Andreas Umland

Andreas Umland (born 1967 in Jena, East Germany) is a German political scientist, historian and Russian interpreter, specializing in contemporary Russian and Ukrainian history. He is a Member of the Institute for Central and East European Studies (ZIMOS) at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in Upper Bavaria, a small, yet active research center.[1] He lives in Kyiv, while teaching at the National University of "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy". His studies of Russian and Ukrainian politics focus on the post-Soviet extreme right. Since 2005, he has also been involved in the creation of a new Master's program in German and European Studies administered jointly by Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and Jena University.[2]

Andreas Umland

Biography

Born in 1967 in the city of Jena, Thuringia, Germany. He studied Russian language, recent history and political science at the University of Leipzig (State Certificate of Translator Staatl. Gepr. Übersetzer), Free University of Berlin (Otto Zur Institute OSI, Political Science Diploma Dipl.-Pol.), University of Oxford (College of the Holy Cross, Master of Russian and East European Studies M.Phil.) and Stanford University (Master of Political Sciences AM) as a scholarship holder of the Friedrich Ebert Fund, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the European Renaissance Program of the German People's Learning Fund (ERP-Stipendienprogramm der Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes).

In 1999 he received a Ph.D. (Dr.phil.) in historical sciences at the Free University of Berlin (Friedrich Meinecke Institute FMI), defending a dissertation on the rise of Vladimir Zhirinovsky in Russian politics. In 2008, he received a Ph.D. degree in political science at Cambridge University (Trinity College), defending a dissertation on the post-Soviet Russian “non-civil society”.

He was also a visiting fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, in 1997–1999, and Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, in 2001-02, a Bosch lecturer at Yekaterinburg’s Ural State University, in 1999–2001, and Kiev’s Mohyla Academy, in 2003–2005, a temporary lecturer in Russian and East European studies at St. Antony’s College, Oxford, in January–December 2004, and a DAAD lecturer at Kyiv Shevchenko University, in 2005–2008.[3] In 2008–2010 Umland served as an academic adviser in the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt.

On December 9, 2013, the MP from the Party of Regions Oleg Tsarev sent a request to the Security Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to declare a number of foreign citizens, including Andreas Umland, persona non grata since they, according to Tsarev, may be related to protests in Kyiv.

Editor

He has been general editor of the book series "Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society" in Ibidem Edition[4] since 2004, co-compiler of the biweekly "Russian Nationalism Bulletin"[5] since 2007, and co-editor of the web journal "Forum noveishei vostochnoevropeiskoi istorii i kul'tury" (eng.: Forum of contemporary East European history and culture) since 2008.[6]

Founder and administrator the electronic Amazon guide "Teach at a university in the former Soviet bloc"[7] and the Facebook group "Post-Soviet Higher Education in the Social Sciences and Humanities"[8].

Member of the editorial boards of the "Explorations of the Far Right" book series (Ibidem Publishing House, Stuttgart / Hanover)[9], "Fascism: Journal of Comparative Fascist Studies" (Brill, Leiden, and NIOD, Amsterdam)[10], "CEU Political Science Journal" (Central European University, Budapest)[11] and "Ideology and Politics" (Foundation for Quality Policy, Kyiv)[12].

Membership

He is a member of the Russian "Valdai Discussion Club".[13][14] and Wikistrat as a Senior Analyst.[15]

Statements

After the public lecture “Stepan Bandera: the life of the Ukrainian revolutionary ultranationalist and memory of him, 1909-2009.” (In the original, in German, the lecture was titled: “Stepan Bandera: the life of the Ukrainian fascist and his memory, 1909-2009.”) Grzegorz Rossolinsky-Liebe at the German Embassy in Ukraine [16][17], Andreas Umland stated that: “These are obviously issues of freedom of expression and especially freedom of academic research. The fact that these lectures deal with difficult issues of Ukrainian history should not be a reason for their cancellation. Lecturer Grzegorz Rossolinsky-Liebe is not a political activist, he is a young, world-famous researcher in his field ”[18][19]. Umland himself believes that “according to the conceptualization of perhaps the most influential fascist scholar Roger Griffin, OUN-B, at least from the late 1930s to early 1940s, can be called fascist. But one cannot ignore the fact that folk memory and historical theory are not the same things. In the national heroes of the countries around the world, there are dark pages in the biography." In his opinion, it is important to consider that most Ukrainians consider the OUN only as a national liberation organization, not a fascist organization [20].

In February 2014, Andreas Umland was the initiator and author of an open letter from experts on Ukrainian nationalism, urging Western commentators not to emphasize the participation of the far-right in the Maidan, as this could be used by Russian propaganda.

Andreas Umland was the initiator and author of the text [21] of an open letter of more than a hundred German-speaking experts on Eastern Europe dated December 11, 2014 [22], in which the authors of the open letter of 60 German, mostly former politicians, which from pro-Russian positions called for "to prevent a new large-scale war in Europe" [23]. Umland's joint statement by a hundred experts and scholars, entitled "Protect Peace, Not Encourage Expansion," makes it clear that Russia is clearly acting as an aggressor in the Ukrainian conflict.

In 2015, Andreas Umland was among scholars from around the world who called on Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodymyr Groysman not to sign bills on the legal status and commemoration of Ukraine's independence fighters in the twentieth century (»2538-1 ) and "On the condemnation of the communist and National Socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regimes in Ukraine and the prohibition of propaganda of their symbols" (№2558) [24].

In June 2018, Umland supported an open letter from cultural figures, politicians and human rights activists calling on world leaders to speak in defense of Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, a prisoner in Russia, and other political prisoners. [25]

Publications (selection)

Editor of:

  • The Nature of Russian "Neo-Eurasianism:" Approaches to Aleksandr Dugin's Post-Soviet Movement of Radical Anti-Americanism (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe 2009).
  • Theorizing Post-Soviet Russia's Extreme Right: Comparative Political, Historical and Sociological Approaches (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe 2008).

Co-editor of:

  • Aspects of the Orange Revolution V: Institutional Observation Reports on the 2004 Ukrainian Presidential Elections (Stuttgart & Hannover: ibidem-Verlag 2007).
  • Aspects of the Orange Revolution IV: Foreign Assistance and Civic Action in the 2004 Ukrainian Presidential Elections (Stuttgart & Hannover: ibidem-Verlag 2007).
  • Aspects of the Orange Revolution III: The Context and Dynamics of the 2004 Ukrainian Presidential Elections (Stuttgart & Hannover: ibidem-Verlag 2007).
  • Fascism Past and Present, West and East: An International Debate on Concepts and Cases in the Comparative Study of the Extreme Right (Stuttgart & Hannover: ibidem-Verlag 2007).

References
  1. Eichstätt Institute for Central and East European Studies (ZIMOS)
  2. Joint program Archived March 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine of German and European Studies of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and Jena University.
  3. Biography and publications.
  4. Ibidem publications
  5. biweekly Russian Nationalism Bulletin
  6. Forum of contemporary East European history and culture.
  7. Amazon-гид «Teach at a university in the former Soviet bloc»
  8. Facebook-группа «Post-Soviet Higher Education in the Social Sciences and Humanities»
  9. "«Explorations of the Far Right»". Archived from the original on 2012-11-20. Retrieved 2012-10-18.
  10. "«Fascism: Journal of Comparative Fascist Studies»". Archived from the original on 2014-04-11. Retrieved 2012-10-18.
  11. «CEU Political Science Journal»
  12. "«Идеология и политика»". Archived from the original on 2016-03-12. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
  13. "Publications: Umland, Andreas". valdaiclub.com. Archived from the original on 11 January 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  14. "Experts: Andreas Umland". valdaiclub.com. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  15. "East or West: where will Russia send its gas?" (PDF). January 2016.
  16. "Public lecture "Stepan Bandera: the life of the Ukrainian revolutionary ultranationalist and memory of him, 1909-2009." | Heinrich Böll Stiftung | Киев – Украина" (in Ukrainian). Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  17. "Rossolinsky-Libe's lecture was a lesson in hatred from the German embassy" (in Ukrainian). tyzhden.ua. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  18. "Lecture on the "fascist" Bandera. Summary and chronology of the scandal". Історична Правда. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  19. V. Viatrovych. "Lecture behind closed doors". Історична правда. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  20. "When left criticism turns to right". nv.ua. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  21. "Author of the response letter about Russia: There is a consensus among experts on who is the aggressor and who is the victim". dw.com.ua. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  22. "Osteuropa-Experten sehen Russland als Aggressor". Der Taggerspiegel. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  23. "Открытое письмо: «Новая война в Европе? Не от нашего имени!" (in Russian). dw.com.ua. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  24. "Open Letter from Scholars and Experts on Ukraine Re. the So-Called "Anti-Communist Law"". krytyka.com. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  25. "An appeal to the representatives of countries who are expected to travel to the World Cup football games in Russia". Open Democracy. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
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