PARTICIPATION OF A RESEARCHER OF THE INSTITUTE IN THE INTERNATIONAL LOPAPOL 2026 WORKSHOP
In March 2026, Anastasiia Dehterenko, PhD in Political Science, Associate Professor, researcher at the Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, participated in the international scientific workshop Local Party Politics (LoPaPol) Workshop 2026, held on March 24–25 at the Technical University of Darmstadt (Germany).
As part of the workshop, she presented the paper: “Local Party Competition and Coalition Governance in War-Affected Municipalities: Ukraine as a Critical Case of Resilient Local Democracy.”
The paper examines the transformation of local democracy in Ukraine under conditions of full-scale war. It focuses on the changing logic of party competition, the formation of governance coalitions, and adaptive mechanisms of municipal governance.
The study argues that war not only poses challenges to democratic institutions but also acts as a driver of their transformation. In particular, at the local level, there is a shift from ideologically structured competition toward governance oriented at effectiveness, crisis management, and the provision of essential public services.
Special attention is given to the concept of “survival coalitions” — pragmatic cross-party alliances formed to sustain governance under conditions of high uncertainty and security pressure.
In addition to the academic presentation, on March 23, 2026, within the framework of the same project, the book “Letters from a Ukrainian Mother: War, Love and Raising Children Between Sirens and Hope” was presented. The book combines academic reflection on war with personal experiences of motherhood and everyday life under wartime conditions, thus extending scholarly discourse through a human-centered perspective.
Available via international platforms (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GRTPXTYY
Participation in the workshop and the book presentation took place within the framework of the international project “The Voice of a Ukrainian Researcher in European Debates on Local Democracy: International Advocacy and Knowledge Transfer for Women’s Initiatives.”
The project was awarded to the Academy of Resilient Development of Ukraine, an institution dedicated to strengthening societal resilience, advancing educational and research practices, and supporting transformation processes in the context of war and post-war recovery.
The project is supported by the Ukrainian Women’s Fund with the assistance of the Government of Canada.
The engagement of Ukrainian scholars in international academic platforms contributes to the integration of Ukrainian research into the European scholarly space and supports the development of new approaches to understanding democratic resilience under conditions of war.
The full research paper and the official workshop program are available here.