ARDU examines how ethnicity, language and regional-local identity interact within the context of political reform in Ukraine. The project’s main aim is to find out to what extent, and how, current Ukrainian decentralisation, education and language policies affect social cohesion among ethnocultural groups in two very different border regions. Kharkiv in the east and bordering Russia, has a sizable Russian ethnocultural population, while the western region of Chernivtsi borders Romania and comprises a substantial Romanian minority.The project also studies how Ukraine’s ethnic policies affect relations with neighbouring states. By focusing on current political reforms, ARDU adds to the emerging research on identity and politics in Ukraine, an issue which is highly important for the country’s stability.

• New op-ed on Russian Sámi politics
  Mikkel Berg-Nordlie has written another op-ed in Ságat: «Last year, three decades of Sámi cooperation across the old Iron Curtain were to be celebrated. It didn’t go quite as planned.»
• ARDU paper presentation at IGU webinar
  Aadne Aasland and Oleksandra Deineko presented the paper EFFECTS OF THE UKRAINIAN DECENTRALISATION REFORM ON SOCIAL COHESION IN UKRAINE’S BORDER REGIONS at the webinar LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN UKRAINE: FORMATION, REFORMS, GEOPOLITICAL IMPLICATIONS AND POST-WAR RECOVERY, organised by IGU Commission Geography of Governance, on 6 June 2022.
• New ARDU book chapter published
  Sabine Kropp and Jørn Holm-Hansen have written a book chapter «Why No Federalism? The Challenges of Institutionalizing a Multilevel Order in Ukraine» for the book «Emerging Federal Structures in the Post-Cold War Era, edited by Soeren Keil and Sabine Kropp. The chapter is based on research carried out as part of the ARDU project. Congratulations …
• Article on Ukrainian society under war conditions
  Oleksandra Deineko and Aadne Aasland have written the article «Ukrainian Society under Conditions of War» for Forum for Ukrainian Studies (2 April 2022).
• Kronikk in Dagsavisen
  Aadne Aasland and Oleksandra Deineko write about the strong sense of belonging in Ukrainian local communities and the legitimacy of local mayors in resistance against the Russian invasion in Dagsavisen (in Norwegian)