On January 17, 2023, a presentation of the study “Ukraine’s Resilience: A survey of local governments emergency responses” was made answering the questions “What makes Ukraine resilient in the asymmetric war?” via a survey of local governments’ emergency responses. It was done within the PONARS Eurasia initiative and PhD Oksana Zamora, associate professor of the International Relations Department of SumDU was invited to join within her non-residential IERES fellowship at the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.
Ukraine has demonstrated strong resilience in the face of the full-scale Russian invasion on February 24, 2022. Local authorities in particular continue to provide public services and respond to crises arising from massive internal displacement and Russian attacks on critical civilian infrastructure and housing. This study illuminates how local authorities ensure the effectiveness and legitimacy of their emergency responses using elements of collaborative governance. The study is based on an original survey of 241 local authorities, interviews and focus groups with public officials at the local and regional levels done by Dr. Oleksandra Keudel is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Public Policy and Governance at Kyiv School of Economics, and is co-authored with Oksana Huss (Bologna University).
These findings challenge conventional security thinking confined to military terms. Instead, they highlight the importance of a collaborative approach to managing complex crises. New thinking about national security should include network-based instead of hierarchy-based approaches and partnership-oriented instead of client-service-oriented philosophy in citizen-state relations.