Lunchtalk, 09.07.2026, 12:00 am

As part of our Network Studies on Conflicts and Authoritarianism, we are pleased to announce a Lunch Talk with Sarah Wilson Sokhey on 9 July 2026 entitled “Governing Under Crisis: Local Politics in Wartime Ukraine?” The talk will be held in English and will take place in person at 12:00 in room 3790, OEG.
Sarah Wilson Sokhey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Colorado Boulder, the founding director of the Studio Lab for Undergrads, and a faculty associate at the Institute of Behavioral Science. Her research examines local governance in Ukraine since 2014, when major decentralization reforms coincided with war. It draws on a multi-method approach including local-level data, in-depth interviews, original survey data, and case studies. Sarah Wilson Sokhey argues that the high levels of support for local fiscal control in Ukraine are driven by feeling well represented at the local level and not by trust or by recent memories of local projects. In this Lunch Talk, she will present her findings based on original survey data from spring 2025 and examine why Ukrainians support local fiscal control even during a war that requires the national mobilization of resources.

Organized by
The BYRD-Network Studies on Conflicts and Authoritarianism
Dr. Svetlana Erpyleva, Dr. Ekaterina Paustyan, and Yana Lysenko

Lunch Talk with Sarah Wilson Sokhey on “Governing Under Crisis: Local Politics in Wartime Ukraine?” (in English)
Date & Time: 9 July 2026, 12:00
Venue: OEG, room 3790