BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME;VALUE=TEXT:Contested Decentralization: Local Policing in Ukraine since 2014 PRODID:-//Harvard events data//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event_1384558_0 SUMMARY:Contested Decentralization: Local Policing in Ukraine since 2014 DESCRIPTION:

Matthew Light, Associate Professor of Criminology and European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, University of Toronto
Moderated by Emily Channell-Justice, Director, Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program, Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University

Abstract

Ukraine inherited from the Soviet Union a tradition of extreme centralization in the organization of its police institutions, with accountability and funding flowing from the Ministry of Interior headquarters in Kyiv to police stations around the country. However, since independence, and particularly since the 2014 Euromaidan, Ukrainian municipalities have begun experimenting with new forms of local provision of public security, notably the so-called municipal guards. Local initiatives of this kind have had mixed results, arguably improving certain kinds of service to the public in some instances, while facilitating municipal officials' abuses of their authority in others. In a democratic society, who should have the right to provide public and citizen security? Should security follow the same trajectory toward decentralization as some other aspects of governance in Ukraine? Based on research in progress, the presentation examines how these debates are unfolding in Ukrainian society.

About the Speaker

Matthew Light studies migration control, policing and criminal justice, and public and citizen security, primarily in the post-Soviet region. His book (Routledge 2016) and several related articles on Russian federal and regional migration policies in the aftermath of the breakup of the USSR analyze what forms of freedom of movement emerged in the new post-Soviet Russian state, and frames the Soviet and post-Soviet experience with migration management in comparative international perspective. Light’s recent work concerns policing and other aspects of public and citizen security in several post-Soviet countries, including Russia, Georgia, and Armenia, and examines the evolution of both public policing institutions and private provision of security in the region.

Emily Channell-Justice is the director of the Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program at Harvard's Ukrainian Research Institute.

Watch on YouTube

───◊───

Persons with disabilities who wish to request accommodations or who have questions about access, please contact Megan Duncan Smith, HURI Programs Coordinator, at duncansmith@fas.harvard.edu in advance of the session (at least two weeks prior, if possible).

Watch videos of past HURI events on our YouTube Channel and subscribe to our email list to receive announcements about events and other activities.

LOCATION:YouTube (public); Zoom (registration required) STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTART:20210421T160000Z DTEND:20210421T171500Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR