Registration REQUIRED by 4pm on October 2, 2025 in order to attend this event.
Please join the Harriman Institute for a Director’s Seminar by Anastasiia Vlasenko, Petro Jacyk Postdoctoral Research Scholar in Ukrainian Studies at the Harriman Institute. Moderated by Jack Snyder, Acting Director of the Harriman Institute.
What happens when mass protests don’t just demand change, but actually reshape the way power works on the ground? This talk dives into that question through the story of Ukraine’s Euromaidan movement and the sweeping decentralization reform that followed. In the wake of Euromaidan, Ukraine undertook one of its most ambitious transformations: transferring authority, budgets, and decision-making from the central government to local communities. But here is the twist: different places embraced this reform at very different speeds. Why? And what did protest have to do with it?
Drawing on rich local-level data, this study uncovers a fascinating paradox: communities touched by protest often moved more slowly to adopt decentralization. However, once they did, they used it more effectively. The protest areas developed polycentric, multivoice decision-making structures that made early reform harder, but later implementation stronger, more competitive, and more participatory. From budget battles to e-democracy initiatives, this research shows how protest can leave behind more than memories. It can build the skills, networks, and civic muscle needed to turn reforms into real functioning democracy. Whether you are interested in Ukrainian politics, the afterlife of protest movements, or the mechanics of grassroots democracy, this talk offers fresh insight into how collective action can rewrite the rules of governance from the bottom up.
Dr. Anastasiia Vlasenko is the Petro Jacyk Postdoctoral Research Scholar in Ukrainian Studies. She is a recent HURI Research Fellow at Harvard’s Ukrainian Research Institute and a recent Postdoctoral Fellow at the NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia. Vlasenko studies legislative politics and democratization with a specialization in the politics of Ukraine. Her monograph project, “Legislators in Networks: Corruption, Clientelism, and Law Making” investigates how legislative networks formed through parliamentary aids can affect rent-seeking behavior in the Ukrainian parliament. Vlasenko is particularly interested in the study of corruption, legislative politics, transitional period reforms, propaganda, electoral politics, and forecasting. Her research has been published in the Journal of Politics. Vlasenko received her Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at Florida State University in 2022. In 2020-2021, she worked at the Hertie School in Berlin as a visiting researcher. At Florida State University, New York University, and Kyiv School of Economics, Vlasenko taught courses on comparative politics, public policy, quantitative methods, and post-Soviet studies.
