Radical Reconfiguration of State-Citizen Relations in Ukraine

Dr. Oleksandra Tarkhanova
Center for Governance and Culture in Europe, University of St. Gallen

Funding: Swiss National Science Foundation – Ambizione Grant
Duration: 2024–2028

Team: 
Dr. Olena Strelnyk (Institute of Sociology, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine)
Dr. Hanna Zaremba-Kosovych (Institute of Ethnology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine)
Taisia Vedunova (MA student, University of St. Gallen).

The project examines how state-citizen relations in Ukraine are being reconfigured under conditions of Russia’s full-scale invasion, mass displacement, and occupation. Using qualitative and ethnographic methods, it investigates how people enact, contest, and redefine citizenship in times of crisis.

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the Ukrainian state has faced severe challenges to its sovereignty, territorial control, and its ability to maintain meaningful relationships with citizens. As state institutions struggled to assert control, provide services, fulfill citizens’ rights, and stay connected with displaced populations and those living under occupation, Ukrainian citizens responded in diverse and often extraordinary ways.

This project explores how citizenship is being fundamentally reconfigured under such conditions of crisis. It focuses on three key encounters between the state and citizens: internally displaced persons, citizens who lived under occupation, and civic volunteers. Using qualitative methods - including in-depth interviews and ethnographic fieldwork - the research examines how individuals practice, negotiate, and contest citizenship during a sovereignty crisis. By drawing on critical citizenship studies, the project reveals how, even amid war, displacement, and institutional disruption, citizenship becomes a space of resilience, creativity, and political agency.