Mentor
Ivan Grek, PhD, is Director of the Russia Program at George Washington University’s Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies. Trained in political science and history, Ivan specializes in studies of illiberal grassroots movements, ideology, and civil society in Russia. His work was recognized with academic awards for its contribution to the field. His research has been published in peer-reviewed journals, as well as leading US and Russian media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Kommersant. Ivan co-edits Russia.Post and is a committed advocate for broadly accessible digital research methodologies, working to expand the tools and practices of open scholarly inquiry across the field.
Project description
Russia has over 700,000 registered NGOs, with 133,000 holding official designation as socially significant organizations and there is much to study. One of the most consequential yet often illegitimately ignored realms where Russia’s future is being forged is illiberal civil society: networks of non-profit and horizontal associations that are structurally identical to liberal non-profits, but oriented toward illiberal ideologies. The literature systematically demonstrates that voluntary associations do not necessarily lead to liberal democracy: they can equally fulfill the mission of binding society together and empowering it along very different political trajectories. Research lenses, however, tend to focus exclusively on liberal movements, while illiberal civil organizations are routinely overlooked due to their conservative framing and language. Such organizations often act as the backbones of Russian society’s wartime resilience. Yet it is precisely within illiberal civil society that the internal visions of Russian future – such as illiberal democracy – are being forged and it demands serious study.
Work in this laboratory will focus on identifying and deeply exploring illiberal horizontal associations currently active and impactful in Russia, using a wide range of methods. Big data and administrative data analysis, Telegram channels, and press monitoring will be used to map the most significant networks, which will then be examined qualitatively. No data science background is required, the methodology and research tools have been specifically adapted for researchers without technical training. The approach that informs this work can be explored here: The grassroots of Putin’s ideology: civil origins of an uncivil regime.
As a result, lab participants will build portfolios of illiberal civil movements, documenting their structures, narratives, impact, networks, and potential for producing and sustaining new social meanings.
Requirements:
- Russian language fluency;
- Comfort working with basic data methods and AI tools;
- Familiarity with, or readiness to engage with, social and political theory;
- Ideological open-mindedness in the interest of genuinely understanding others’ motivations.