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 presented through the lens of Zelensky's life.

This event will begin with opening remarks from Dean Ayres of the Elliott School, followed by lectures by the co-authors, and a moderated Q&A with the audience. This event is hosted by the  Petrach Program on Ukraine and the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (IERES). The talk will be in-person and livestreamed.

About the Authors:

Henry E. Hale is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University (GW), director of GW’s Petrach Program on Ukraine, and co-director of the Program on New Approaches to Research and Security in Eurasia (PONARS). His research has won two prizes from the American Political Science Association, and his other books include Patronal Politics: Eurasian Regime Dynamics in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge, 2015).

Olga Onuch is Professor of Comparative and Ukrainian Politics at the University of Manchester. She is the winner of the 2017 Political Studies Association National Sir Bernard Crick Award for Outstanding Teaching, and has authored Mapping Mass Mobilization. She was previously at CERES of the University of Toronto as a Senior Research Associate, an Associate Member of Nuffield College at Oxford, and a Visiting Fellow at the Davis Center at Harvard.

About the Dean:

Alyssa Ayres is the Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. Her work focuses primarily on India’s role in the world and on U.S. relations with South Asia in the larger Indo-Pacific, and she has published Our Time Has Come: How India is Making Its Place in the World. Before joining the Elliott School, she was a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia under the Obama administration. She holds a Ph.D. in South Asian Languages and Literature from the University of Chicago.