Maria Popova
Associate Professor, Jean Monnet Chair

BA, Dartmouth
MA, PhD, Harvard
Comparative politics, European politics, post-Communist transformation, courts and politics
- European Politics: rule of law, populism, corruption, anti-establishment parties, EU accession, protest.
- Comparative Judicial Politics: judicial independence, global expansion of judicial power, post-communist judicial reforms, prosecution of political corruption.
- Post-Soviet politics: freedom of speech and elections, authoritarian consolidation, weaponization of law.
- Scientific Co-Director, Jean Monnet Centre Montreal
- PONARS Eurasia Executive Committee Member
- Member, Board of Directors, Association for Slavic, Eastern European, and Eurasian Studies
- Rule of law backsliding in Eastern Europe
- Prosecution of political corruption in the Balkans and East Central Europe
- Post-Maidan political development in Ukraine, especially judicial and anti-corruption reforms
Book
Politicized Justice in Emerging Democracies: A Study of Courts in Russia and Ukraine. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2012.
Winner, 2012-2013 American Association for Ukrainian Studies prize for best book in the fields of Ukrainian history, politics, language, literature, and culture. Featured in a Critical Dialogue in Perspectives on Politics and reviewed in 11 other journals in comparative politics, area studies, law, and anthropology.
Journal Articles
- "Can a Leopard Change its Spots? Strategic Behavior vs. Professional Role Conception During Ukraine's 2014 Court Chair Elections" (2020) Law & Policy, Vol. 42, Iss. 4, pp. 365-381; https://doi.org/10.1111/lapo.12156
- "No Revolution of Dignity for Ukraine’s Judges: Judicial Reform After Maidan” (2020) Demokratizatsiya 28 (1): 113-142. With Daniel Beers
- “Prosecuting High-Level Corruption in Eastern Europe.” (2018) Communist and Post-Communist Studies 51( 3): 231-244. With Vincent Post.
- "Putin-Style “Rule of Law” & the Prospects for Change." Daedalus, Vol. 146, No. 2 (2017), pp. 64-75
- “Fear and Loathing on the Post-Communist Street: Why Bulgaria's DANSwithme Protest Fizzled out, but Ukraine's Euromaidan Escalated,” Critique and Humanism, Vol. 46, No. 2 (2016), pp. 109-127. A Bulgarian version: „Страх и омраза на посткомунитическите улици: защо българския протест ДАНС затихва, а украинският Евромайдан ескалира?,“ кн. 45, бр. 1/2016, стр. 107-129.
- “Die Entwicklung der ukrainischen Justiz seit dem Euromaidan,” Transit: Europaische Revue, Vol. 48 (Winter 2015/Fruhling 2016), pp. 136-156.
- “Why the Orange Revolution Was Short and Peaceful and Euromaidan Long and Violent” Problems of Post-Communism, Vol. 61 (November-December 2014), No. 6, pp. 64-70.
- “Why Doesn’t the Bulgarian Judiciary Prosecute Corruption?” Problems of PostCommunism, Vol. 59, No. 5 (September-October, 2012), pp. 35-49.
- “Political Competition as an Obstacle to Judicial Independence: Evidence from Russia and Ukraine”, Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 43, Issue 10 (October 2010), pp. 1202-1229.
- “Be Careful What You Wish For: A Cautionary Tale of Post-Communist Judicial Empowerment” Demokratizatsiya, Vol.18, No. 1 (Winter 2010), pp. 56-73.
- “Watchdogs or Attack Dogs? The Role of the Russian Courts and the CEC in the Resolution of Electoral Disputes”, Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 58, No. 3 (May 2006), pp. 391-414.
- "Implicit Objections to the Rule of Law Doctrine in Russian Legal Thought", Journal of East European Law, Vol. 11, Nos. 2-3 (2004), pp. 205-229.
- “Rossiiskaya Pravovaya Mysl' i Printsip Verkhovenstva Prava: Problemy Adaptatsii i Neobkhodimost' Dialoga”, Konstitutsionnoe Pravo: Vostochnoevropeiskoe Obozrenie, Vol. 3, 44 (2003).
Book Chapters
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“The Post-Communist Judiciary: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back” in Engelbrekt, K. and Petia Kostadinova (eds.), Bulgaria’s Democratic Institutions at Thirty: A Balance Sheet (Lexington Books, 2020).
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“Prosecuting Corruption in Eastern Europe” (with Vincent Post) in Solomon, P. and Kaja Gadowska (eds.), Legal Change in Post-Communist States: Progress, Reversions, Explanations. Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society Series, (ibidem Press, 2019)
- “Journalists, Judges and State Officials: How Russian Courts Adjudicate Defamation Lawsuits Against Media” in Kurkchiyan, M. and Agnieszka Kubal (eds.), A Sociology of Justice in Russia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018), pp. 141-169.
- “Ukraine’s Politicized Courts” in Hale, H. E. and Robert W. Orttung (eds.), Beyond the Euromaidan: Comparative Perspectives for Advancing Reform in Ukraine (Redwood City: Stanford University Press, 2016), pp. 143-161.
- “Who Brought Ataka to the Political Scene: Analysis of the Vote for Bulgaria’s Radical Nationalists” in Dragostinova, T. and Yana Hashamova (eds.), Beyond Mosque, Church, and State: Alternative Narratives of the Nation in the Balkans (Budapest and New York: Central European University Press, 2016), pp. 259-287.
- “Politizirovannoe pravosudie v novykh demokratiyakh: politicheskaya bor’ba i sudebnaya nezavisimost’ v Rossii i Ukraine” in Volkov, V. (ed.), Kak Sud’i Prinimayut Resheniya: Empiricheskie Issledovaniya Prava (Moscow: Statut, 2012), pp. 199-224.
Shorter Academic Writing
- “Ukraine’s Judiciary After Euromaidan.” Comparative Politics Newsletter Vol. 25, No. 2 (Fall 2015), pp. 32-36.
- “The 2014 Parliamentary Elections in Bulgaria.” Electoral Studies, Vol.38 (June 2015), pp. 114-118. With Petia Kostadinova.
- “The 2013 parliamentary elections in Bulgaria.” Electoral Studies, Vol. 34 (June 2014), pp. 365-368. With Petia Kostadinova.
- “Post-Communist Courts: Independence, Accountability, and Popular Trust,” Guest Editor’s Introduction, Problems of Post-Communism, vol. 59, no. 5 (SeptemberOctober 2012), pp. 3-5.
Policy Articles and Op-eds
- “How Can the EU Help Ukraine Build the Rule of Law and Fight Corruption? Romania and Bulgaria as Guideposts,” PONARS Policy Memo, No. 469, April, 2017
- “Will There Be a “Full, Rapid and Transparent Investigation into Nemtsov’s Murder,” The Monkey Cage@The Washington Post, March 7, 2015
- “Ukraine’s Judicial Reforms,” VoxUkraine, December 15, 2014 (translated and reprinted by Ukrainska Pravda, December 17, 2014)
- “Ukraine’s Legal Problems: Why Kiev’s Plans to Purge the Judiciary Will Backfire,” Foreign Affairs, April 15, 2014
- “The Kremlin, Not Language, is Driving Ukraine Apart,” The Globe and Mail, April 15, 2014. With Matthew Light
- “What is Lustration and Is It a Good Idea for Ukraine to Adopt it?,” The Monkey Cage@ Washington Post, April 9, 2014 (reprinted by Kyiv Post). With Vincent Post.
- “Was Yanukovych’s Removal Constitutional?,” PONARS Eurasia Commentary, March 20, 2014
- “What Doesn’t Kill Ukraine…,” Foreign Policy, March 12, 2014. With Oxana Shevel
- “Why Domestic Developments in Ukraine Still Matter,” The Monkey Cage @ Washington Post, March 5, 2014
- “The Strange Court Case of Alexey Navalny,” The Monkey Cage, July 22, 2013
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University of Manchester. June 2019. Post-Maidan Judicial Reforms.
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University of Oxford, St. Anthony’s College. June 2019. Post-Maidan Judicial Reforms.
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Miami University of Ohio. May 2019. Havighurst Center. Rule of Law Backsliding in Eastern Europe
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Carleton University, Centre for European Studies. February 2019. The Rule of Law in Eastern Europe 15 Years after EU Accession
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Ditchley Foundation, Chipping Norton, UK, May 2018. Brexit and the Future of Europe.
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Columbia University, Harriman Institute, March 2018. Putin-Style “Rule of Law”
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Princeton University, May 2017. Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption and Judicial Reforms.
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Université Libre de Bruxelles, June 2015. Ukraine’s Judiciary After Euromaidan.
- Sciences Po, Centre de Recherches Internationales, Paris, June 2015. Ukraine’s Judiciary After Euromaidan.
- Leiden University, May 2015. Prosecution of Political Corruption in Eastern Europe
- Universita di Bologna, March 2015. Prosecution of Political Corruption in Eastern Europe
- Université de Montréal School of Law, November 2014. Constitutional Dimensions of the Ukrainian Crisis
- University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, October 2014. Ukraine Under the Fog of War.
- Simon Fraser University, September 2014. Ukraine Under the Fog of War.
- Emory University, March 2014. Electoral and Defamation Disputes in Russia and Ukraine, 1997-2012
- University of Michigan, February 2014. Why Political Competition Undermines Judicial Independence in Hybrid Regimes
- Columbia University, Harriman Institute, January 2014. Independent Courts in Russia: Say What?
- Université de Montréal, January 2014. Ukraine’s Euromaidan: A Pro-European Revolution?
- University of Toronto, January 2011. The Perils of Judicial Insulation
- University of Toronto, December 2010. Distinguished Leaders in Bulgaria Annual Lecture, “Boyko Borisov, the Judiciary, and the Fight Against Corruption”
- Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center, June 2010. Separation of Powers in Russia and Ukraine.
- POLI 330: Law and Courts in Europe
- POLI 331: Politics of East Central Europe and the Balkans
- POLI 451: The European Union
- POLI 639: Mixed Methods Research in European Studies