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.

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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.

Winner of the 2025 Canadian Association of Ukrainian Studies Book PrizeCLICK HERE TO ORDER
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Another piece of Ukraine’s cultural heritage targeted by Russia overnight is Kyiv’s Mystetski Arsenal, one of the country’s main contemporary art exhibition spaces that also houses its main literary festival. The building dates back to 1803. The war is not about a piece of land

With all due respect to @baunov, I think to consider strkes against Lavra, Kyiv Arsenal, and Dovzhenko Studio as some sort of "retaliation" is sheer nonsense. Putin's propagandists will certainly say this, but it does not make it any more true. Russia has been striking major

This is the UNESCO World Heritage site i Kyiv that Russia has bombed tonight. Founded in 1051. A craddle of Eastern Christianity and one of the most important cultural sites in all of Eastern Europe. Right now the cathedral is burning because Russia has no moral, no values.

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residency at policy magazine
Professor Popova is currently a columnist with Policy Magazine: Canadian Politics and Public Policy, an online journal published by Mediamundo, and managed by two veteran journalists with decades of experience in reporting on domestic and foreign affairs, L. Ian MacDonald and Lisa Van Dusen. Professor Popova's most recent articles, authored with Anastasia Leshchyshyn, are found below; to read all previously-published material, click on the button below.


READ PROFESSOR POPOVA'S COLUMNS

         

April 21, 2026
Profs. Popova & Stolle: "Europe’s New Political Divide isn’t Left-Right, it’s About Russia"

The European Union’s difficulty in forging a forceful and coherent foreign policy is often blamed on institutional limits or on leadership gaps. But the deeper constraint is domestic — and it runs through European societies themselves.

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March 27, 2026
Professor Popova appointed Hiram Mills Chair in the Department of Political Science at McGill University

Professor Maria Popova has been appointed to the Hiram Mills Chair in the Department of Political Science. This is one of the oldest endowed chairs at McGill, historically supporting excellence in the humanities and social sciences.

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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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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
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