Past Event

Join us for a book talk delivered by Dr. Maria Popova, Associate Professor of Political Science at McGill University, and Scientific Director of the Jean Monnet Centre in Montreal. This event is sponsored by the McMillan Chair in Russian Studies and the Institute of European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies.

DATE: Wednesday, February 28th 

TIME: 1:00pm 

LOCATION: Southam Hall 317 

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. Please register using the form below. 

About the Book  

Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States is an examination of the root causes of Russia’s war against Ukraine. The book explains 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.

About the Author  

Maria Popova is an Associate Professor of Political Science at McGill University, Scientific Director of the Jean Monnet Centre Montreal, and Editor of the Cambridge Elements Series on Politics and Society from Central Europe to Central Asia. 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 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: https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=9781509557363