John Kolasky Memorial Fellow returns to Ukraine after fruitful stay in Canada (09/09/01)

John Kolasky Memorial Fellow returns to Ukraine after fruitful stay in Canada

by Bohdan Klid

EDMONTON - Following a ten-month stay in Toronto, Dr. Oleksander Pavliuk, 2000/2001 John Kolasky Memorial Fellow, returned to Ukraine in late June. The John Kolasky Memorial Fellowship is awarded annually by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) to Ukrainian scholars and researchers to support scholarly research and related activities in Canada.

During the term of his fellowship, Dr. Pavliuk worked on two research projects: Ukraine's current relations with the West and the diplomacy of the independent Ukrainian governments and their Central and Eastern European counterparts immediately following World War I.

Within the framework of the first project, Dr. Pavliuk wrote two essays while in Canada. The first, "Ukraine and the EU: The Risk of Being Excluded," was recently published as a chapter in the volume "Beyond EU Enlargement: The Agenda of Direct Neighborhood for Eastern Europe." In May, he submitted the second essay, "Unfulfilling Partnership: Ukraine and the West, 1991-2001," for publication in the journal Survival. The first draft of this essay was distributed among policy-makers during the EU-US-Canada Policy Forum on Ukraine held in Washington, on April 2, and organized by the EastWest Institute.

Within the parameters of the second project, Dr. Pavliuk completed work on a large chapter on the diplomacy of the independent Ukrainian governments in 1917-1923 for a collective monograph on the history of Ukrainian diplomacy, which is to be published later this year by the Institute of History, National Academy of Sciences (Kyiv). He also completed a draft of an article on the international factor in the Ukrainian revolution of 1917-1921, which he plans to submit to a Western academic journal for publication.

Dr. Pavliuk's new research on Ukrainian diplomacy and that of the Central and East European countries of the 1917-1923 period expands and builds on his earlier work. In 1993 he defended his Ph.D. dissertation in history on "Eastern Galicia in European Politics, 1918-1919." Soon thereafter Dr. Pavliuk broadened the scope of his research beyond the Western Ukrainian People's Republic (ZUNR) and in 1997 published a monograph, "Borotba Ukrainy za Nezalezhnist i Polityka SShA, 1917-1923 rr." (Ukraine's Struggle for Independence and U.S. Policy, 1917-1923).

During his just completed tenure of the Kolasky fellowship, Dr. Pavliuk also presented papers, took part in conferences and seminars, and gave public lectures. He presented three papers in the CIUS seminar series on "Ukraine and Europe: Current Agenda and Future Prospects" (Toronto, October 2000); "Ukraine's Search for Regional Security" (Edmonton, March); and "The International Factor in the Ukrainian Revolution, 1917-1921: A Comparative Analysis" (Toronto, March 2001). Dr. Pavliuk also conducted seminars at the University of Toronto (January and April) and York University (May) and gave talks at the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center (Washington, February), the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute (April), and Stanford University (May).

At the request of Canadian government officials, Dr. Pavliuk spoke on recent developments in Ukraine at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (Ottawa, October 2000), and spoke to officials of the Canadian International Development Agency (September 2000). He also participated in four international conferences (in Bucharest in October 2000, in Baku in February, in Washington in April and in Tel Aviv in June), where he made presentations on the implications of the European Union's eastward expansion, Ukraine's relations with the EU, and security risks and challenges in the Black Sea region.

In addition to his presentations before academic audiences and government officials, Dr. Pavliuk gave several talks to Ukrainian community audiences in Canada and the United States. These included a lecture on recent commemorations of the Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine (Detroit, December 2000), the 35th Annual Shevchenko Lecture on "A Challenging Decade: Ukraine and the West, 1991-2001" (Edmonton, March), and lectures on contemporary Ukraine in Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia (March). Dr. Pavliuk also participated in a roundtable discussion on the ongoing political scandal and crisis in Ukraine known as "Kuchmagate" (Toronto, March), and he gave a lecture organized by the Shevchenko Scientic Society (Toronto, May) on Ukraine's achievements and failures on the eve of its 10th year of independence.

Dr. Pavliuk's publications and ongoing work on the diplomacy of the independent Ukrainian governments and Ukraine's Central and Eastern European neighbors in the post-World War I period have established him as an authority on the history of Ukrainian diplomacy.

His more recent interest in Ukraine's current international policies, especially problems of international security, have also resulted in scholarly publications, including articles in the influential journals Foreign Affairs and Security Dialogue. These achievements have established Dr. Pavliuk as one of Ukraine's leading experts on issues of European and regional security.

In addition to his scholarly work, in 1997 Dr. Pavliuk became the director of the Kyiv office of the EastWest Institute, which is based in New York City. The institute was established to help defuse tensions and conflicts that threaten geopolitical stability as well as to provide support for democratic and free market development in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Russia and other Eurasian countries.

Following his very fruitful stay in Canada, Dr. Pavliuk returned to Kyiv to resume his duties as director of the EastWest Institute's Kyiv Center.

| Home Page |