The Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies Program presents Olya Onuch, Professor (Chair) in Comparative and Ukrainian Politics, the University of Manchester, on “The Zelensky Effect” (OUP/Hurst 2023/2022, co-authored with Henry Hale) her recent book publication.
Talk at 11:00 am ET, lunch follows
Location: Luce Hall, Rm 203, 2nd fl, 34 Hillhouse Ave.
Part of the European & Russian Studies Community Lunch Seminar Series
How was Ukraine able to stand up and defend its independence against Russia’s all-out invasion in 2022? One cannot understand these historic events without understanding Zelensky, the country and its people. What makes Zelensky most extraordinary in war is his very ordinariness as a Ukrainian, though he is “ordinary” in a way that not everyone could be, in part because of skills honed in a long career at the intersection of entertainment, media, and politics. The Zelensky Effect unpacks this paradox, exploring Ukraine’s national history to show how its now-iconic president reflects the hopes and frustrations of the country’s first ‘independence generation.’ Interweaving compelling episodes from Zelensky’s life and career with data analysis and an informative history of independence-era Ukraine, it documents how Zelensky reflects and amplifies what social scientists call Ukraine’s strong “civic” form of national identity. This is the inclusive sense of nationhood that led not only Zelensky but millions of Ukrainians to take huge personal risks to defeat the invading army. The book is structured around several critical junctures in Ukraine’s and Zelensky’s history, including Ukraine’s appearance as an independent state in 1991, the Orange Revolution of 2004–5, the Euromaidan mass mobilization of 2013–14, the war with Russia after its 2014 annexation of Crimea, Zelensky’s highly unusual 2019 election campaign, his presidency prior to 2022, and his rise to become the iconic wartime president he is today after Russia’s February 24, 2022, assault. A concluding chapter examines prospects for a postwar Ukraine. (more info: https://academic.oup.com/book/46150/chapter/404745373)
BIO: Prof. Olya Onuch (DPhil Oxon, 2011) is Professor (Chair) in Comparative and Ukrainian Politics at the University of Manchester (making Onuch the first-ever holder of a Full Professorship in ‘Ukrainian Politics’ in the English-speaking world).
Onuch joined UoM in 2014, after holding research posts at the University of Toronto (2010-2011), the University of Oxford (2011-2014), and Harvard University (2013-2014). Since 2014, in addition to her post at UoM, Prof. Onuch was: an Associate Member (Politics) of Nuffield College at the University of Oxford (2014-2021), a Fellow at the Davis Center at the University of Harvard (2017), a Visiting Professor at Universidad Di Tella (2019-2020), and a Senior Research Associate at CERES, Munk School at the University of Toronto (2021).
Onuch is the author of two books, as well as, numerous scholarly articles, book chapters, and policy briefs. Her first monograph, Mapping Mass Mobilization analyzed processes shaping mass protest in Argentina and Ukraine. Her second monograph, The Zelensky Effect (OUP/Hurst 2023/2022, co-authored with Henry Hale) has received extensive praise in New York Review of Books, TLS Foreign Affairs, Guardian, Washington Post, New York Times, The Diplomatic Courier, The Times Radio Podcast, The Telegraph, Ukraine Lately Podcast, The Democracy Paradox, Ukraiinska Pravda, Forbes Ukraine, Elle Ukraine and more. Based on 8 years of research Onuch and Hale analyze the rise of democratic duty and state attachment in Ukraine – showing that Presdient Zelensky is as much a product of the Ukrainian civic nation that he comes to embody as he is a proudfly capable leader who helps rally a key consitency in Ukraine. Thus, The Zelensky Effect is as much about how the Ukrainian nation made Zelensky the man he is today as it is about his personally capacity to rally key consituencies and unite them. He is simply one of 44 million just like him. (more info: https://olgaonuch.com/)