Welcome to Professor Maria Popova's hub for research, teaching, and public outreach on issues related to democracy, corruption, and the rule of law in Europe. Prof. Popova's current research focuses on the Russo-Ukrainian war, its impact on European democracies, and Ukraine's road to EU accession.

In Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States, Maria Popova and Oxana Shevel explain how since 1991 Russia and Ukraine diverged politically, ending up on a collision course. Russia slid back into authoritarianism and imperialism, while Ukraine consolidated a competitive political system and pro-European identity. As Ukraine built a democratic nation-state, Russia refused to accept it and came to see it as an “anti-Russia” project. After political and economic pressure proved ineffective, and even counterproductive, Putin went to war to force Ukraine back into the fold of the “Russian world.” Ukraine resisted, determined to pursue European integration as a sovereign state. These irreconcilable goals, rather than geopolitical wrangling between Russia and the West over NATO expansion, are – the authors argue – essential to understanding Russia’s war on Ukraine.

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October 18, 2025
Prof. Popova Speaks with Global News about Zelenskyy's Visit to the White House After Trump's Call with Putin

Professor Popova speaks with Nirvita Ganguly, to discuss what Volodomyr Zelenskyy's recent visit to the White House means for the ongoing war in Ukraine.

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August 13, 2025
Prof. Popova Publishes New Article in Policy Magazine

As the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska looms, the question arises of whether it could mark the end of Russia’s decade-long war against Ukraine. But how can a war end when one of the parties hasn’t been invited to the negotiating table, even though it holds its own militarily on the battlefield?

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July 9, 2025
Should Canada apply to join the European Union?

By joining the EU, Canada would send a strong message that we are challenging Putin and Trump and that we want to be united with countries that believe in liberal values. Prof. Popova speaks with former Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau in Katharine Lake Berz's op-ed in the Toronto Star.

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Maria Popova (PhD, Harvard) is Associate Professor of Political Science at McGill University and Scientific Director of the Jean Monnet Centre Montreal. Her work explores rule of law and democracy in Eastern Europe. Her first book Politicized Justice in Emerging Democracies, which won the American Association for Ukrainian Studies book prize in 2013, examines the weaponization of law to manipulate elections and control the media in Russia and Ukraine. Her recent articles have focused on judicial and anticorruption reform in post-Maidan Ukraine, the politics of anticorruption campaigns in Eastern Europe, conspiracies, and illiberalism. Her new book (co-authored with Oxana Shevel), on the roots of the Russo-Ukrainian war, entitled “Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States” is now available from Polity Press.
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Professor Maria Popova
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science

McGill University
855 Sherbrooke Ouest
Montréal, Quebec
H3A 2T7
Canada
Department Website