Accommodation of Regional Diversity in Ukraine (ARDU)

ARDU examines how ethnicity, language and regional-local identity interact within the context of political reform in Ukraine. It combines macro studies of Ukraine's ethnic policies and how they affect relations with neighbouring states, with case studies in two Ukrainian border regions with large ethnocultural minorities. Kharkiv in the east and bordering Russia, has a sizable Russian ethnocultural population, while the western region of Chernivtsi borders Romania and comprises a substantial Romanian minority. The project's main research question is to find out to what extent, and how, current Ukrainian decentralisation, education and language policies affect social cohesion among ethnocultural groups in these very different border regions. Multiple methods of data collection will be employed: semi-structured and focus group interviews with key stakeholders, population surveys in the two regions, and a nation-wide survey as a baseline.