Beyond the platform debate: Wartime Russia’s volunteer networks and the EU’s digital democracy dilemma
As the war in Ukraine continues to reshape Europe’s political and digital landscape, questions about online participation, platform regulation, and civic resistance have gained renewed urgency in EU policy debates. Against this backdrop, research on grassroots activism inside Russia offers a striking lens on how digital tools can simultaneously sustain humanitarian action and reshape political identities under authoritarian pressure.
Studio Europa Maastricht spoke with Olga Zvonareva, Associate Professor in the Department of Health, Ethics, and Society at Maastricht University and author of “Divided Publics: Digital Media and Public Participation in Wartime Russia”. Her work examines volunteer humanitarian networks in Russia and the ways digital media enable forms of participation that blur the boundaries between care, resistance, and political meaning-making.
Read the entire article on Studio Europa's website.
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