Department of political institutions and processes

Head of the Department – Director of the Institute, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Galyna I. Zelenko

The Department was established pursuant to the decision of the Academic Council of the Institute (Minutes No. 5 of September 14, 2021) and the resolution of the Bureau of the History, Philosophy and Law Division of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Resolution No. 9 of October 21, 2021), on the basis of the Department of Theoretical and Applied Problems of Political Science, established in 1992.

The aim and objectives of the Department are to conduct research on political institutions and political processes in Ukraine as a priority area of scholarly inquiry.

The main areas of research pursued by the Department include the study of political processes in Ukraine from the perspective of the relationship between formal and informal political institutions, as well as political practices characteristic of Ukraine and other transition countries and former socialist states. The Department’s researchers primarily employ quantitative and qualitative research methods, comparative political analysis, systems approaches, and theories of neo-institutionalism, among others.

The Department’s priority research areas include institutional changes in Ukraine’s political system; forms of political and civic participation; the institutional capacity of the state; political parties and civil society organizations; trajectories of political regime transformation; crises of political development; political aspects of social capital development; and mechanisms of constitutional engineering aimed at improving the quality of political institutions.

Research Projects

Researchers of the Department have implemented a number of research projects:

  • 2020–2021 – Crises of Political Development in Ukraine during the Period of Independence: Content, Causes and Ways to Overcome Them
  • 2020–2021 – Changes in Political Regimes and Prospects for Strengthening Democracy in Ukraine
  • 2022–2024 – Institutional Capacity of State Authorities and Local Self-Government in Ukraine: Current State and Directions for Optimization
  • 2023–2024 – Adaptive Changes in the Functioning of Ukraine’s Political System under Conditions of War and Post-War Reconstruction
  • 2025–2026 – Joint Ukrainian-Polish research project The Impact of the Type of Political System on the Quality of State Institutions: Polish and Ukrainian Experience and Prospects

Since 2025, researchers of the Department have been implementing the following research projects:

  • Adaptation of Ukraine’s Political Institutions to the Norms and Practices of the European Union
  • Socio-Political Renewal in Ukraine under Conditions of War

Major Publications Resulting from Research Projects

  • Institutional Changes in Ukraine’s Political System: Assessment of the Current State and Development Trends. Research Report. Edited by H. I. Zelenko. Kyiv: Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2014. 164 p.
  • Ukraine in Search of Strategies for Socio-Political Development (1991–2018). Kyiv: Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2019. 342 p.
  • Changes in Political Regimes and Prospects for Strengthening Democracy in Ukraine. Authors’ collective: H. I. Zelenko (project leader and scientific editor), T. A. Bevz, S. H. Brekharya, M. S. Karmazina, V. O. Kovalevskyi, O. Yu. Kondratenko, N. V. Kononenko, T. M. Liashenko, O. M. Maiboroda, Yu. Zh. Shaigorodskyi. Kyiv: Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2021. 416 p.
  • Crises of Political Development in Ukraine: Causes, Content and Ways to Mitigate Them. Monograph. Authors’ collective: H. I. Zelenko (project leader and scientific editor), R. V. Balaban, S. H. Brekharya, L. L. Kyianytsia, O. Yu. Kondratenko, N. V. Kononenko, T. M. Liashenko. Kyiv: Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2022. 352 p.
  • The Political System of Ukraine: Constitutional Model and Political Practices. Monograph. Authors’ collective: H. I. Zelenko (project leader and scientific editor), et al. Kyiv: Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2023. 536 p.
  • Adaptive Changes in Ukraine’s Political Field under Conditions of War. Monograph. Edited by O. O. Rafalskyi and O. M. Maiboroda. Kyiv: Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2023. 672 p.
  • Crises of Political Development in Ukraine: The Challenges of Post-Soviet State-Building and Ways to Overcome Them. Monograph. Authors’ collective: H. I. Zelenko (editor), R. Balaban, S. Brekharya, L. Kyianytsia, O. Kondratenko, N. Kononenko, T. Lyashenko. Stuttgart: ibidem Press, 2024. 352 p.
  • Ukraine in Struggle: War and the Transformation of the State. Monograph. Edited by Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Oleh Rafalskyi and Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Halyna Zelenko. Kyiv: Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2025. 208 p.
  • Institutional (In)Capacity of the State: How to Break the Vicious Circle. Monograph. Authors’ collective: Halyna Zelenko (project leader and scientific editor), et al. Kyiv: Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2025. 480 p.
  • The Political System of Post-Soviet Ukraine: Constitutional Ramifications, Key Institutions, and Political Practices of the Independent Ukrainian State, 1991–2023. Monograph. Authors’ collective: H. I. Zelenko (editor), O. Rafalskiy, R. Balaban, T. Bevz, S. Brekharya, N. Kononenko, V. Kovalevskyi, T. Lyashenko, O. Maiboroda, V. Pereveziy, S. Sytnyk, Yu. Yakymenko, O. Andrieieva; foreword by O. Rafalskiy. Stuttgart: ibidem Press, 2026. 292 p.

Department Staff

As of 2026, the Department has 8 full-time staff members, including 2 Doctors of Sciences and 6 Candidates of Sciences. Over the years of its existence, the Department has contributed to the training of more than 30 Doctors and Candidates of Political Sciences.

Core Staff

  1. Galyna Ivanivna Zelenko – Director of the Institute, Head of the Department, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
  2. Nataliia Viktorivna Kononenko – Deputy Director, Leading Research Fellow, Candidate of Political Sciences.
  3. Rostyslav Valeriiovych Balaban – Leading Researcher, Candidate of Political Sciences.
  4. Tenyana Mykhailivna Liashenko – Leading Researcher, Doctor of Political Sciences.
  5. Vitalii Oleksandrovych Pereveziy – Senior Research Fellow (part-time), Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor.
  6. Svitlana Hryhorivna Brekharya – Senior Research Fellow, Candidate of Political Sciences.
  7. Vladyslav Oleh­ovych Kovalevskiy – Leading Researcher, Candidate of Political Science
  8. Svitlana Volodymyrivna Sytnyk – Leading Research Fellow, Candidate of Political Sciences, Associate Professor.
  9. Ihor Vitaliiovych Symysenko – Senior Research Fellow, Candidate of Political Sciences.

Contacts:

Tel .: +38 (044) 286-27-81

e-mail: zgalina@ukr.net

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