Former Fellow

Olesia Zvezdova, Ph.D.

Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University (Mykolaiv, Ukraine)

Research project title: Russian psychological warfare against Ukraine

Research Abstract:
The events, currently taking place in the world, indicate that population of Europe continent is on a verge of transformations in the field of international security, including psychological security as well. During only previous decade we were witnesses of wide Russian information warfare against Ukraine, which has a destructive and destabilizing effect on societies in general and on the psyche of everyone in particular.

Throughout the Russian-Ukrainian hybrid war (since 2014), Russian Federation actively continues to use different psychological mechanisms of influence on the population of Ukraine, European Union and even its own people, with only difference that one of these influences aimed at discrediting of authorities in a country, undermining an authority of the military structures (Ukraine), the others – at manipulation of collective consciousness and outright chantage (EU countries) and – intimidation and formation in minds of the population figure of an ancient and irreconcilable enemy (Russia). Moreover, research project considers the problematic of separatism and psychological influence of patron-state on population of non-recognized territory. Research could be interesting for different specialists, because it is based on interdisciplinary (at least international relations and psychology) principles.

  • Biografische Angaben

    Olesia Zvezdova is a guest researcher at Goethe University Frankfurt. She holds two Master`s Diploma in International relations (2010), in Psychology (2023) and PhD in Political Science (specification - political problems of international systems and global development). She has been lecturing at Black Sea National University (Ukraine) for six years and predominantly was engaged in lecturing such courses as "Geopolitics" and "Russian Foreign Policy". In 2022 she was forced to move to Germany because of war.
  • Publikationen

    Zvezdova, O. (2020). Tools for promoting European values in the context of civil servants training. Problems and process of reforming public administration education in Ukraine and EU countries. Wloclawek, Poland. December 2-13. Voronkova, V., Zvezdova, O. (2022). Theoretical and practical aspects of modern politics: challenges and reformatting of the global world. Cuestiones Políticas, 40 (75). https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.4075.32 Zvezdova, O. (2023). Psychological warfare as a hybrid threat to the modern system of international security. Acta de Historia & Politica: Saeculum XXI, 5. https://doi.org/10.26693/ahpsxxi2023.05.063 Zvezdova, O. (2023). “Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic”: Genesis of Issue and Influence on the International Relations. Acta De Historia & Politica: Saeculum XXI, 2. https://doi.org/10.26693/ahpsxxi2023.si.005

News from the research center

News
30.06.2025

Article "Ideology and Suffering: What Is Realistic about Critical Theory?" by Amadeus Ulrich published in EJPT

The article "Ideology and Suffering: What Is Realistic about Critical Theory?" by Amadeus Ulrich has just been published open access in the European Journal of Political Theory (EJPT). Ulrich brings the perspective of radical realism into a productive dialog with Adorno's critical theory.

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News
30.06.2025

Prof. Dr. Franziska Fay awarded the Sibylle Kalkhof-Rose University Prize 2025

Prof. Dr. Franziska Fay (Junior Professor of Ethnology with a focus on Political Anthropology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and former postdoctoral researcher at the Research Center Normative Orders at Goethe University) receives the Sibylle Kalkhof-Rose University Award 2025 in the category Humanities and Social Sciences.

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Publication
25.06.2025 | Online article

Ideology and Suffering: What Is Realistic about Critical Theory?

Ulrich, Amadeus (2025): Ideology and suffering: What is realistic about critical theory? European Journal of Political Theory, 0(0).  https://doi.org/10.1177/14748851251351782

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News
24.06.2025

New series “Vertrauensfragen” in the Frankfurter Rundschau initiated by Hendrik Simon

Democracy thrives on debate - if it serves the joint search for solutions. There is often a problem with this cooperation. The new FR series “Vertrauensfragen”, initiated by Hendrik Simon (Research Institute Social Cohesion (RISC) Frankfurt location at Goethe University's Research Centre Normative Orders ), examines why this is the case and how we can do better.

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Publication
23.06.2025 | Working Paper

Untrustworthy Authorities and Complicit Bankers: Unraveling Monetary Distrust in Argentina

Moreno, Guadalupe (2025): “Untrustworthy Authorities and Complicit Bankers: Unraveling Monetary Distrust in Argentina”. Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies Discussion Paper 25/3.

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News
22.05.2025

Does deliberative democracy have a future in the age of oligarchs, autocrats and patriarchs?

On June 3, Prof. Simone Chambers will give a lecture on the value of democracies and the future of the form of government.

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Publication
19.05.2025 | Anthology

Klimaethik. Ein Reader

Sparenborg, Lukas; Moellendorf, Darrel (Hrsg.) (2025) : Klimaethik. Ein Reader. Suhrkamp.

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News
19.05.2025

What can a baroque tapestry tell us about colonial iconography?

Lecture by Cécile Fromone on May 21. The professor at the Department of the History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University, director of the Cooper Gallery at the Hutchins Center and author will talk about the long-forgotten African origins of iconography and its colonial dimension.

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News
05.05.2025

Normative Orders Newsletter 01/25 published

The newsletter from Research Centre Normative Orders collects information on current events, reports, news and publications several times a year. Read the first issue 2025 here.

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