Ukraine
Interviews
Ukrainians Started as the Scots and Ended Up as the Irish – Yaroslav Hrytsak on the Global History of Ukraine
In this conversation with Visible Ukraine editor Marta Haiduchok and RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Yaroslav Hrytsak – author of the new book Ukraine: The Forging of a Nation – explains what makes Ukraine a geopolitically crucial borderland and why the Ukrainian question has become acute at the most critical turns in global history.
24.11.2023
News
Europe’s Two Hearts
The war in Ukraine has shown up the limits of European pacifism and revived a long-forgotten precept: republican opposition to empire. Today’s imperial threat no longer comes disguised as democracy but is openly anti-democratic. Part of the series ‘Lessons of war: The rebirth of Europe revisited’. RevDem publishes today two articles on the consequences of the war in Ukraine for Europe, which are part of a series of Eurozine, a network of magazines to which Revdem belongs. In the coming days we will publish our responses to this debate.
20.09.2023
News
l’Europe qui confond — in Conversation with Hans Kundnani
What is “Eurowhiteness”? How do EU member states deal with their colonial pasts? How does the far right function in the EU? What is the structure of power within the EU? How was Brexit racially structured? Hans Kundnani speaks about his recent publication – Eurowhiteness: Culture Empire and Race in the European Project – with RevDem editor Kasia Krzyżanowska.
14.09.2023
Podcasts
A Savage War of Russian Decline: Serhii Plokhy Discusses the Russo-Ukrainian War
In this conversation co-hosted by Marta Haiduchok (Visible Ukraine) and Ferenc Laczó (the Review of Democracy), Serhii Plokhy – author of the new book "The Russo-Ukrainian War" – discusses why Ukraine was so crucial to the Soviet collapse and how Ukraine and Russia diverged subsequently; explains what made Ukraine a focal point of competition in the post-Cold War decades and which factors enabled the current devastating war; dissects the origins of Russian imperialism and Russia’s current war aims; reflects on the state of Ukrainian Studies and suggests new questions concerning Ukrainian nationalism and Russian imperialism; elaborates on the stages of the unfolding war and the reasons behind Ukraine’s ability to fight back; and ponders what major geopolitical shifts the Russo-Ukrainian war might signal or reinforce.
30.06.2023
News
The War in Ukraine and Transition: In Conversation with Maria Popova
Despite, or perhaps due to, the war in Ukraine there have been positive developments in combating corruption and other issues in anticipation of EU membership. In this RevDem Rule of Law podcast Teodora Miljojkovic discusses these issues around transition with Professor Maria Popova.
20.06.2023
Interviews
Accession Through War? Ukraine and the EU: In Conversation with Roman Petrov
In this podcast, Oliver Garner speaks to Professor Roman Petrov on this subject of “accession through war”. Professor Petrov is the Jean Monney Chair in EU Law and Head of the Centre of Excellence in EU Studies at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. He is currently a British Academy Research Fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law.
23.05.2023
The Curse of Russian Imperialism: Martin Schulze Wessel on Imperial Optics, False Dichotomies, and the Need to Reconsider East European History
In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Martin Schulze Wessel – author of the new book Der Fluch des Imperiums. Die Ukraine, Polen und der Irrweg in der Russischen Geschichte (Imperial Curse. Ukraine, Poland, and the False Paths in Russian History) – traces the ideas that have shaped Russian imperialism and reflects on their devastating contemporary force; explores key moments in the parallel and entangled histories of Poland and Ukraine and how those histories have been shaped by Russian imperialism across the centuries; dissects what he calls Germany’s “imperialism of a second order” and emphasizes the urgent need to revise Russia-centric interpretations of East European history.
20.05.2023
Heritage in War: A Key to Define the Future of Ukraine
Dóra Mérai, a lecturer of Cultural Heritage Studies at CEU, explores how heritage - often used to promote divisions - has also been reframed in Ukraine following Russia's invasion "to develop empathy, express solidarity, and help people cope with the difficulties".
28.03.2023
In Conversation with Danuta Hübner — Ukraine’s Road to EU Accession
In this conversation with Kasia Krzyżanowska, Danuta Hübner explains the specificities of the EU accession path for Ukraine, elaborates on the difficulties other countries had to overcome (most notably Poland), showcases the problems with Turkey’s and Western Balkans’ EU accession, discusses the criteria of joining the EU, and shares her visions of the future EU.
6.03.2023
Adam Michnik: The war in Ukraine is not a war between the Russian people and the Ukrainian people
This war, of which we are commemorating the anniversary today, is undoubtedly the most important war of our time, because it is a war in which the imperial-chauvinist-totalitarian project is struggling with the democratic, European, pluralist project on the one hand.
28.02.2023
Ukraine in the Union, or the end-of-history thesis reinvigorated
In this op-ed, RevDem managing editor Michal Matlak looks at the relevance of the war in Ukraine to Fukuyama's often-mocked thesis of the end of history and addresses the implications of the accession process for Ukraine, as well as for the EU.
21.02.2023
News
The Hungarian Government Became Hostage of Its Own Propaganda
In this conversation with RevDem Editor Robert Nemeth, Hungarian journalist Szabolcs Panyi talks about the Hungarian government’s response to the war in Ukraine, why it is not willing to counter Russian infiltration in Hungary, the reasons behind the anti-US sentiment of Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his inner circle, and anti-Western propaganda in Hungary. He also discusses how being targeted by the Pegasus spyware impacted him.
16.12.2022
News
War in Ukraine: 10 essential readings and interviews
On the occasion of Ukraine's Independence Day, we present key texts and interviews on the Russian invasion and its aftermath
24.08.2022
How to Avoid Further Escalation? A Conversation with Wolfgang Merkel on the Scholz Government and German Foreign Policy Today
In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Wolfgang Merkel talks about German foreign policy, describes key decisions and non-decisions of the new German government and reflects on the reasons that led him to sign the Open Letter to Chancellor Scholz.
8.06.2022
Change of framing and the need for peace in Ukraine: A reply to Szulecki and Wig
Responding to critiques of their op-ed on why the war in Ukraine should not be discussed using the "democracy vs. autocracy" framework, authors Irina Domurath and Stefano Palestini further develop why orienting the discussion around Russia's abuse of international law could draw more international support and avoid escalation into a Third World War.
25.05.2022
Immediate EU membership for Ukraine? In conversation with Dimitry Kochenov
This interview, conducted by Rule of Law section editor Oliver Garner, considers the feasibility of immediate EU accession for Ukraine with Prof. Dimitry Kochenov, Professor in the CEU Legal Studies Department and Lead Researcher in the Democracy Institute Rule of Law work group.
20.04.2022
The war in Ukraine is all about democracy vs dictatorship
A dictatorship has just brutally attacked its democratic neighbor. It’s not the first time in history that happens, but there are good reasons to see the war in Ukraine as the first one defining the conflict lines of this century.
9.04.2022
The Discourse of Privilege: Western Europe and the Russian War against Ukraine
In this op-ed by Elżbieta Kwiecińska and Pavel Skigin, they detail why "being a radical pacifist is a great privilege that only Westerners can afford nowadays."
7.04.2022
Ukraine: not a war about democracy
In this op-ed by Irina Domurath and Stefano Palestini, they discuss the war in Ukraine and why the West should leave behind the narrative that this is a "war of values."
25.03.2022
News
The War in Ukraine and the Refugee Crisis
Dr. Marta Jaroszewicz elaborates on the current refugee crisis as the result of the war in Ukraine, the situation in the neighbouring countries, and the EU refugee protection.
24.03.2022
