism, albeit within the limits of the Soviet canon, which was intertwined with the conformism of the great creator.

Interview with Polish Radio

January 25, 2024, on the basis of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the regular congress of the Ukraine Political Sciences Association (UPSA) took place in the telebridge format.

Opening the congress, the president of UPSA, member-cor. of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Oleg Rafalskiy, emphasized the importance of the existence of a national professional association of specialists and scientists in social and political sciences. The main goal of the Association’s activities is to promote the development of domestic political science and its integration into the world scientific space by establishing cooperation between scientists, promoting the implementation of scientific research, organizing scientific events and publishing scientific information. He emphasized that the Ukraine Political Sciences Association is the only member of the International Political Science Organization (IPSA) and this, in turn, gives Ukrainian political scientists the opportunity to join the global political science community.

Oleg Rafalskiy

 Viktor Kotygorenko, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor, head of the Department of Ethno-Political Science of the Kuras Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Vitaliy Lytvyn, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor of the Department of Political Science of Ivan Franko Lviv National University.

During the congress, the Development Strategy of UPSA for 3 years, the website of UPSA and the journal “Political Science” were presented, and the governing bodies of UPSA were updated. The president of UPSA was elected the Director of Kuras Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Oleg Rafalskiy, the first vice-president of the Department of Political Institutes and Processes of Kuras Institute Galyna Zelenko, vice-president of UPSA, Head of the Political Science Department of Ivan Franko LNU Anatoliy Romanyuk, scientific secretary of UPSA Iryna Ovchar. The Deputy Director of Kuras Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Yurii Shaihorodskyi was elected as the Head of the UPSA Expert Council. Oleksandr Fisun (Karazin National University), Yuriy Ostapets (Uzhhorod National University), Vitaliy Lytvyn (Ivan Franko National University), Oleksiy Tretyak (Gonchar National University), Denis Yakovlev (National University of “Odesa Law Academy”), Margarita Chabanna (NU “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”), Oleg Batrymenko (Kyiv National University), Anatoliy Kruglashov (ChNU named after Yu. Fedkovych), Yuriy Yakymenko (Razumkov Center).

During the convention

The participants of the congress discussed a wide range of problems related to the strategy of further development of UPSA, formation of standards of political education in Ukraine, teaching of political sciences in higher education institutions, development of scientific research in the field of political science, integration into the international scientific environment, etc.

On January 25, 2024, between the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the NAS of Ukraine and Dragomanov Ukrainian State University concluded a Cooperation Agreement.

Solemnly, at the meeting of the University’s Academic Council, the Director of the Institute Oleg Rafalskiy and the Rector of Dragomanov State University Viktor Andrushchenko signed the corresponding document on cooperation between the scientific institution and the institution of higher education.

The agreement is aimed at deepening the multi-year joint activity on the implementation of scientific, educational and research projects.

During the signing of the Agreement

Oleg Rafalskiy and Viktor Andrushchenko

On January 17, 2024, on the eve of the celebration of the Day of the Unity of Ukraine, the 3rd All-Ukrainian Historical and Cultural Forum to the Day of the Unity of Ukraine and the Day of Memory of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred was held at Hryhorii Skovoroda University in Pereiaslav.

The co-organizer of the event, already traditionally, was the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the NAS of Ukraine. Employees of our Institute took an active part in the work of the Forum. At the panel discussion “Ukraine is free. United. Indivisible” was presented by the head of the Department of Political Culture and Ideology, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Yuriy Nikolaiets and the chief researcher of the Department of Ethno-Political Sciences, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor Oleg Kalakura.

Yuriy Nikolaiets and Oleg Kalakura

Oleg Kalakura emphasized the role of the Ukrainian revolution in the formation of the national identity of Ukrainians and the realization of the national idea. Significant events of the Ukrainian revolution: the formation of the Ukrainian Central Council and its proclamation of the Ukrainian People’s Republic and its independence, the activities of the Ukrainian State during the time of Hetman P. Skoropadskyi, the formation of the West Ukrainian People’s Republic, the restoration of the People’s Republic of Ukraine during the Directory, the conclusion of the Act of Unification of the two Ukrainian states – were accompanied by profound changes in public consciousness, the formation of new values as components of national identity. The Act of Unification UPR and WUPR proved that Ukraine emerged as a modern political nation. The speaker compared the events of the Ukrainian revolution with the period of the restoration of Ukraine’s independence and the war for the independence and unity of Ukraine.

Participants of the scientific event

Yuriy Nikolaiets analyzed the specifics of the confrontation in the information space during the Russian-Ukrainian war. He emphasized that during the war, it is important not only to inform citizens in a timely and balanced manner about the most important events, but also to ensure and maintain a high level of media literacy of the population, which should become the most effective obstacle on the way to the implementation of enemy PSYOP. For the successful implementation of defined goals and tasks in political activity, the authorities should pay much more attention to well-balanced informing of citizens about the problems that exist in society, possible ways to solve them, and prospects for the country’s development in difficult military conditions. The outline of such perspectives and clear and understandable ways for citizens to achieve the goals and objectives defined by the Ukrainian top leadership should become a powerful means of preserving social stability. For this purpose, the communication between authorities and citizens should be significantly improved. This is especially important for the implementation of measures that are unpopular among citizens, the implementation of which requires balanced targeted information campaigns based on a scientific analysis of their course and possible results. The discussant emphasized the need to help increase the level of media literacy of Ukrainians, especially young people, noting the role of Hryhorii Skovoroda University in Pereiaslav in this process.

ERIH PLUS is a European index of academic journals in the humanities and social sciences (HSS).

Scientific journals that meet a number of criteria are included in the system of indexing and referencing. In particular, the relevance of the journal for European researchers and research areas, the availability of a digital object identifier (DOI) and membership in Crossref, the availability of the journal in open access, the compliance of the editorial policy of the publication with European standards, the journal’s membership in other scientometric databases and its publication for at least two years.

In addition, compliance with the procedures of external independent review of manuscripts of articles, the appropriate level of the composition of the academic editorial board, the availability of the publication’s own publicly accessible website and accessibility on the Internet, and the provision of certain conditions for the quality composition of the journal’s authors are evaluated. Author composition of the journal is a separate requirement for its content. Authorship of the journal is analyzed by evaluating reviews for the last two years of publication.

The decision to include a journal in the European index of academic journals ERIH PLUS was made by the Advisory Group headed by Professor Alain Peyraube (CNRS, Paris, France). The experts include scientists from 33 European countries.

Thanks to the inclusion of the journal in the European index of academic publications ERIH PLUS, a wider circle of European scientists will be able to familiarize themselves with the content of the journal articles, which will contribute to the development of domestic political science and its integration into the European scientific space.

On December 27, 2023, a meeting of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine was held under the chairmanship of the President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Academician Anatoliy Zahorodniy.

At the meeting of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Head of the Department of Ethnopolitics of the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the NAS of Ukraine, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor Viktor Kotygorenko gave a scientific report.

Meeting of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

 The topic of the report concerned one of the aspects of the recently published study by scientists of the department on the dialectics of national-civil and ethnic in modern Ukrainian society. Emphasis was placed on the manifestations of this dialectic in the process of formation and development of the modern Ukrainian nation and the connection of the corresponding dynamics with the peculiarities of the development of the Ukrainian state and state policy from the beginning of the 1990s.

Viktor Kotygorenko

The report caused a lively discussion. Academician, People’s Deputy of Ukraine Oleksandr Kopylenko; academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, academician-secretary of the Department of Economics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Ella Lybanova; Corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, head of the Donetsk Scientific Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Ministry of Education and Culture of Ukraine, Volodymyr Ustymenko; academician, director of the Main Astronomical Observatory of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Yaroslav Yatskiv, director of the National Institute for Strategic Studies, Oleksandr Bogomolov, and President of the Razumkov Center, editor-in-chief of the journal “National Security and Defense” Yuriy Yakymenko joined the discussion.

Director of the National Institute for Strategic Studies Oleksandr Bogomolov

Yuriy Yakymenko, President of the Razumkov Center

President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Anatoliy Zahorodniy, Vice President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Vyacheslav Koshechko, Vice President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Oleg Rafalskiy

 According to the results of the report and its discussion, at the suggestion of the President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Academician Anatoliy Zagorodniy, the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine decided: the scientific work of the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in the field of ethnopolitics to approve and recommend continuing the development of relevant issues in cooperation with other scientific institutions of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine with an emphasis on the preparation of proposals and recommendations regarding methods and mechanisms for increasing the effectiveness of state ethnopolitical management.

On December 15, 2023, the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine together with the Institute of Social and Political Psychology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Association of Political Sciences of Ukraine and the Association of Political Psychologists of Ukraine held the All-Ukrainian scientific and practical conference “Ukrainian society: political and psychological dimension of generational change”.

About 50 domestic scientists – political scientists, psychologists, philosophers, sociologists, art critics – employees of Ukrainian scientific institutions and institutions of higher education took part in the conference. The participants of the conference gave reports on current problems of today. Special attention was paid by the speakers and participants in the scientific discussion to modern socio-political and socio-psychological problems caused by Russian military aggression in Ukraine.

The program of the All-Ukrainian scientific and practical conference “Ukrainian society: the political and psychological dimension of generational change”

Presentations at the conference were made by: Doctor of Psychological Sciences Nataliya Dovgan (“Dimensions of generational time: scientific hypotheses”), Doctor of Historical Sciences Tetyana Bevz (“Ideas of unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine – through the prism of the change of generations”), Doctor of Political Sciences Denis Yakovlev (“Generational Change in the Ukrainian Middle Class”), Doctor of History Yuriy Polishchuk (“The Impact of the Russian-Ukrainian War on the National Identity of Ukrainian Citizens”), Doctor of Public Administration Olena Sushiy (“Trauma as a Social Diagnosis of Ukrainian Society”), Doctor of History , correspondent member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Oleksandr Mayboroda (“Value Dominants of Ukrainians and the Global Discourse on the Alternative Between Democracy and Authoritarianism”), Doctor of Political Sciences Oleg Kondratenko (“Scenarios of the Geopolitical Future of Ukraine and Contours of the New World Order”), Doctor of Political Sciences Vyacheslav Yaremchuk (“Civil Society of Ukraine in the Conditions of a Large-scale Russian-Ukrainian War”), Doctor of Political Sciences Vasyl Kozma (“Politics in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”).

Participants of the scientific and practical conference “Ukrainian society: the political and psychological dimension of generational change”

Scientists from the Institute of Social and Political Psychology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Maxim Rylsky Institute of Art History, Folklore and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and institutions of higher education of Ukraine joined the discussion of the reports.

Employees of our Institute took an active part in the discussion of the reports: candidate of political sciences Rostyslav Balaban, candidate of historical sciences Mykola Gorbatyuk, candidate of philosophical sciences Maksym Kiyak, doctor of historical sciences Yuriy Shapoval, graduate student Ihor Tsygvintsev.

Based on the results of the conference, it is planned to publish a collection of its materials.

Information for authors

On December 9, the world memorates the International Day of Remembrance of Victims of Genocide Crimes, commemoration of human dignity and resilience, and prevention of such crimes. In connection with this date, the leading researcher of the Department of Ethnopolitics of the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnonic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, candidate of historical sciences Anatoliy Podolskiy gave an interview on Public Radio. The topic of the conversation: “Why genocides became possible in the 21st century, and how Russia will be held accountable for its crimes in Ukraine.”

“The tragedy is that after the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the killing of people did not stop. The legal point of view is important here: not every killing of a group of people is considered genocide and falls under the definition of war crimes. And as a historian, I can say about the historical context. When the convention was adopted 75 years ago, humanity had learned a few lessons from the Second World War.

Anatoliy Podolskiy during an interview

Because even in the last century, after 1948, there were many crimes: Mao Zedong’s China, Pol Pot’s crimes in Cambodia, Sudan, and Rwanda. These are also Russian crimes in Chechnya, Syria, Georgia. Also, soon it will be 10 years since they attacked our country, and almost two years of a full-scale invasion, during which Russians kill civilians…” –  Anatoliy Podolskiy emphasized in his interview.

Audio recording and text of Anatoly Podolsky’s interview on the website of Public Radio

On the website of the Institute, in the “Our publications” section, an electronic version of the monograph “The Dialectics of the National-Civic and Ethnic in Ukrainian Society” is posted.

The monograph contains the results of a theoretical and praxeological study of the dynamics of the dialectical interaction of the national-civic and ethnic in the development of the identity of the Ukrainian nation, state building, social and cultural processes in Ukraine from the time of its sovereignty in the late 1980s and the declaration of independence in 1991 until 2022 – the first year of full-scale Russian aggression against Ukraine and its people.

It can be useful for scientists, teachers, students and politicians who are interested in the processes of formation of the modern Ukrainian nation and ethnopolitics in Ukraine.

During November – December 2023, Mykola Ryabchuk, a leading researcher at the Department of Political Culture and Ideology, gave several lectures at leading Japanese universities with the support of the Hokkaido University visiting researcher program. On November 26, he gave a lecture at Gakuin University in Kobe, “The Poisonous Magic of “Imperial Knowledge”” and the Challenges of Decolonization, outlining the mechanisms of the spread of Russian imperial narratives in the world and emphasizing the ultimate need for their deconstruction.

The lecture on November 30 at Keio University (Tokyo campus) was a kind of summary of the scientist’s previous research, highlighted in particular in the article “”Rallying around the flag”: civic identity as a factor of socio-political consolidation in the conditions of war”, supplemented with new data and observations.

Mykola Ryabchuk during a lecture at Tokyo University

The speech on December 2 at Tokyo University was devoted to the situation of Ukrainian literature and culture during the war, their losses, gains and institutional changes.

Mykola Ryabchuk with teachers and graduate students of Gakuin University in Kobe

Each lecture-report was accompanied by a public discussion – questions and answers, which collectively revealed, on the one hand, the still weak awareness of Japanese students with Ukraine, on the other hand, the significant interest and deep empathy of young Japanese for Ukraine, which defends its independence.

On December 7-8, 2023, the II All-Ukrainian Forum “Ukrainian Society in Conditions of War: Invincibility, Unity, Victory” was held. The organizers of the event were Hryhorii Skovoroda University in Pereiaslav and Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University.

Well-known Ukrainian intellectuals, politicians, civil servants, scientists, and teachers took part in an expert discussion of the problems of maintaining a high level of consolidation of Ukrainian society, continuing European integration reforms, ways and means of winning the Russian-Ukrainian war, restoring sovereignty, territorial integrity, and post-war reconstruction.

During the work of the Forum

Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine was introduced to the work of the Forum by our colleagues: Acting Head of the Department of Political Culture and Ideology, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Yuriy Nikolaiets, Chief Researcher of the Department of Political Culture and Ideology, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor Viktor Voynalovych, Chief Researcher of the Department of Ethnopolitics, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor Oleg Kalakura, Leading Researcher of the Department of Political Institutions and Processes, Candidate of Political Sciences Rostyslav Balaban, Junior Researcher of the Department of Ethnopolitics, Candidate of Historical Sciences Valery Novorodovsky.

Participants of the Forum in Pereiaslav

In their speeches, they emphasized the importance of cooperation between the legislative and executive authorities with representatives of civil society institutions in various spheres of Ukrainian resilience: administrative, military, informational, educational, spiritual and cultural.

Program of the 2nd All-Ukrainian Forum “Ukrainian Society in the Conditions of War: Invincibility, Unity, Victory”

On December 10, 2023, the XVII international sociological readings in memory of N. V. Panina and Yu. I. Yakovenko “Ukrainian society and sociologists before the challenges of war and post-war development” took place at the Kyiv School of Economics University.

The scientific event was organized by the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Sociological Association of Ukraine, the Sociological Center named after N. V. Panina. The meeting aroused the great interest of domestic scientists and was called to discuss at a professional level a wide range of issues related to the problems of researching the transformational processes taking place in Ukrainian society in the conditions of war.

Two collective monographs were presented within the framework of the international scientific event:

• “Ukrainian society in the conditions of war. Year 2023” / edited by E. I. Holovakha and S. O. Makeev. (Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine);
• “Political system of Ukraine: constitutional model and political practices” / Zelenko G. I. (scientific editor) and others. (Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnonic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine).

Galyna Zelenko

Head 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, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Galyna Zelenko, presenting the work of our colleagues, noted that the team of authors tried to understand in detail and structure all subsystems of the political system and analyze its applied manifestations in Ukraine, giving the answer on a number of urgent issues, among which, in particular, the following: omissions that made the effectiveness of certain elements of the established constitutional model practically impossible and, as a result, generated their weak institutional capacity; the correctness and expediency of the political choice made during the implementation of institutional construction, etc. However, the main thing is the search for tools to eliminate the existing problems, which currently prevent the further full-fledged democratic development of Ukraine.

Rostyslav Balaban, Yevhen Golovakha, Galyna Zelenko, Nataliya Kononenko, Vasyl Kozma

Scientists from the Department of Political Institutions and Processes of our Institute took part in the conference: Chief Researcher, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor Vasyl Kozma, Leading Researcher, Candidate of Political Sciences Rostyslav Balaban, Leading Researcher, Candidate of Political Sciences Nataliya Kononenko, Senior Researcher, Candidate of Political Sciences Iryna Ovchar.

The Ukrainian non-party public union “Aspen Institute Kyiv” is a member of the international network of Aspen Institutes. The union supports the formation of value-oriented leadership, promotes the development of a culture of dialogue and creates opportunities for the exchange of ideas, engages business leaders, public administration, representatives of the academic community, media, cultural projects and civil society in the dialogue.

On November 25, “Aspen Institute Kyiv” held a seminar “(Re)interpretation of the social contract of Ukraine”. People’s deputies of Ukraine, representatives of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the judiciary, business, charitable foundations, scientific institutions, military personnel, civil servants took part in the seminar.

Issues related to current problems of today were discussed. During the seminar, we discussed:

• The need for education at all levels: training, formal and informal education.
• Questions of morality and ethics in times of challenges; their influence on the institution of reputation, the ability to take responsibility.
• Consolidation of society and (de)centralization and their provision/support.
• Implementation of the security request with respect for all fundamental human rights.
• The economic component of the social contract in the context of ensuring economic freedoms, tax policy and support of the private sector.
• Investments in the development of human capital.
• Strengthening the prestige of the public service and attracting new personnel to it through decent wages and respect for public servants.
• The role of the state and interaction with society with an emphasis on the service state model with a people-centered system.

Nataliya Kononenko among the participants of the seminar

Candidate of political sciences, 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, Nataliya Kononenko. In particular, she emphasized that one of the focuses of the social agreement should be the preservation and improvement of democracy in Ukraine. In addition, the scientist drew the attention of those present to the fact that even under the current conditions – a full-scale Russian military invasion of Ukraine – the creation of a social agreement cannot replace the process of improving the state and its institutions.

The electronic version of the peer-reviewed collection of scientific works “Ukraine: Consolidation. Unity. Progressiveness. Effectiveness”.

The collection includes the materials of the VI round table “History in us and we in history: the psychology of historical memory” (special project “Ukraine: Consolidation. Solidarity. Unity”, October 19, 2022) and the VII round table “History in us and we in history: the psychology of historical memory” (special project “Civilizational subjectivity of Ukraine – Unity. Victory. Activeness”, October 19, 2023).

The publication was carried out within the framework of the Program of joint activities of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Institute of Social and Political Psychology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, as well as – in accordance with the plan for the implementation of scientific research work of the Department of Theory and History of Political Science of the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine “Concept of the unity of Ukraine: origins, evolution, political relevance” (state registration number: 0122U000572).