Dr. Svitlana Kononchuk

• State- and nation-building in the post-Soviet area
• Democratization in Eastern Europe
• Autocratization process
• Political party systems and politics

January–April 2025 / January 2023 – January 2024
Research Fellow – Department of Political Science, International Relations Section, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
“Making Autocracy Legitimate with a Popular Vote in the Post-Soviet Area”
Scholars at Risk Fellowship

May–October 2022
Research Fellow, Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna, Austria / Polish Institute of Advanced Studies (PIASt), Warsaw, Poland
Scholars at Risk Fellowship

June 2015 – March 2023
Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research (non-governmental analytical institution), Kyiv, Ukraine
Elected Director, Head of the UCIPR’s Political Institutions and Democratization Program

February 2012 – October 2019
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Institute of Philosophical Education and Research, National Pedagogical Dragomanov University, Kyiv, Ukraine
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Institute of Philosophical Education and Research, National Pedagogical Dragomanov University, Kyiv, Ukraine

October–December 2015:
Visiting Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, MA Program in Public Administration, National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy,” Kyiv, Ukraine

May 1996 – May 2015
Researcher, Political Analyst, Head of the UCIPR’s Political Institutions and Democratization Program, Member of the Program Council, Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research, Kyiv, Ukraine

August 1990 – November 1992:
Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Logic, Social Sciences Faculty, Uzhhorod National University, Uzhhorod, Ukraine

2012
PhD, History of Philosophy
Title: “Political Actor in John of Salisbury’s Works”
Drahomanov National Pedagogical University, Kyiv, Ukraine

1992
PhD student, Philosophical Thought, Ukraine Department
Advisor: Prof. Dr. Valeriia Nichyk
Ukrainian Academy of Science Grygorii Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy, Kyiv, Ukraine

1990
MA in Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy
Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University, Kyiv, Ukraine

2025 -  
Fellow researcher at Academy in Exile at the TU Dortmund in Germany. Postdoctoral Researcher – Faculty of Cultural Studies, “Engineering Autocracy: The (Mis)Use of Referendums in Post-Soviet Regimes”, Academy in Exile Fellowship

2017
Guest Researcher, Research Centre for East European Studies (Forschungsstelle Osteuropa) at the University of Bremen

2018
German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Scholarship, Institute of Political Science at the University of Greifswald

2014-2015
German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Scholarship, Institute of Political Science at the University of Greifswald

2012, 2014, 2019
Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung
Contributor to the Manifesto Research on Political Representation project data (MARPOR) as a coder for Ukrainian political party manifestos.

Undergraduate
Drahomanov National Pedagogical University

2012 - 2017       History of Philosophical Thoughts

                            Logic as a Philosophical Discipline

2017 - 2020       Logic as a Philosophical Discipline

Uzhhorod National University

1990 - 1992       Introduction to Philosophy

                            Logic as a Philosophical Discipline

Graduate
National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”

2015 Fall          Electoral Politics

Ukrainian (First Language)

Russian (C2)

English (B2)

German (B1)

Danish (A2)

Board Member at Detector-Media (non-governmental organisation), 2015–present

Volunteer at the Danish Refugee Council (2024)

Board Member at the Reanimation Package of Reforms (Ukrainian coalition of non-governmental organisations), 2016–2023

Kononchuk, Svitlana. Politychna teolohiia v Seredni viky: narodzhennia subʼiektu [Political Theology in the Middle Ages: The Emergence of the Individual]. Naukovyi chasopys Natsionalnoho pedahohichnoho universytetu imeni Drahomanova, vol. 24(37), 2010: 166–173.

Kononchuk, Svitlana. Metafizychnyi kontekst ‘Pidruchnyka z lohiky’ Yosyfa Kononovycha-Horbatskoho ta barokova skholastyka [Metaphysical Context of the ‘Textbook of Logic’ by Y. Kononovich-Horbatskyi and Baroque Scholasticism]. In Ukraine of the 17th Century: Society, Philosophy, Culture, 151–156. Kyiv, 2005.

Kononchuk, Svitlana and Zoia Khyzhniak. Kononovych-Horbatskyi (Horbatskyi) Osyp Kononovych in Academia Kyjevo-Mohylaeana in nominibus, XVII-XVIII aeva: encyclopaedia  [Kononovych-Horbatskyi (Horbatskyi) Osyp Kononovych in Kyiv-Mohyla Academy by names, 12th-18th centuries: Encyclopedic edition], Khyzhniak Z. I., Briukhovetskyi V. S. (eds.). Kyiv: Publishing House «KM Academy, 2001: 276–277.

Kononchuk, Svitlana. Osnovni rysy skholastychnoho ratsionalizmu [Key features of scholastic rationalism]. Naukovyi visnyk Volynskoho derzhavnoho universytetu, no. 11 (1999): 140–145

Kononchuk, Svitlana. Skholastychna tradytsiia ta ukrainska filosofiia piznoho serednovichchia: via antiqua ta via moderna v Kyievo-Mohylianskii akademii  [Scholastic Tradition and Ukrainian Philosophy in the Late Middle Ages: Via Antique and Via Moderna in the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy] in Philosophia Prima: Metaphysical Issues, no. 1 (1998): 56–79.

Kononchuk, Svitlana. “On the Road to Better Functioning of Political Parties in Ukraine.” Policy paper by the Policy Association for an Open Society and National Endowment for Democracy, 2016.

Kononchuk, Svitlana, and Svitlana Gorobchyshyna. Dynamika partiinoho predstavnytstva v Ukraini pislia Revoliutsii Hidnosti [The Dynamics of Parties’ Representation in Ukraine after the Revolution of Dignity]. Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research. Kyiv, 2016. ISBN 978-966-137-061-5.

Kononchuk, Svitlana, et al., eds. Pravyla i praktyka holosuvannia za vidkrytymy spyskamy. Informatsiino-analitychni materialy  [Open Lists Proportional Representation: Regulations and Practices]. Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research. Kyiv, 2017. ISBN 978-966-137-090-5.

Kononchuk, Svitlana. Zmina vyborchoi systemy dlia provedennia vyboriv orhaniv mistsevoi vlady pislia Revoliutsii Hidnosti (2014-2015 roky). Znachennia mistsevykh vyboriv u systemi vlady  [Electoral System Changes for Local Elections in the Aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity (2014-2015). The Role of the Local Elections in the System of Power]. In Konstytutsiini zminy pislia Maidanu. Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research. Kyiv, 2015, pp. 34–44. ISBN 978–966–137–060–8.

Kononchuk, Svitlana. Prezydentski vybory 2014 roku v Ukraini yak etap lehitymatsii vlady u postrevoliutsiinyi period  [Presidential Elections of 2014 as a Stage of Political Legitimisation in the Post-Revolutionary Period]. Policy Brief. Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation. Kyiv, 2014.

Kononchuk, Svitlana, and Oleg Yarosh. Ideolohichne pozytsionuvannia politychnykh partii v Ukraini  [Ideological Positioning of Political Parties in Ukraine]. Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research. Kyiv, 2013. ISBN 978-966-2157-94-9.

Balan, Serhii, and Svitlana Kononchuk. Napivprezydentskyi rezhym: mozhlyvosti konstytutsiinoi demokratyzatsii  [Semi-Presidentialism: An Opportunity for Democratization within the Constitution]. School for Policy Analysis at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research. Kyiv: Licey, 2012.

Kononchuk, Svitlana. Nepriami vybory v yevropeiskykh demokpatiiakh [Indirect Elections in European Democracies]. Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research. Kyiv, 2010.

Kononchuk, Svitlana, ed. Demokratychnyi potentsial proportsiinykh vyborchykh system [The Democratic Potential of Proportional Electoral Systems] by Svitlana Gorobchyshyna and Oleg Yarosh. Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research. Kyiv, 2009.

Kononchuk, Svitlana, ed. Valevskyy, Oleksii, Yarosh, Oleg. Praktyka bikameralizmu v unitarnykh derzhavakh (porivnialnyi analiz)  [Bicameral Practices in Unitary State] by Oleksii Valevskyy and Oleg Yarosh. Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research. Kyiv, 2008. ISBN 978-966-2157-08-6.

Kononchuk, Svitlana. “Multiculturalism Policy and Consolidation of the Ukrainian Society: Challenges and Perspectives.” In Ukraine’s Regional Policy: Setting Socio-Humanitarian Priorities of Development, 148–175. Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research, 2006.

Kononchuk, Svitlana, ed. Parlamentska opozytsiia v Ukraini: model ta provadzhennia: Doslidzhennia problemy [Parliamentary Opposition in Ukraine: Blueprint and Implementation] by Oleg Yarosh. Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research. Kyiv, 2006. ISBN 966-8136-58-6.

Kononchuk, Svitlana, ed. “Resilience and Cohesion of Ukrainian Society During the War,” by Svitlana Gorobchyshyna. Periodic report based on monitoring materials from selected regions of Ukraine, no. 1–13. Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research, 2023–2025.

Konontschuk, Switlana. “Der Sieg des Linkspopulismus – und der Einfluss der Oligarchen.” Ukraine-Analysen, Bremen Forschungsstelle Osteuropa; Deutsche Gesellschaft für Osteuropakunde, no. 217 (2019): 10–12.

Konontschuk, Switlana. “Die regionalen Parteien in der Ukraine. Lokale Spieler in der großen Politik.” Ukraine-Analysen, Bremen Forschungsstelle Osteuropa; Deutsche Gesellschaft für Osteuropakunde, no. 174 (2016): 8–10.

Kononchuk, Svitlana, and Julia Tyshchenko. “Do Referendums in Ukraine Have Legal foundations?” Mirror of the Week, April 22, 2016.

Kononchuk, Svitlana. “Financial Gaps of Ukrainian Democracy.” Ukrainska Pravda, October 2, 2012.

Skak, Mette. “Russian Strategic Culture: Insights from the Full-Scale War Against Ukraine.” Translated from English to Ukrainian. Strategic Panorama, no. 2 (2023): 51–62. doi.org/10.53679/2616-9460.2.2023.05.