The root of the Russo-Ukrainian War is not geopolitical competition, but the multifaceted divergence between Ukraine and Russia over the past 30 years. As Ukraine consolidated a competitive political system and a distinct pro-European identity, Russia reverted back to authoritarianism, refused to accept Ukraine's right to forge its own course, and came to see it as an “anti-Russia”.

Our speaker, 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 new book with Oxana Shevel, on the roots of the Russo-Ukrainian war, is Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States.

Cosponsorship between the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council and the Iowa City Public Library.