War in Ukraine
The relationship between the state and its citizens
A research project by Dr Oleksandra Tarkhanova examines how the Russian invasion has influenced the connection between the Ukrainian state and its citizens.
A research project by Dr Oleksandra Tarkhanova examines how the Russian invasion has influenced the connection between the Ukrainian state and its citizens.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, state functions, territorial control and ties to displaced citizens have been under considerable pressure. The research project "Radical Reconfigurations of State-Citizen Relations. The Case of Ukraine" examines the effects of a crisis that threatens sovereignty on the relationship between the state and its citizens.
In her project, Dr Oleksandra Tarkhanova deals with citizenship – "a very broad field", as the academic admits. On the one hand, the focus is on analysing policymaking with dimensions such as documentation, legality, status and discrimination; on the other hand, the research includes affects, routine interactions and extraordinary actions between citizens and the state. The project is scheduled to run for four years and is expected to start in September 2024. The undertaking is supported by Ambizione grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation. This grant gives young researchers the opportunity to carry out and lead an independently planned project at a Swiss university.
Tarkhanova's research on the changes in state-citizen relations in Ukraine is intended to reveal what happens when relations between the state and citizens are disrupted by exceptional political situations. She will explore the question of what new forms of state-citizen relations can emerge in times of crisis and war and how civil society mobilisation is made possible. The research focuses on three state-citizen encounters in order to capture both the relationship to the state and civic action in different contexts: Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), citizens under occupation and activists. Based on extensive field research with interviews and ethnographic observations in state institutions and volunteer activities, affirmative, disruptive and creative practices will be analysed.
Oleksandra Tarkhanova is interested in the idea of citizenship at its limits and deals with the forms of state-citizen relations and state-citizen practices that emerge during crises such as war and mass displacement - these can include survival strategies of citizens who hold multiple passports and use them differently depending on the situation: "Under occupation, Ukrainian and Russian passports signify very different relationships to the state: a Russian passport is necessary to gain access to basic services, such as drinking water, while a Ukrainian passport under Russian occupation has no practical meaning, but signifies hope and belonging," explains Tarkhanova. In addition to the citizens' sense of belonging to the state, the research project will also focus on activism. The sociologist maintains that while the state and activists are often in opposition to each other, civil society in Ukraine has been synonymous with the state since the beginning of the invasion. However, cracks are already appearing in this supposed unity: Oleksandra Tarkhanova mentions the controversial law on mobilisation and the registration of conscripts, which Ukraine passed in spring 2024. According to the law, all men of military age between 18 and 60 must register and can be drafted starting at the age of 25. In future, new Ukrainian travel documents abroad will only be issued if military papers are in order. For her project, the researcher intends to interview Ukrainian men abroad whose access to consular services as Ukrainian citizens has been restricted. "The research project takes into account political changes, current laws and court proceedings. This reference to the present is both exciting and challenging," admits the sociologist.
This current project is based not only methodologically on Tarkhanova's postdoctoral project conducted at the University of St.Gallen (HSG) under the title "The negotiation of citizenship on the margins of the Ukrainian state", but also in terms of the project’s content. Between 2020 and 2023, the researcher investigated how the relations between citizens and the Ukrainian state, which is confronted with the occupation, and with state institutions that are directly under Russian occupation, are being renegotiated. The geographical focus was on Eastern Ukraine on the border between the occupied territories and those controlled by the Ukrainian government.
For her postdoctoral project, Tarkhanova used empirical research methods and conducted interviews with citizens in Ukraine. "The experience I gained in my postdoctoral work regarding security and sensitivity during interviews is of benefit to me in the current research project, because we are also shedding light on the situations of marginalised and sometimes disenfranchised people in a politically unstable environment," emphasises the researcher. In the current research team, they are working both in Switzerland and in Ukraine. Oleksandra Tarkhanova’s team includes a student assistant, who is studying at HSG for her Master's degree, two research assistants, who are collecting empirical data and conducting interviews in Ukraine, and a psychologist in Ukraine, who provides support to the researchers, and if necessary, to the interviewees. "In the conversations with us, many people share stressful experiences. It is therefore important that the research team is trained and experienced in dealing with difficult emotions and that professional support is available if required," says Tarkhanova.
“It is important that the research team is trained and experienced in dealing with difficult emotions.”
Dr Oleksandra Tarkhanova has been a research associate and lecturer at the Centre for Governance and Culture in Europe at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS-HSG) since 2020. The Centre for Governance and Culture in Europe examines social, economic, political, governmental and cultural changes in Europe from an interdisciplinary and transnational perspective. Tarkhanova's academic career is also an expression of this interdisciplinary polyphony of sciences, as sociological, political and psychological research cultures interact in her work. In Ukraine, her home country, she studied sociology at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and acquired knowledge in conflict research and social psychology. A scholarship took her to Sweden, where she completed a Master's degree in Gender Studies at Lund University. Oleksandra Tarkhanova dedicated her dissertation at Bielefeld University in 2019 to Ukrainian gender politics. In 2020, her path then led her to the University of St.Gallen thanks to a Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship (ESKAS).
