Lena Surzhko Harned, Ph.D.

Lena Surzhko Harned, Ph.D.
Associate Teaching Professor, Political Science
Associate Director, The Public Policy Initiative at Penn State Behrend
149 Kochel

Mailing Address:
SCHOOL OF H&SS
PENN STATE BEHREND
170 KOCHEL CENTER
ERIE, PA 16563

Lena Surzhko Harned, Ph.D., is an associate teaching professor of Political Science. She is also the associate director and a faculty affiliate of the Public Policy Initiative at Penn State Behrend. Her primary research interests are in the field of comparative politics.

She is the author of several papers dealing with issues of nationalism and ethnic conflict, identity politics, electoral politics, comparative democratization, and political behavior in the post-communist states of Eastern Europe.

Her co-authored book, Post-Soviet Legacies and Conflicting Values in Europe: Generation WhY, was published in 2017 and examines the intergenerational conflict and consequences in post-Soviet Ukraine and Russia.

comparative politics, political behavior, European politics, politics of the European Union, politics of the post-Soviet space, democratization, nationalism and ethnic conflict, Russian politics, Ukrainian politics

Decolonisation in practice: reconceptualising Ukrainian nationalism, The Loop, ECPR's Political Science Blog - January 31, 2024

Should the West be concerned abour Russia's disintegration?, The Ukrainian Quarterly - July 13, 2023

I am a Ukrainian American political scientist, and this is what the past year of war has taught me about Ukraine, Russia and defiance, The Conversation - February 21, 2023

Why the 'Kosovo precedent' was a gateway for Russia’s abuse of international law, The Loop - February 20, 2023
Collaborator: Jiří Nykodým

Russian Abuses of International Law: The Kosovo Precedent and R2P, World Orders Forum - January 3, 2023
Collaborator: Jiří Nykodým

What a cathedral and a massive military parade show about Putin’s Russia, The Conversation - May 6, 2022

Russian World and Ukrainian Autocephaly: Religious Narratives in Anti-Colonial Nationalism of Ukraine., Religions - April 12, 2022

La catedral del ejército ruso: una iglesia hecha de armas y gloria que simboliza la Rusia de Putin, The Conversation - March 3, 2022

Holy wars: How a cathedral of guns and glory symbolizes Putin’s Russia, The Conversation - March 2, 2022

In Kazakhstan, Russia follows a playbook it developed in Ukraine, The Conversation - January 7, 2022

What’s on the agenda when Ukraine president meets Biden?, The Conversation - September 1, 2021

How Vladimir Putin uses natural gas to exert Russian influence and punish his enemies, The Conversation - June 23, 2021

‘The US is falling apart’: How Russian media is portraying the US Capitol siege, The Conversation - January 22, 2021

President Trump’s use of the authoritarian playbook will have lasting consequences, The Conversation - December 17, 2020
Collaborator: Luis Jimenez

Effects of EU’s norm promotion on changes in cultural values of non-member states: case of Ukraine, Ukrainian Professional Education - 2019

Ukraine is taking a beating at the impeachment hearings- here's what's at stake, The Conversation - November 20, 2019

New Generation Political Activism in Ukraine by Christine Emeran, Harvard Ukrainian Studies Journal - November, 2019

Ukraine’s President Zelenskiy may come to regret his discussion with President Trump, TheConversation - October 1, 2019

A Comedian who played a president on TV just became Ukraine's President , The Conversation - April 18, 2019

Post-Soviet Legacies and Conflicting Values in Europe: Generation Why - December, 2017
Collaborator: Ekaterina Turkina

Framing the Revolution: The Role of Social Media in Ukraine’s Euromaidan Movement, Nationality Papers - 2017
Collaborator: AJ Zahuranec

The effect of supranational identity on cultural values in Europe, European Political Science Review - 2016
Collaborator: Galina Zapryanova, Author

Diagnosing the Health of Russia’s Third Sector: Putin, Women’s Health, and Foreign NGOs, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs - 2015

Introduction: The Ukrainian Crisis, Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism - April 22, 2015

Generational Differences in Values in Central and Eastern Europe: The Effects of Politico-Economic Transition, Journal of Common Market Studies - 2014
Collaborator: Ekaterina Turkina, Author

Has the New Aid for Trade Agenda been Export Effective? Evidence on the Impact of US AfT Allocations 19992008, International Studies Quarterly - 2013
Collaborators: David Bearce, Author; Steven Finkel, Author; Anibal Perez-Linan, Author; Juan Rodriguez-Zepeda, Author

Forging Rights in a New Democracy: Ukrainian Students between Freedom and Justice, Nationality Papers - August, 2013

Liberal Nationalism, Nationalist Liberalization, and Democracy: Cases of post-Soviet Estonia and Ukraine, Nationality Papers - September, 2010

Ph.D., Political Science, The University of Pittsburgh

MA, Political Science , The University of Pittsburgh

BA, Political Science , Edinboro University of Pennsylvania