The on-going Russian invasion of Ukraine shattered the lives of the people of Ukraine and laid bare the assumptions of peaceful co-habitation with authoritarian dictators dreaming of restoring the bipolar world order. The humanitarian crisis that ensued triggered unprecedented upsurge of grassroots organising to greet and accommodate four million refugees (as of the end of March 2022) in countries neighbouring with Ukraine’s western and southern borders, and beyond. The democratization of Ukraine and the development of its civil society proved as unacceptable to the Russian government as its own political opponents and international NGOs aka “foreign agents”. Authoritarian rulers thus disprove any doubts that an authentic civil society is a prerequisite for democracy. To discuss the development of civil society in Ukraine, this webinar features prominent speakers who have played seminal role in the external support for Ukrainian civil society, studied grassroots organising in Ukraine and conducted research among Russian political migrants.
- HE Jan Piekło (former Polish Ambassador to Ukraine (2016-2019) and director of the Polish-Ukrainian Cooperation Foundation (2005-2016): Ukraine: how to help in times of war - challenges and responsibilities.
- Dr Iryna Pawlowska (Centre of Eastern Europe, Marie Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin): Russian aggression against Ukraine in the perception of Ukrainian and Russian society
- Dr Joanna Fomina (Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences): Russian political migrants’ responses to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine: engagement into anti-war and humanitarian aid activities
- Discussant: Prof. Donnacha Ó Beacháin (School of Law and Government, Dublin Cit