Boston University students in the Institute for Study of Conflict Ideology and Policy are making a difference in Eastern politics by visiting countries in transitional political phases and providing commentary.
Over the past four years, Tammy Lynch, a senior research fellow at ISCIP and a BU graduate, has traveled to Ukraine several times to research the country’s reforms in the aftermath of political protests surrounding election corruption. She has influenced politics through her op-ed pieces and contributions to many articles for publications in the United States and Ukraine, as well as other western European nations.
Uri Ra’anan, who teaches in the University Professors Program and runs the ISCIP program, advises UNI doctoral student Fabian Adami, whose research focuses on analyzing the Russian Security Services.
Although Adami and Lynch focus on different areas of eastern Europe, they both contribute to the Institute’s journal – The ISCIP Analyst – which is published every two weeks.
“We also keep a database of information on the former Soviet Union that might not be available elsewhere – for example, speeches by leaders or decrees issued,” Lynch said in an email. “It’s a great research tool for students or scholars [or] researchers.”
Lynch studied Russian language during college and also studied in eastern Europe for a year. She came to BU for her master’s degree and began working with Ra’anan, who guided her studies toward Ukraine.
“He assigned me to Ukraine,” she said. “That was it – I fell in love with the country and became a Ukraine specialist.”
During her visits to Ukraine for months at a time, she learned the country is filled with optimism despite political conflicts.
“[Ukrainains] have been oppressed and persecuted for decades . . . and they have never given up fighting for their own country and their own dignity,” she said. “It’s not easy here, but there’s an encouraging sense of hope about the future.”
Adami, who spent the past year in Germany, specializes in analyzing the RSS, which followed the KGB as an intelligence agency.
“Given that President [Vladimir] Putin is himself a former intelligence officer, a particular interest of mine, which I try to touch on when I feel the piece requires, is the increasing . . . fusion of the Security Services with the state,” Adami said in an email.
Adami, who has a German background, is completing dissertation research on the relationship between the Soviet Union and the former Communist eastern Germany. He said he hopes to write a book based on his research.
Lynch is also writing a book — expected to be published in 2008 – about Ukrainian protests from 2000 to 2004 that preceded the Orange Revolution, when citizens took to the streets to challenge the 2004 election. Then-Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, supported by the government, was suspected of voter fraud and attempting to alter the election’s results when voters narrowly chose democratic leader Viktor Yushchenko, who rules as president today and continues to encourage reforms. Corruption in the country, which has a long history of politicians being arrested and business owners being intimidated by the government, led to the protests, Lynch said.
“Ukraine’s people stood up for freedom, against a regime that tried to steal an election and ignore their votes,” she said. “For at least four years, many said that the government had been ruling by intimidation and threats. Ukraine’s people, and a number of brave opposition politicians, stood up to stop this.”
In recent politics, Lynch said the country’s strong leadership is working to conform more to European norms, including a relatively free press and political pluralism.
Recent elections last week in Ukraine resulted in 30 percent support for Yulia Tymoshenko, who will be the next prime minister. Lynch said she will work with Yushchenko, who won 14 percent of the vote for president, to help reform the judicial system, the tax system and the corruption that plagues the country.
“This next government has a tough road ahead of it,” she said. “Without these reforms, democracy can’t be fully consolidated. . . Ukraine has been making small steps forward, but it will be a number of years . . . until the country reaches Western levels of development.”
