Transformative Podcast

Western non-governmental organizations such as the World Bank played a crucial role in China’s economic reforms during the 1980s and 1990s. They facilitated dialogues between Chinese economists and their western counterparts, as well as brought in western known-how on free market economy to China, where Soviet-style planned economy had dominated the economic activities since the 1950s. In this podcast, Dr. Federico Pachetti (RECET) and Dr. Sheng Peng (RECET) discuss both the expectations and realities, which western NGOs faced during their participation in China’s great economic transformations.

Federico Pachetti is an associated researcher at RECET and a post-doctoral fellow at Corvinus Institute of Advanced Studies (CIAS), Budapest. Previously, he held positions at New York University (NYU) Shanghai and at London School of Economics (LSE). Federico researches and teaches 20th century international history, with a focus on how shifting dynamics in global political economy shaped the evolution of Sino-American relations during the final decades of the century.

Overshadowed by the military aggression against Ukraine, "Memorial" was banned and forced to close in Russia. The oldest non-governmental organization in the region, dating back to the late Soviet era and Andrey Sakharov's engagement, "Memorial" has been a prominent actor in Human Rights and memory politics. 

Anna Dobrovolskaya is a former Executive Director of the Human Rights Center "Memorial". In this episode, she is talking to RECET's Managing Director Irena Remestwenski on roots, activities, heritage of the movement, and not the least on hope and perspectives for democracy in Russia. 

Ukrainians went from being a nation of occasional voters whose rights existed mainly on paper in the 1990’s to a society with strong civil society institutions and a vibrant democracy post Maidan Revolution of 2013/14. In this episode moderated by Irena Remestwenski (RECET), Valeria Korablyova (Charles University in Prague) reflects upon the concept of performative citizenship, the role of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the new empowered Ukrainian citizen who is willing to make a difference in the political field.

Dr. Valeria Korablyova is Senior Research Fellow at Charles University, Department of East European Studies. She received her habilitation in 2015 from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, where she worked as Professor of Philosophy. Her research interests include post-Communist transformations in Ukraine and East Central Europe with a specific focus on mass protests and nation-building.