Politics and Sociology Staff Recent Publications, Public Engagement and Activity

Details of recent public engagement, publications, media appearances and activities of SSEES Politics & Sociology colleagues

April 2024

Dr Allan Sikk and former SSEES PhD Philipp Koeker wrote a blog piece for the European Institute: 'Party Politics In Flux: We Need To Talk About Party People' (22 April)
Dr Agnieszka Kubal chaired the panel event 'LGBTQ+ Rights in Poland: Quo Vadis?' at SSEES on 24 April. Freya Proudman , current SSEES PhD candidate was a speaker.
On 22 April, PhD candidate Freya Proudman presented her research at the Research Student Seminar Series. Her talk was titled 'Resort to the Court: A Research Agenda for Exploring Human Rights Litigation in LGBTQ+ Russians’ and Poles’ Quest for Justice'
Prof Mark Galeotti wrote a piece for The Spectator; How likely is Putin to target the Paris Olympics?, published 6 April.
Dr Irina Petrova took part in a webinar, 'Re-imagining EU Foreign and Security Policy in a Complex and Contested World' at Istituto Affari Internazionali (5 April)
Dr Ben Noble's book, Navalny: Putin’s Nemesis, Russia’s Future? was reviewed in The New York Review article 'Mourning Navalny' (4 April)
Dr Jessie Barton Hronesova, Lecturer in Political Sociology, was awarded a UCL Critical Area Studies research grant, which will be used to curate a workshop on Portrayals of “the West” in Eastern Europe. The workshop will take place 7 June at UCL SSEES.

March 2024

Dr Ben Noble took part in the final workshop of the GULAGECHOES project, led by Professor Judith Pallot, in Oxford, 26–27 March.
On 27 March, Dr Allan Sikk spoke on the People, Power Politics Podcast about his new book: "Party People: Candidates and Party Evolution".
Dr Jessie Barton Hronesova published an article with Daniel Kreiss, "Strategically Hijacking Victimhood: A Political Communication Strategy in the Discourse of Viktor Orbán and Donald Trump." Perspectives on Politics. Published online 2024 by Cambridge University Press.
On 25 March, Prof Mark Galeotti spoke on Radio Free Europe's Week Ahead in Russia on the Moscow shootings. Listen online.
Dr Ben Noble spoke on Oh God, What Now- The Politics Podcast about Putin's latest presidential victory. Listen to episode.
On 20 March, Dr Allan Sikk was a discussant at the book presentation of Tamara Popic Health Reforms in Post-Communist Eastern Europe: The Politics of Policy Learning, Palgrave Macmillan. (Queen Mary University of London). On 21 March, Dr Sikk attended a roundtable “In Conversation with the Ambassador of Estonia”, British Foreign Policy Group.
On 20 March, Dr Jessie Barton-Hroneseva was a speaker at the Book launch: Utopia of the Uniform, chaired by Dr Jelena Calic.
Dr Allan Sikk is the regional coordinator for East-Central and Southeast Europe for Bertelsmann Transformation Index, a leading global report on political and economic transformation. He also wrote the regional report. BTI 2024 was released on 19 March.
Prof Mark Galeotti wrote a piece for iNews titled 'Putin is murderous, but he’s no Stalin – he’s a smaller man' (18 March)
Dr Ben Noble was featured in the UCL European Institute's Spotlight for March.
PhD candidate Ksenia Sizonova presented their research: 'How do Kyrgyz migrant women reflect on their everyday experiences in Russia?' as part of the SSEES Research Student Seminar Series on 18 March.
On 17 March, Dr Ben Noble wrote an analysis for The Independent, titled 'Putin will win his sham election – but there are dangers at home for the Russian president'
Dr Ben Noble gave an interview on ITV News (15 March) on Russia's rigged presidential elections. Dr Noble also was quoted in The Telegraph article 'Putin rigs Russian election with ‘menu of manipulation’'. On 18 March, Ben gave comment in The Guardian article 'Putin’s vote share nears outer limits but still the only way is up'. Ben was also interviewed on BBC News about the elections; watch here.
On 14 March, comments by Dr Ben Noble were included in an Associated Press article about the Russian presidential election.
On 12 March Dr Ben Noble gave comment in The Wall Street Journal article 'Ukraine War Sparks Rare Challenge to Putin From Russian Soldiers’ Wives'
On 12 March PhD candidate Oliver Banatvala gave a presentation of his research: 'The Shopping Mall as Public Sphere(?) Since Russia’s Full-scale Invasion of Ukraine' as part of the SSEES Research Student Seminar Series
On 7 March, Dr Sean Hanley and Visiting Bracewell Scholar Jan Hruska presented Jan's research considering 'Are second chambers seen as a safeguard for democracy? Evidence from the Czech Republic' as part of the SSEES Politics and Sociology Seminar Series.
Dr Ben Noble spoke at The Harriman Institute on 7 March, at the event titled; The Impact and Legacy of Alexey Navalny.
On 1 March, an interview with Dr Ben Noble about Alexei Navalny was published on The Hundred.

February 2024

Prof Andrew Wilson spoke at the Centre for European Reform event 'Ukraine's European Future: Prospects and Possibilities' on 27 February.
The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality, Volume 3: A hitchhiker’s guide to informal problem-solving in human life, edited by Prof Alena Ledeneva is now available to download from the UCL Press website (26 February)
On 22 February, PhD candidate Olga Doletskaya spoke at a SSEESing event, Queerness as Extremism: The Assault on LGBTQ+ Rights in Russia chaired by Dr Ben Noble, in collaboration The Moscow Times.
Prof Mark Galeotti explains what Navalny’s death means for Putin's opposition on Story of our Times (20 February).

Dr Ben Noble gave extensive commentary following the death of Alexei Navalny, including:

Comments included in an article published by the Evening Standard on 19 February: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/alexei-navalny-vladimir-putin-people-russian-mps-b1140059.html
Comments for coverage by the Independent published on 19 February: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/alexei-navalny-body-death-putin-russia-prison-b2498479.html
Comments included in an article published by the Telegraph on 18 February: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/02/18/alexei-navalny-body-found-bruised-morgue-arctic/
A co-authored expert comment for Chatham House published on 17 February: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2024/02/alexei-navalnys-most-powerful-legacy-urging-russians-imagine-their-country-without-putin
Comments for an article published by Sky News on 17 February: https://news.sky.com/story/alexei-navalny-who-will-carry-the-torch-for-freedom-and-democracy-in-russia-now-13073027
Comments included in an article published by The Times of India on 17 February: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/with-navalnys-death-russias-loudest-voice-of-dissent-muted/articleshow/107765100.cms
Comments for an article published by BBC News Russian on 16 February: https://www.bbc.com/russian/articles/ce95l0mpez3o
Content from his co-authored book on Navalny was published by Foreign Policy in an article on 16 February: https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/02/16/alexei-navalny-dead-obituary-russia-putin-opposition-prison-penal-colony/
Comments for an article published by the Guardian on 16 February: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/16/russian-activist-and-putin-critic-alexei-navalny-dies-in-prison
Comments for coverage by the New York Times published on 16 February: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/02/16/world/aleksei-navalny?smid=url-share#reports-of-navalnys-death-pose-another-challenge-to-russias-weakened-opposition
Comments included in an article published by El Mundo on 16 February: https://www.elmundo.es/internacional/2024/02/16/65cf49d4fc6c83772a8b458c.html
Prof Alena Ledeneva’s co-authored article withDana Minbaeva, Alena Ledeneva, Maral Muratbekova-Touron and Sven Horak, Explaining the Persistence of Informal Institutions: The Role of Informal Networks was announced as the top ten most cited Academy of Management Review paper. Scroll to the end for the AMR Most cited: https://aom.org/research/journal-information/most-read-and-cited-2023
The HuRiEE project, led by Dr Agnieszka Kubal produced its first vlog, explaining 'How did the human rights movement develop in those countries under socialism?
On 12 February Dr Allan Sikk discussed his new book at CEDAR seminar at the University of Birmingham "Party People: Candidates and Party Evolution" (with Philipp Köker)
Dr Jessie Barton Hroneslova participated in a workshop in Belgrade at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory that brought Kosovar and Serbian academics together, titled 'Academia without Borders and Walls'.
Dr Ben Noble was quoted in a Telegraph article published on 8 February on the barring of Boris Nadezhdin from the Russian presidential election ballot: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/02/08/russia-ban-anti-war-election-candidate-nadezhdin-putin/
Dr Grazina Bielousova participated in a program on the national radio in Lithuania discussing the fate of the political left in Lithuania. Listen at: https://www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/2000318139/lrt-aktualiju-studija-ar-lietuvoje-dar-liko-kaires-politikos
Andrea Tortella, current BA Politics, Sociology and East European Studies, appeared at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024 in Davos. He presented his innovative start-up live on CNBC. Read the article in full: https://buff.ly/3UovRgK

January 2024

David Rypel, PhD candidate presented his research: A Bottom-Up Approach to Understanding Everyday Security of Queer People in Georgia as part of the SSEES Research Student Seminar Series, 29 January 2024.
Dr Ben Noble gave comments in The Guardian article 'Chechen warlord applauds teenage son’s violence as he grooms dynasty for power'. His comments included in an Express article published on 6 February on Ramzan Kadyrov: https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1863762/russia-colonel-shot-in-head-vladimir-putin-chechnya-ukraine. Comments were also included in a HuffPost article published on 25 January on Russia's war on Ukraine: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ukraine-faces-compassion-fatigue-as-war-drags-on_uk_65b24be3e4b04d8995100fbb and he gave comments for a Telegraph article published on 20 January on heating emergencies in Russia: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/01/20/anger-russia-winter-soviet-era-infrastructure-buckles/
Dr Gražina Bielousova was interviewed for an international project sponsored by the Lithuanian Council for Culture: Replenishing yourself with arts - The Good Neighbour
Dr Agnieszka Kubal has been awarded a Visegrad Fellowship at Open Society Archives and this work in Budapest will complement HuRiEE's research into the history of home-grown human rights activism in Eastern Europe and Russia (in 1970s and 1980s).
On 13 January, Dr Ben Noble was quoted in a HuffPost article on elections taking place in 2024, with commentary on the March presidential election in Russia: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/international-elections-2024_n_659d15ade4b075f4cfd3cc88
Dr Jessie Barton Hronoseva's research has been cited numerously in a letter to David Cameron about the situation in the Western Balkans, from the House of Lords: parliament.uk/publications/43075/documents/214261/default/.

December 2023

Dr Jessie Barton Hronesova published in the Journal of Genocide Research: ‘The International Administration of Territory as an Interim Peace’. 0, no. 0 (2023): 1–13, with Moses, A. Dirk doi:10.1080/14623528.2023.2291923.
On 31 December, Dr Ben Noble was quoted in an Observer article on Ramzan Kadyrov's son, Adam.
Dr Anna Shadrina published an article about the political participation of older citizens in Belarus for Sociology https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00380385231217586
Dr Zora Kostadinova published Edep: ethical imagination and the Sunna of the Prophet Muhammed. Cont Islam (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-023-00548-3
Dr Christian Emery gave an article review, Emery on Cummins, "American Cold War Strategy and the Absence of 'Swift and Effective Retribution' for the 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing", H-Diplo Article Review 1197, 14 December 2023. https://issforum.org/reviews/PDF/AR1197.pdf
On 9 December, Dr Ben Noble was quoted in a Moscow Times article on the Russian presidential election campaign.
On 8 December, Dr Ben Noble was quoted in a Daily Telegraph article on Putin's participation in the Russian presidential election.
On 8 December, Dr Ben Noble was quoted in a Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty article on Putin's participation in the Russian presidential election.
On 8 December, an expert comment co-authored by Dr Ben Noble was published by Chatham House on opposition to mobilisation in Russia
On 7-8 December, Dr Jessie Barton Hronesova moderated a discussion organised by University of Pristina in Kosovo on "Academia without Walls and Towers: Towards Engaged University Locally and Globally". On 13 December 2023 she delivered a lecture at the The Hugo Valentin Centre, University of Uppsala on "Victimhood Narratives among Young Czech and Serbs".
On 7 December, Dr Ben Noble hosted a social evening at Pushkin House, including a discussion about whether and when we should use the term "post-Soviet".
On 6 December, Dr Ben Noble was quoted in a Novaya Gazeta Europe article on Ramzan Kadyrov's son, Adam.
On 1 December, an article co-authored by Dr Ben Noble was published by The World Today on the Russian presidential election.

November 2023

On 30 November, an op-ed by Dr Ben Noble on Ramzan Kadyrov and rumours about his ill-health and possible succession planning was published by The Moscow Times.
Dr Sean Hanley chaired the roundtable discussion 'The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes' as part of the SSEESing event series. Prof Alena Ledeneva was a panel member.
Prof Anne White co-authored a chapter: Grabowska, I., M. Garapich, E. Jaźwińska and A. White (2023) ‘Koniec fenomenu migracji poakcesyjnych?’, in M. Lesińska and M. Okólski (eds), 30 wykładów o migracjach (Warsaw: Scholar), pp. 277–92. On 2 November, Prof White was a guest lecturer at City, University of London: answering MA Journalism students' questions on the October 2023 Polish general elections.
Prof Andrew Wilson chaired 'SSEESing Russia’s Overlooked Invasion: Lessons from the 2014 War in Ukraine' with former PhD student Jakob Hauter on 15 November 2023. A recording of the event is available on the SSEES YouTube channel.
On 14 November, Prof Mark Galeotti gave a presentation; 'Russian use of organised crime as an instrumet of statecraft,' Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime Security and Development Dialogue: State Threats and Illicit Economies, London.
Dr Michal Murawski gave the Keynote lecture at Bauhaus University, Weimar, international conference on "Authoritarian Urbanism",Title of lecture: "Re-Colonial Russia: Eco Scaping Putin's Paradise, from Authoritarian Freedom to Culture Z" (9 November 2023). Between 10-12 November, he was a Co-curator of "Ukrainian Hardcore: Learning from the Grassroots", 8th Construction Festival, Dnipro Center for Contemporary Culture, Ukraine; convening of the discussion programme, "Radical Reconstruction", and moderation of 3 discussion panels. (https://constructionfest.com/Detailed-Program). On 17 November, he gave a talk in symposium "Towards a Multifaceted History of Architecture and Internationalism", Exeter University.
Prof Richard Mole delivered the Keynote at 'Queer(y)ing Asylum' symposium, University of Nottingham, titled ''Worthy' refugees and 'acceptable' forms of harm' (8 November 2023)
Dr Jessie Barton Hronesova briefed the European Policy Development of the Polish MFA on the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia-Kosovo talks (7 November)
Mark Galeotti wrote an article for The Spectator 'Is the West losing interest in Ukraine?' on 6 November 2023. Also on 6th, he spoke on Radio Free Europe's podcast 'The Week Ahead in Russia' about Russia's Daghestan region- Listen at: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/war-in-ukraine-an-airport-attack-in-daghestan/id1444602808?i=1000633841237. On 10 November, he had a piece published on BNE Intelleinews: 'No peace talks for Ukraine, but at least peace thoughts'.
On 4 November, Dr Pete Duncan was a speaker at ‘Europe, the Ukraine War and the World’, at Chartist AGM.

October 2023

Dr Agnieszka Kubal deliverd the Keynote at Alexantieri Institute Conference, Helsinki 26 October 2023. She spoke about ‘Choices about Researching Law in Eastern Europe and Russia’. On 20 October she attended a conference in Brussels on the launch of ‘Judicial Activism as a modality of resistance and a form of communication’ project (20 October 2023).
Dr Ben Noble and Dr Michal Murawski co-authored a chapter in 'Parliament Buildings: The architecture of politics in Europe' (Edited by Sophia Psarra, Uta Staiger, and Claudia Sternberg, UCL Press, October 2023)
Prof Mark Galeotti gave the Keynote at Netherlands Intelligence Studies Association annual conference, titled 'Lessons in War: what have we learned from and about Russian intelligence since February 2022,' Amsterdam, on 25 October 2023. He was also a panellist at the Czech Security Forum in Prague, 26 October 2023.
Dr Jessie Barton Hronesova gave evidence to the House of Lords International Relations and Defence Committee ("The UK and the Western Balkans"): on the situation in the Western Balkans, foucssing on domestic instability in Bosnia and Herzegovina and latest escalation of Serbia-Kosovo relations with a focus on the role of the UK, EU and prospects of a conflict: https://committees.parliament.uk/event/19555 (25 October 2023) A recording of the event can be watched at: https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/bd58c94d-6187-4845-982f-e946fa0e2e44 - (starts at around 11:46)
Prof Mark Galeotti wrote an article 'Has the Israel-Gaza conflict just exposed Putin as the Tsar with no clothes?,' for The Independent (21 October 2023) On 29 October, for The Spectator he wrote an article: 'Are Ukraine’s sabotage tricks going too far?'. His article 'Why the Kremlin will fear Dagestan’s anti-Semitic mob,' was published in The Spectator on 30 October 2023.
On 20 October, Dr Agniezka Kubal took part in the half day conference at Académie royale de Belgiqu, which discussed "Dissensus on Liberal Democracy and the insights from european judges and civil society"
Dr Allan Sikk and Philipp Köker (UCL SSEES PhD, 2015) published their new book, Party People: Candidate and Party Evolution (Oxford University Press) on 19 October 2023.
Dr Agnieszka Kubal gave comment in the BNE Intellenews article 'VISEGRAD BLOG: Poland's future depends on President Duda' (19 October 2023).
Prof Anne White chaired the SSEESing Now event 'SSEES-ing Poland’s new post-election landscape' which included Dr Agnieszka Kubal and Dr Pawel Bukowski as panellists. Held at UCL SSEES on 18 October 2023.
Dr Agnieszka Kubal was quoted in the BBC News article 'Polish elections: When are they and why is Europe watching closely?' on October 8, 2023.
On 1 October, Dr Sean Hanley was interviewed by France 24 on the Slovakia Elections. Dr Sean Hanley then charired the event 'A change of direction? Slovakia’s parliamentary elections and their implications' hosted at UCL SSEES on 4 October 2023. The recording can be seen on the SSEES Youtube channel. Also on 4 October, Dr Hanley gave comments in an Aljazeera article 'As Russia’s war grinds on, is global support for Ukraine waning?'

September 2023

Dr Pete Duncan published ‘Putin and the Wagner Group’, Chartist, no. 324, September-October 2023, p. 22, https://www.chartist.org.uk/putin-and-the-wagner-group/
Dr Michal Murawski was a co-editor of: Reconstruction. A special collection of e-flux architecture, stemming from the conference "The Reconstruction of Ukraine: Ruination, Representation, Solidarity" Anosova, D., Axel. N., Murawski, M., Roche D.J. (eds.), 2023.
Dr Agniezka Kubal moderated the event 'The Rule of Law Crisis in Poland' held at UCL on 16 September 2023.
On 2 September, Dr Allan Sikk organised a panel "Legislative Party Instability" at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association in Los Angeles. He also presented a paper "Does switching pay off? The impact of parliamentary party instability on individual electoral performance" (based on switching data in the Polish Sejm) and co-authored another paper on parliamentary party switching in three East European parliaments.
Dr Sean Hanley was interviewed for the by FES Global discussing how Social Democracy can be defended in times of multiple crises.(1 September 2023) On 29 September, he was quoted in the Sky News article 'Slovakia elections: NATO country could soon have a Putin-friendly leader'

July 2023

Dr Ben Noble was quoted in The Telegraph article 'Paranoid Putin bolsters his National Guard to protect him from another coup' , 22 July 2023
Dr Ben Noble was quoted in the Bloomberg article 'Putin’s Budget Math Gets Ugly as Election Looms After Mutiny' on 17 July 2023
Dr Pete Duncan published a Review of Domitilla Sagramoso, Russian Imperialism Revisited: From Disengagement to Hegemony, in Slavonic and East European Review, 101, 590-2. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/427/article/912490

June 2023

Dr Rasmus Nilsson was quoted in the Newsweek article 'Belarus Shares Details of Alleged Plot To Invade Country', 26 June 2023
From 26 May to 4 June, Dr Allan Sikk visited the Institute of Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen to work with his colleagues from the Instaparty project and to give a lecture on his forthcoming book "Party People: Candidates and Party Evolution" (OUP, 2023).