Book Release — Self-Organization: The Power and Limits of Ukraine's Informal Civil Society by Svitlana Krasynska

HURI Books is delighted to announce the publication of Self-Organization: The Power and Limits of Ukraine's Informal Civil Society, a new volume by Svitlana Krasynska, which explores the informal networks and grassroots initiatives driving Ukrainian civic resilience.

What makes a civil society strong? Traditional frameworks usually measure civic strength through membership in formal non-profit organizations, established NGOs, and visible institutions. In Ukraine, however, some of the most impactful civic activity has long taken place outside these formal structures.

About the Book

In Self-Organization: The Power and Limits of Ukraine's Informal Civil Society, scholar and non-profit practitioner Svitlana Krasynska offers a new framework for understanding the informal civic infrastructure that has helped Ukrainians navigate political transformation, social upheaval, and national crisis.

Drawing on interdisciplinary research and nearly two decades of practitioner experience, Krasynska examines the power of informality—such as rapid mobilization, flexibility, and adaptability—while also addressing critical questions surrounding accountability, sustainability, and long-term relations between citizens and the state.

Svitlana Krasynska’s book examines non-profit organizations in post-Soviet Ukraine, a new democracy with weak formal institutions. There is perhaps no more important issue in new democracies than civil society. In Ukraine, civil society has sometimes seemed robust, as during the Orange and Euromaidan revolutions, but then seemed weak during more ‘normal’ times. This variation has puzzled scholars of Ukraine. 

Krasynska’s crucial insight is that informality may heavily condition the civil society sector and shape the choices of non-profit organizations as well. Her ethnographic work reveals how and why Ukrainian civil society actors work informally rather than through formal organizations and established channels. Both empirically and theoretically, this book contributes dramatically to our understanding of contemporary Ukrainian politics and society. It is likely to have a substantial impact on the scholarly literature and on policy discussions. 

—Paul J. D’Anieri, University of California, Riverside

Self-Organization demonstrates that Ukraine's capacity for rapid civic mobilization is not a sudden phenomenon born overnight, but rather rests on long-standing traditions of self-organization. Beyond the region, the book provides vital insights for global scholars, policymakers, and practitioners seeking to understand community resilience at a time of declining institutional trust worldwide.

About the Author

Born and raised in Ukraine, Svitlana Krasynska has lived primarily in the United States since the late 1990s while maintaining numerous professional connections across Ukraine and with the Ukrainian diaspora globally.

Following the 2013–14 Maidan, she cofounded a research organization that helped arrange official briefings on Ukrainian human rights and humanitarian issues at the US Congress and United Nations Headquarters. Her direct engagement with Ukrainian affairs is supported by over a decade of executive management, consulting, and grant-writing experience in the nonprofit sector. As both an activist and scholar, her research centers on contemporary Ukraine, with a focus on civil society, informal organizing, and diaspora online mobilization. She holds an MA in nonprofit leadership and management and earned her PhD in leadership studies from the University of San Diego.

Excerpt from Introduction

Finally, this book contributes to a deeper understanding of Ukraine and its sociopolitical developments. Ukraine has been on the front pages of global news with undulating regularity over the past three decades, with its recurring political crises and civic uprisings, Russia’s interference and hybrid war, and, most recently, Russia’s horrifying full-scale invasion. Ukraine has also inspired the world even as it perplexes scholars and development practitioners, with its rapid and sweeping social and political transformations, its puzzling civil society (largely invisible and seemingly dormant at times, yet fierce and impactful in moments of crisis), and the Ukrainian people’s stunning perseverance and hopefulness in the face of unspeakable destruction and human loss resulting from the ongoing war. An understanding of Ukraine's characteristic perspectives and social dynamics will be critical for the preservation of the Ukrainian state and for effective postwar reconstruction and development efforts. As I was conducting my research, individuals who were involved in my study in various ways would often express their astonishment at my studying and writing about the informal side of civil society. While everyone was aware of its existence, it was so permeative, mundane, and submerged that formally talking about it felt to them both gratifying and astounding. My contribution to the study of Ukraine offers a unique understanding of the intersection of civil society and informality—a dynamic, complicated, and powerful force that always appears in the background of Ukraine's critical events.