Please join the Program on US-Russia Relations at the Harriman Institute for a book presentation with Bálint Magyar and Bálint Madlovics. Moderated by Elise Giuliano.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 jeopardizes the country’s independence and its chances for Western-style development. However, the heroic attitude of the Ukrainian people, combined with a solidifying national identity, makes the domestic foundations for a western turn stronger than ever. After the invasion, building strong foundations of liberal democracy will be a top priority. In addition to alleviating immediate problems, the country must also address its post-communist legacy and the constraints of its oligarchic structures and patronal democracy.
Bálint Madlovics and Bálint Magyar, the authors of The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes (CEU Press, 2020) and A Concise Field Guide to Post-Communist Regimes (CEU Press, 2022), present their new edited volumes on the structural consequences of the war and the chances of building liberal democracy in Ukraine in the aftermath. In the first volume, Ukraine’s Patronal Democracy and the full-scale Russian invasion, the contributors – dominantly leading Ukrainian scholars – examine the impact on democratic institutions, systemic corruption, the oligarchs’ position and influence and the civic identity and activism of Ukrainian society. The second volume, Russia’s Imperial Endeavor and Its Geopolitical Consequences, discusses how the war is redrawing the geopolitical map as we know it as a result of the resurgent imperialist aspirations of the Russian Federation.
Bálint Madlovics is a political scientist and economist. He is a Junior Research Fellow at the CEU Democracy Institute and visiting professor at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE). He holds an MA in Political Science (2018) from Central European University and BAs in sociology and applied economics. He was a research fellow at the Financial Research Institute in Budapest (2018–2019) and visiting professor at BCE (2022). He has published peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and books on post-communist regimes since 2015. His most recent books, co-authored by Bálint Magyar, include The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes (CEU Press, 2020), A Concise Field Guide to Post-Communist Regimes (CEU Press, 2022), and a two-volume collection of studies on Ukraine’s Patronal Democracy and Russia’s Imperial Endeavor (CEU Press, 2023).
Bálint Magyar is a sociologist. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the CEU Democracy Institute. He was an activist of the anti-communist dissident movement before the regime change, Member of the Hungarian Parliament (1990–2010), and Minister of Education (1996–1998, 2002–2006). He was an Open Society fellow (2015–2016), Hans Speier Visiting Professor at the New School for Social Research (2017), and Senior Research Fellow at CEU Institute for Advanced Study (2018–2019). He has been publishing and editing writings on post-communist regimes since 2013. His most recent books, co-authored by Bálint Madlovics, include The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes (CEU Press, 2020), A Concise Field Guide to Post-Communist Regimes (CEU Press, 2022), and a two-volume collection of studies on Ukraine’s Patronal Democracy and Russia’s Imperial Endeavor (CEU Press, 2023).
