Please join the Fletcher Russia and Eurasia Program at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University for a talk by Dr. Oxana Shevel who will discuss the politics of religion in present-day Ukraine.

In the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has moved to limit the influence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), historically aligned with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). Dr. Shevel will examine the state’s efforts to pursue a dual goal: safeguard Ukraine’s “spiritual independence” while upholding international norms on religious freedom.  Why did the Ukrainian state conclude that the UOC poses a threat to Ukraine’s spiritual independence? Can a religion ever pose a national security risk, and if so, how should democracies balance security and religious liberty? Do international legal frameworks adequately address the use of religion in hybrid warfare and its instrumentalization in Russia’s war of imperial aggression? The talk will explore these questions by analyzing political debates over measures adopted in Ukraine and by placing Ukraine in comparative perspective, drawing parallels with how other contemporary democracies navigate tensions between national security concerns and freedom of religion.

Dr. Oxana Shevel is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Tufts University and Director of the Tufts International Relations Program. Her research and teaching focus on the post-communist region, especially Ukraine and Russia, and topics such as nation-building, identity, citizenship and memory politics, church-state relations, and democratization processes. She is co-author (with Maria Popova) of a book on the root causes of the Russo-Ukrainian war, Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States (Polity, 2024). Her earlier book Migration, Refugee Policy, and State Building in Postcommunist Europe (Cambridge, 2011) won the American Association of Ukrainian Studies (AAUS) prize for best book in the fields of Ukrainian history, politics, language, literature, and culture. Shevel currently serves as the President of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES), and as Vice President of the Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN).

Refreshments will be served. This in-person event is open to the public. Please register via the Google Form here.