Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Annual Conference, November 24th, 2024.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is a watershed event. This panel examines Ukraine’s prospects of joining the European Union and key areas of reform that the EU must address to avoid the political traps and pitfalls that could derail Ukraine’s accession progress. The war also forced Europe to revisit energy independence and its geo-political identity. How is Europe redefining itself in response to the war? Finally, the war amplifies the importance of security concerns in Ukraine’s own domestic politics and can potentially exacerbate internal polarization.
"Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States" Book Discussion
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Annual Conference, November 23rd, 2024.
The discussion featured Prof. Popova alongside co-author Oxana Shevel responding to the commentary by scholars from various academic disciplines such as International Relations, Political Science, and History.
"Lessons for EU Enlargement to Ukraine and Beyond"
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Annual Conference, November 23rd, 2024.
Drawing on the lessons from previous phases of EU enlargement, participants in this roundtable scrutinized potential pitfalls, suggested effective strategies, and fostered a collaborative approach to imagine paths of success of the integration process. Key questions include understanding the potential risks and benefits associated with the integration of Ukraine for the EU and for the reforming country, establishing stable democracy in the candidate states, and ensuring sustainable economic development. Can the EU contribute to durable political and economic institutions through substantial financial transfers and institutional support? Are the Copenhagen criteria still a solid guide for integrating new member states?
"Presidential Plenary: Identifying and Applying Liberating Perspectives in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies"
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Annual Conference, November 22nd, 2024.
In his book Decolonizing the Mind, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o proposes as a decolonizing goal the “search for a liberating perspective within which to see ourselves clearly in relationship to ourselves and other selves in the universe.” The Presidential Plenary session presents an array of approaches to identifying and implementing pathways towards achieving this goal in academic contexts. It features six scholars from across the disciplines, at various stages of their careers, who are leading efforts to implement liberating perspectives in teaching, research, education, scholarly organization, and other related areas.
“Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States”
American Political Science Association (APSA) Meeting, Philadelphia, September 5th—8th, 2024.
Professors Popova and Oxana Shevel explained 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.
"Judicial and Anticorruption Reform, and Ukraine’s Path to EU Accession"
American Political Science Association (APSA) Meeting, Philadelphia, September 6th, 2024.
Anticorruption and judicial reform civil society organizations are losing human capital to the war in Ukraine. The inflow of military and financial aid might pour fuel onto the corruption fire and strengthen, rather than weaken incentives to maintain corruption networks. The national security vs. transparency trade-off in an existential war makes it harder to adopt some anticorruption best practices. On the other hand, the existential threat of the war has greatly expanded societal consensus on the desirability of Euroatlantic integration and thus both Ukrainian political elites and society at large have a strong incentive to meet the conditionality criteria. The paper will take stock of the steps taken over the past year and draw lessons about the effectiveness of EU conditionality.
"Author Meets Critic Roundtable: Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States"
Canadian Political Science Association (CPSA) Meeting, Montreal, June 13th, 2024.
As Ukraine built a democratic nation-state, Russia refused to accept it and came to see it as an “anti-Russia” project. After political pressure and economic levers 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 essential to understanding Russia’s war on Ukraine.
"New Perspectives on the Russian Invasion of Ukraine"
Canadian Political Science Association (CPSA) Meeting, Montreal, June 13th, 2024.
This panel was co-organized by Maria Popova and Dietlind Stolle (McGill University). The panel examined where things stood more than two years after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The methodologically and thematically diverse papers explored both crucial domestic Ukrainian political developments and the variation in support for Ukraine among its allies both across space and over time. Topics covered include: Ukraine's progress towards meeting EU conditions for accession, the relationship between belief in misinformation and language use, European public opinion on support for Ukraine and on variation in trust and threat perception of major powers, and variation in NATO allies' military aid to Ukraine.
"Author Meets Critic Roundtable: Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States"
European Community Studies Association Canada (ECSA-C) Biannual Conference, May 24th, 2024.
Professors Popova and Oxana Shevel answered questions and defended their recent co-publication at this event held at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
"A Decade After the Euromaidan: Changes in Ukrainian Politics and Society post-2014"
Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN), Columbia University, May 18th, 2024.
Professor Popova's section of the talk was titled "How Corrupt is Ukraine? Corruption Incidence, Anticorruption Institutions, and Measurement Problems".
"Author Meets Critic Roundtable: Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States"
Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN), Columbia University, May 16th, 2024.
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 essential to understanding Russia’s war on Ukraine.
"Rethinking Europe’s East-West Divide and European Integration in a New Geopolitical Era"
Rethinking Europe’s East-West Divide Conference, University of Oxford, St Anthony’s College, March 15th, 2024.
The two-day conference launches an interdisciplinary network ‘Rethinking Europe’s East-West Divide’ which was awarded UACES funding. The network aims to overcome disciplinary siloes and to fully integrate the study of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) into mainstream European Politics and European Union Studies. The conference served to benefit colleagues and students interested in studying European politics, as it provides opportunities for lively academic exchange, networking and it will be a stepping stone to new research projects and collaboration.
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Annual Conference, December 1st, 2023.
How are the main reforms that will aid Ukraine’s EU integration progressing? This presentation takes stock of the rule of law, anticorruption, state capacity in Ukraine. What are the EU’s main stakeholders’ (speaking of the Commission and EU member states) assessments of the timeframe for Ukraine’s integration? Has everyone in the EU internalized the idea that Ukraine’s integration sooner rather than later is a strategic goal, which would help both Ukraine and European security? This presentation provides insights on these key questions. This paper was presented as part of a broader roundtable discussion entitled Russia’s War against Ukraine: Catalyzing Conversations about Ethics in International Affairs".
"Oligarchs in Power Arrangements, Public Opinion, and Public Discourse"
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Annual Conference, December 1st, 2023.
"Since the Fall of Communism, oligarchs have been a constant feature of East European and Eurasian politics. The papers on this panel draw on evidence from five different countries to examine the place of oligarchs in power arrangements, public opinion, and public discourse and deepen our understanding of oligarchy in present-day East European and Eurasian politics. Professor Popova chaired this roundtable discussion.
Princeton University, Liechtenstein Institute for Peace, November 9th, 2023.
"Russia’s invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022 has accelerated Ukraine’s integration with Europe and the West. One such major acceleration has been the granting of candidate status to Ukraine by the European Union (EU) in June 2022. This was a strong signal of solidarity and hope sent by the EU to Ukraine, but the road to membership will be a long and arduous one. Deep reforms must be fully implemented before the opening of formal EU accession negotiations, including reform of the judiciary, fight against corruption, freedom of the press, and legislation on minorities. Then Ukraine will need to fully incorporate the acquis communautaire."
McGill University Alumni Association, October 20th, 2023.
Four members of the Department's faculty will analyze current problems and events, drawing on their respective areas of expertise. Daniel Béland will reflect on the eight years that Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party have spent in power. Terri Givens will speak about the contemporary politics of immigration and race, the rise of anti-immigrant political parties, and the electoral consequences of their campaigns. Amy Janzwood will offer reflections on climate and energy policy in Canada in light of the devastating wildfires, and the current political context. Maria Popova will discuss the roots of the Russo-Ukrainian war and its significance to European security and the international order. Jacob Levy will moderate.
"Corruption and Illiberalism in Bulgaria and Romania"
American Bar Foundation, May 26th—27th, 2023.
This project will explore whether, how, and under what conditions anti-corruption campaigns by national governments contribute to heightened illiberalism in national politics. Over the last two decades, at the same time as anti-corruption legal frameworks and initiatives have gained global legitimacy, multiple countries have experienced marked erosion in the civil liberties and political rights of their citizens.
"War in Ukraine: What Does A Political Settlement Look Like?"
The Citadel, Network for Strategic Analysis (NSA), February 24th, 2023.
The conflict in Ukraine marked the return of major interstate wars on the European continent. After one year of brutal battles and heavy losses, this conference takes stock of the main military lessons learned from the War in Ukraine and evaluates the possible future political settlements that may emerge from such conflict. To do so, it leverages the unique networks offered by the European Initiative for Security Studies (EISS), the Canadian Network for Strategic Analysis (NSA), and the Citadel’s Department of Intelligence and Security Studies to bring together scholars and experts from the United States, Canada, and Europe, in a truly transatlantic endeavour.
Six months after its tanks and soldiers first crossed into Ukraine, the Russian invasion of its western neighbour shows no signs of abating. Two McGill experts and a graduate student being helped by the new Students and Scholars at Risk Fund weigh in on the current situation.
"Studying Ukrainian and Russian Domestic Politics in Times of War and Peace"
Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Annual Convention, November 12th, 2022.
Leading experts on Ukrainian and Russian domestic politics and the EU will discuss what we have learned from the war. Topics covered will include: Ukraine’s sources of resilience, Ukraine’s pro-European path and EU integration prospects, EU’s response to the war, Russian society and elites’ response to the war, the prospects for change in Russia, either through elite or society-driven pressure. This roundtable consisted of five membersL Paul Goode (Carleton University), Samuel Aaron Greene, (King's College London), Olga Onuch (University of Manchester), Oxana Shevel (Tufts University) as well as Prof. Popova.
"Informal Politics and Judicial Institutions: Ukraine’s Constitutional Court"
INFINITY Experts Workshop, CEELI Institute and Masaryk University, Prague, Czechia, October 20th, 2022.
The workshop was part of David Kosař’s Horizon 2020 ERC Consolidator Grant on ‘Informal Judicial Institutions: Invisible Determinants of Democratic Decay’ (2021–2026) as a key milestone of the first work package that deals with conceptual challenges and maps informal judicial institutions across 13 jurisdictions. Within this work package, we consider ‘old’ EU member states (Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain) next to ‘new’ members (Czechia, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia) as well as countries outside the EU (England, Georgia, Israel, Ukraine), a selection that purposefully includes Common Law and Civil Law jurisdictions.
