Focusing on process tracing and using the example of fieldwork in Donbas, I develop an argument in this article...
De-facto States
Decentralization Reloaded in Ukraine?
History is often said to repeat itself or at least to rhyme. Decentralization in Ukraine has been on and off the agenda of successive governments since the country’s independence in 1991. Much like previous attempts to decentralize power, President Zelenskiy’s draft decentralization law has become embroiled in long-established power struggles and had to be withdrawn.
Trade as a confidence-building measure in protracted conflicts: the cases of Georgia and Moldova compared
Published in 2019 in Eurasian Geography and Economics, my colleague Nino Kemoklidze and I investigate the extent to...
Ukraine: no easy path to peace
The presidential elections in Ukraine on May 25 were meant to offer the country the beginning of a way out of a protracted crisis.
The high-risk game of Ukrainian separatism
The coming days and weeks will tell how serious all the players in and around Ukraine are about contributing to resolving this ever-more dangerous crisis and whether Kiev, Moscow, Brussels and Washington can rise above their own short-term and increasingly narrow interests and agendas and prevent the unnecessary bloodshed that further escalation would inevitably bring with it.
Are Moldova and Transnistria next on Moscow’s to-do-list?
The West should send a much clearer message to Moscow and back it up with credible policy. The question, however, is whether policy makers from Berlin to Brussels, London and Washington think that Moldova is worth such a tougher line.
Now Crimea’s in the bag, where next for Putin and Russia?
A foreign policy “success” like the one Putin has just had with Crimea, may well embolden further Russian moves; the only hope is that the West will be better prepared for a possible next round of conflict with the Kremlin.
Squaring the circle: can Ukraine, Crimea and Russia get what they want?
In the current crisis in Ukraine, focusing on confidence-building and an interim solution first and then giving considered thought to a long-term settlement is the only way to avoid the instability and volatility that is a hallmark of so many protracted conflicts.
The Transnistrian Issue: Moving Beyond the Status-Quo
The EU has a clear opportunity to contribute to the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict and prove itself an effective conflict manager and actor for stability and security in its own neighbourhood. This is a task that is not without challenges, but these challenges are of such a nature that the EU can, and must, confront them.