Co-organised by EUI Professor Filip Kostelka and the Eastern Europe as Laboratory of Change Working Group, this event features a presentation by Anastasiia Vlasenko (Kyiv School of Economics).
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 decentralisation 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.
Anastasiia Vlasenko is a Public Policy and Governance Lecturer at Kyiv School of Economics. She obtained her PhD from the Department of Political Science at Florida State University. Vlasenko is also the Petro Jacyk Postdoctoral Research Scholar in Ukrainian Studies at the Harriman Institute at Columbia University. She studies transitional reforms and democratization with specialisation in politics of Ukraine. In addition, Vlasenko is particularly interested in the study of corruption, legislative politics, mass mobilization, propaganda, electoral politics, and forecasting. Her research has been published in the Journal of Politics. In 2020-2021, she worked at the Hertie School in Berlin as a visiting researcher. In 2014-2016, Vlasenko was a Fulbright scholar at New York University. At Florida State University, New York University, Columbia University and Kyiv School of Economics, she has been teaching courses on comparative politics, public policy, quantitative methods, and authoritarian studies.
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