Ukrainian Academy under Fire: Politics of Knowledge in Russian–Ukrainian War

Research Area 1. Displacements, “Dépaysements” and Discrepancies: People, Knowledge and Practices

Vadym Osin is a political scientist, associated professor at the Department of History and Political Theory, Institute of Human and Social Sciences, Dnipro University of Technology (Ukraine). He graduated in political science at Dnipropetrovsk State University (1999) and Post-graduate studies (aspirantura) at Political Science Department, Dnipropetrovsk National University (2002).

He completed his Ph.D. in Political Science (from Dnipropetrovsk National University) in 2003. Thesis title is Content analysis as means of political science constitution and reproduction. This research has crossed history of political science, sociology of science and social psychology of science. The thesis considers political science as a set of its methods, the prevalence of which is responsible not only for socio-political circumstances, but also for the specific socio-psychological profile of the researchers.

His research interests are politics of knowledge, sociology of science, postcolonial theory, history of political science, cognitive basis of social sciences, selectorate theory of Bruce Bueno de Mesquita. He was a head of the international Ukrainian-Moldovan project supported by Center for Advanced Studies and Education (CASE), Carnegie Corporation, ACTR/ACCELS, and European Humanities University. He is the author (co-authors – Angela Zelenschi, Sergiy Shulyak) of the book Power and Knowledge in Post-Soviet Space: Political Regime, Academic Degree, Ideology and Career in Ukraine and Moldova (Vilnius, 2014). This collective monograph identifies different patterns of power-knowledge in Ukraine and Moldova within the framework of neopatrimonialism, postcolonial theory and the psychology of science.

He is currently working on paper aims to justify the selectorate theory as a theoretical framework suitable to explain Russian invasion of Ukraine. It implies the reduction of several apparently unrelated behavioral patterns of the Russian military and political command, as well as Ukrainian and “Western” ones, to the typical actions of any authoritarian and democratic regimes.

CV

Education

• 2004: Ph.D. (Candidate of Political Science), Department of Political science, Dnipropetrovsk National University, Ukraine
• 1999–2002: Post-graduate studies (aspirantura) Political Science Department, Dnipropetrovsk National University, Ukraine
• 1994-1999: MA (specialist) in Political science, Diploma with honours, Dnipropetrovsk State University, Ukraine

Positions

• September 2021 – present: Associate Professor, History and Political Theory Department, Institute of Human and Social Sciences, Dnipro University of Technology.
• March 2003 – August 2021: Associate Professor, Faculty of Management Psychology and Journalism Department, University of Customs and Finance.
• September 2004 – May 2010: Member of staff in IT in historical researches laboratory, Oles’ Honchar Dnipropetrovsk National University.

Selected Publications

• Monographs
  • Osin Vadym, Zelenschi Angela, Shulyak Sergei. Власть и знание на постсоветском пространстве: политический режим, научная степень, идеология и карьера в Украине и Молдове (Power and Knowledge in Post-Soviet Space: Political Regime, Academic Degree, Ideology and Career in Ukraine and Moldova). Vilnius, 2014. 376 p. (in Russian)
  • Процессы конституирования и воспроизводства в науке: исследование вариаций контент–анализа (Processes of constitution and reproduction in science: researching content analysis variations). Dnipropetrovsk, 2007. 636 p. (in Russian)
• Articles and chapters
  • Вчений та Влада у контексті політології в пострадянській Україні (Scientists and Power in the context of political science in post-Soviet Ukraine). In: V. Smolij, I. Kolesnyk (eds.) Історик і влада (Historian and Power). Kyiv: Instytut istorii’ Ukrai’ny NAN Ukrai’ny, 2016. Pр. 237–285. (in Ukrainian)
  • Украина, Беларусь и Молдова в геополитических стратегиях США, ЕС и РФ: ценностные идеалы и вынужденный праксис исполнительной и законодательной ветвей власти Украины (на примере контент-анализа прессы) (Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova in the context of geopolitical strategies of the USA, EU and the Russian Federation: axiological ideals and forced praxis of executive and legislative powers in Ukraine (content analysis of press)). In: Tomasz Ambroziak, Arkadiusz Czwołka, Szymona Gajewskiego, Magdaleny Nowak-Paralusz (eds.) Procesy integracyjne i dezintegracyjne na obszarze poradzieckim Próba bilansu. Torun: Wydawnictwo “Adam Marszalek”, 2015. Pp. 83–107. (in Russian)
  • Економічні, соціальні та етнічні цінності студентів та студенток політологічних спільнот України і Молдови (Economic, social and ethnic values of male and female students in political science communities of Ukraine and Moldova). Політичне життя, no.4, Pр.47–57. (in Ukrainian)
  • Політика знання політологічних спільнот: «класичні» тексти у Харкові, Сімферополі, Львові та Кишиневі (The politics of knowledge of political science communities: “classical” texts in Kharkiv, Simferopol, Lviv and Chisinau). Вісник ДонНУ імені Василя Стуса, Сер.: Політичні науки, 2021, no.6, Pр.32-41. (in Ukrainian)
  • Українська політологія в період фемінізації: боротьба «за» та «проти» патріархатної епістеми (Ukrainian political science under feminization: the struggle “pro” and “contra” the patriarchal episteme). Політичне життя, 2018. no.4, Pр.63–74. (in Ukrainian)
  • Наука в новом мире: Три сюжета генезиса региональной политологии в постсоветской Украине (A Science for a New World: Three Aspects of the Genesis of Regional Political Science in Post-Soviet Ukraine). Ab Imperio. Studies of New Imperial History and Nationalism in the Post-Soviet Space, 2015. no. 4, Pр. 239–293. (in Russian)
  • Академия и политический режим: неопатримониальная наука в Украине (и Молдове) (Academia and the Political Regime: Neopatrimonial Scholarship in Ukraine /and Moldova). Ab Imperio. Studies of New Imperial History and Nationalism in the Post-Soviet Space, 2014, no. 3, Pp. 295–360. (in Russian)
  • Политика знания и/на Пограничье (ЦВЕ): автономность аксиологии, праксеологии и эпистемологии властного дискурса завоеванной стороны (Politics of Knowledge and/in the Borderland: Autonomy of Axiology, Praxeology and Epistemology of Authoritative Discourse of Conquered Side). Перекрестки. Журнал исследований восточноевропейского Пограничья, 2013, no. 1–2, Pp. 254–285. (in Russian)
  • Пределы субъектного конструирования Пограничья Центрально-Восточной Европы: политика знания как триумф автономии угнетенной/подчиненной стороны (Limits of the Subjective Construction of the Central and Eastern European Borderland: Politics of Knowledge as a Triumph of Autonomy of Oppressed/Subaltern Side). Перекрестки. Журнал исследований восточноевропейского Пограничья, 2012, no. 3–4, Pp. 65–85. (in Russian)
  • «Слепое пятно» историописания: рост посредственных ученых в политической науке (A blind spot in history writing: increasing number of the mediocre scholars in political science). Ойкумена: Альманах сравнительных исследований политических институтов, социально-экономических систем и цивилизаций, 2010, no.7, Pp.20–42. (in Russian)
  • Научные сообщества в эпоху большой науки: рационализация центробежных сил в социальных науках (The scientific communities in the age of Big Science: rationalization of centrifugal forces in social sciences). Ейдос. Альманах теорії та історії історичної науки, 2009, no. 4, Pp. 89–124. (in Russian)
• Conference papers 
  • Неопатримоніальна модель інтерпретації «політики знання» («корупції знання») во фронтірних регіонах (Україна-Молдова (Neopatrimonial model of interpreting “politics of knowledge” (“corruption of knowledge”) in frontier regions /Ukraine–Moldova), European Humanities University and the Center for Advanced Studies and Education (CASE), Vilnius, Lithuania, 10–11 April 2014. (in Ukrainian)
  • Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova in geopolitical strategies of the USA, EU and Russia: axiological ideals and forced praxis of executive and legislative power in Ukraine (based on content analysis of press), Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika, Toruń, Poland, 17–18 October 2013. (in English)