With Russian shells raining on Kyiv and tanks closing in, American forces prepared to evacuate Ukraine's leader. Just three years earlier, his apparent main qualification had been playing a president on TV. But Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly retorted, 'I need ammunition, not a ride.' Ukrainian forces won the battle for Kyiv, ensuring their country's independence even as a longer war began for the southeast. You cannot understand the historic events of 2022 without understanding Zelensky. But the Zelensky effect is less about the man himself than about the civic nation he embodies: what makes Zelensky most extraordinary in war is his very ordinariness as a Ukrainian. The Zelensky Effect explains this paradox, exploring Ukraine's national history to show how its now-iconic president reflects the hopes and frustrations of the country's first 'independence generation'. Interweaving social and political background with compelling episodes from Zelensky's life and career, this is the story of Ukraine told through the journey of one man who has come to symbolize his country.

'Political technology' is a Russian term for the professional engineering of politics. It has turned Russian politics into theatre and propaganda, and metastasised to take over foreign policy and weaponise history. The war against Ukraine is one outcome. In the West, spin doctors and political consultants do more than influence media or run campaigns: they have also helped build parallel universes of alternative political reality. Hungary has used political technology to dismantle democracy. The BJP in India has used it to consolidate unprecedented power. Different countries learn from each other. Some types of political technology have become notorious, like troll farms or data mining; but there is now a global wholesale industry selling a range of manipulation techniques, from astroturfing to fake parties to propaganda apps. This book shows that 'political technology' is about much more than online disinformation: it is about whole new industries of political engineering.

In a very practical way, Julián Reyes unveils for you the secrets of the most relevant leadership and communication manual of the 21st century through the “Zelenskyy Phenomenon.” This is what will happen when you discover the communication secrets used by Volodymyr Zelenskyy that will propel you toward success in your life in all kinds of scenarios You will be able to apply successful communication techniques to lead people and teams in a unique way Imagine that your communication inspires through emotion. Imagine that you are more of a leader and achieve all your goals. And theres even more With this book you are helping Ukraine. What are you waiting for to start growing by the hand of “The Churchill of the XXI Century”?

"On February 24, 2022, Vladimir Putin launched a massive invasion of Ukraine, setting in motion changes that have been felt around the globe. Collision is the story of this war's origins. It begins in 2008, when Barack Obama came to power in the United States and Dmitry Medvedev came to power in Russia, a period of optimism and new beginnings. It then traces a steady parting of the ways between the United States and Russia, from the return of a newly aggressive Putin to the Kremlin in 2012 to the outbreak of a revolution in Ukraine--and the subsequent Russian annexation of Crimea and invasion of Eastern Ukraine"--

Changing Geopolitics of Global Communication examines the rapidly evolving dynamics between global communication and geopolitics. As an intersection between communication and international relations, it bridges the existing gap in scholarship and highlights the growing importance of digital communication in legitimizing and promoting the geopolitical and economic goals of leading powers. One central theme that emerges in the book is the continuity of asymmetries in power relations that can be traced back to 19th-century European imperialism, manifested in its various incarnations from ‘liberal’ to ‘neo-liberal’, to ‘digital’ imperialism. The book includes a discussion of the post–Cold War US-led transformation of the hardware and software of global communication and how it has been challenged by the ‘rise of the rest’, especially China. Other key issues covered include the geopolitics of image wars, weaponization of information and the visibility of discourses emanating from outside the Euro-Atlantic zone. The ideas and arguments advanced here privilege a reading of geopolitical processes and examples from the perspective of the global South. Written by a leading scholar of global communication, this comprehensive and transdisciplinary study adopts a holistic approach and will be of interest to the global community of scholars, researchers and commentators in communication and international relations, among other fields.

Feminist Perspective on Russia’s War in Ukraine: Hear Our Voices aims to give voices to feminist scholars from Ukraine and the wider Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. This volume, recognizing the long-neglected nature of the war evolving since 2014, offers a compilation of essays contributed by scholars spanning diverse disciplines and practitioners alike. Employing a wide array of data sources and methodologies—encompassing archival research, media analysis, legal examination, surveys, in-depth interviews, participant observation, and feminist autoethnography—this book undertakes a broader exploration of how gender norms have been transgressed and cultural expectations of womanhood and manhood have evolved within the context of Ukraine from 2014–2023. Representing an early collaborative effort among Ukrainian and CEE feminist scholars, this compilation aims to showcase locally nurtured perspectives on Russia's invasion of Ukraine to a worldwide audience, with the overarching goal of sparking the development of fresh methodologies and approaches that can untangle the complex interconnection between gender and warfare.

Russia's large-scale invasion on the 24th of February 2022 once again made Ukraine the focus of world media. Behind those headlines remain the complex developments in Ukraine's history, national identity, culture and society. Addressing readers from diverse backgrounds, this volume approaches the history of Ukraine and its people through primary sources, from the early modern period to the present. Each document is followed by an essay written by an expert on the period, and a conversational piece touching on the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine. In this ground-breaking collection, Ukraine's history is sensitively accounted for by scholars inviting the readers to revisit the country's history and culture. With a foreword by Olesya Khromeychuk.

This book examines crucial facets of the Russian invasion: among them, the Russian sexual violence against occupied Ukrainians, their “collaboration” and “filtration,” legal prosecutions especially relating to kidnapped Ukrainian children, the portrayal of events in Bucha on Russian social media, and the lessons learned from the Ukrainian refugee crisis in Poland during the initial weeks of the war, as well the potential pursuit of justice at the International Court of Justice, and the genocide claim more generally. This anthology will serve as a valuable resource for scholars, policymakers, and the broader community involved in the study of genocide and conflict. It endeavours to offer not only insights into the immediate circumstances of the invasion but also a framework for broader discussions and a foundation for informed dialogues on the multifaceted dimensions of this geopolitical upheaval. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Journal of Genocide Research.

Jewish Odesa: Negotiating Identities and Traditions in Contemporary Ukraine explores the rich Jewish history in Ukraine's port city of Odesa. Long considered both a uniquely cosmopolitan and Jewish place, Odesa's Jewish character has shifted since the Soviet Union collapsed and Ukraine gained its independence. Drawing on extensive field research, Marina Sapritsky-Nahum, examines how the role of Russian language and culture, memories of the Soviet political project, and Odesan's place in a Ukrainian national project have all been questioned in recent years. Jewish Odesa reveals how a city once famous for its progressive Jewish traditions has become dominated by Orthodox Judaism and framed by the agendas of international Jewish organizations embedded in a religiosity that is foreign to the city. Russia's war in Ukraine has forced Jewish identities with ties to Odesa to change still further.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 jeopardizes the country's independence and its chances for Western-style development. However, the heroic attitude of the Ukrainian people, combined with a solidifying national identity, makes the domestic foundations for a western turn stronger than ever. After the invasion, building strong foundations of liberal democracy will be a top priority. In addition to alleviating immediate problems, the country must also address its post-communist legacy and address the constraints of patronalism. The authors of this edited volume, leading Ukrainian scholars supplemented by colleagues from Hungary, examine the chances of an anti-patronal transformation after the war. The book provides an overview of the development of Ukraine's political-economic system: color revolutions in 2004 and 2014 brought democratic transformation, but no change in the patronage system The result was patronal regime cycles instead of the emergence of a Western-type liberal democracy in the country. Building on the conceptual framework of the editors' The Anatomy of Post-Communist Regimes (CEU Press, 2020), the 12 chapters examine the impact of the war on patronal democracy, the relational economy, clientelist society, and the international environment in which Ukraine operates. This collection is complemented by the book entitled Russia. Imperial Endeavor and Geopolitical Consequences.