Sophia Wilson PhD

Dr. Sophia Wilson is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and President of the American Association for Ukrainian Studies.

Wilson received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington and held fellowships at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, Indiana University Law School, and Weizenbaum Institute in Berlin. She taught at the Harvard Ukrainian Summer Institute in 2017, 2019 and 2025. Dr. Wilson's book, Maidan: Ukraine's Democratic Revolution (McGill-Queens University Press) is an extensive analysis of the grassroots 2013–2014 Revolution of Dignity, which renegotiated the social contract and reaffirmed democracy in Ukraine. She is currently working on her new book, Fascism vs. Communism: Ukraine under Three Occupations.

Sophia Wilson has provided analysis for U.S. government agencies, and commentary for broadcast and print media outlets on Ukraine and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including for NPR and The Guardian. She was recognized by the Ukrainian government "for leadership in the study and research of Ukrainian Studies in the United States of America" in August 2024, and awarded a Certificate of Recognition from the Global Coalition of Ukrainian Studies for her role in strengthening Ukraine's presence in the global academic community in 2025.

Courtesy of Howard Ash

Maidan: Ukraine's
Democratic Revolution book cover

McGill-Queens University Press, 2026

The 2013–14 Maidan Revolution, or Revolution of Dignity, was far more than a series of protests. The coalescence of complex social networks formed a powerful grassroots movement that restored democracy to a country slipping into authoritarianism.

"Maidan gives a carefully researched account of the underbelly of the resistance process, investigating how participants self-organized to create the resistance, why the peaceful movement eventually turned to violence, and how the revolutionary process changed those who came to change the country."

Offering an unparalleled opportunity to see a social contract negotiation in action, Maidan draws on more than one hundred personal interviews, oral histories, legal documents, and court hearings.

The book is available through Amazon.com and McGill University Press.

Sophia Wilson's research on Maidan was featured on NPR. She presented the research at multiple universities and other venues in the U.S. and internationally. Watch a detailed discussion of her book at the Harriman Institute, Columbia University.

Journal Articles on Maidan

"Cause Lawyering in Revolutionary Ukraine" in the Journal of Law and Courts

"The Ukrainian Revolution: Repression, Interpretation, and Dissent" in Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change

Research Grants

CAD Research grant from the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Alberta · Eugene and Daymel Shklar Fellowship at Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute · Shevchenko Scientific Society (the Olha Mociul Fund) publication grant · SIUE research grant

Unissued Diplomas Exhibit
at SIUE — Unissued Diplomas Exhibit at SIUE, commemorating Ukrainian students killed in the Russian invasion.

Watch one of Wilson's media interviews, on CBS affiliate, KMOV, which provides a 4-minute summary of the major aims and tactics of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

For an argument why we should not attempt to appease the Kremlin – read the Open Letter in The Guardian, to which Wilson contributed, and gathered support from scholars across the world. Russia's actions – including systematic war crimes in occupied territory in Ukraine, including massacres, mass rape and torture – demonstrate a clear intent to destroy Ukraine as a nation, rather than to alleviate its own security concerns.

Watch this Fulbright webinar about the role of disinformation during wartime, including Wilson's presentation about Russia's propaganda about Ukraine, based on Maynard's framework of genocidal propaganda (this issue is also addressed in the last chapter of her book, Maidan: Ukraine's Democratic Revolution).

SIUE Webinar Series

Wilson led a series of SIUE webinars to educate about the devastating effects of Russia's genocidal war on the people of Ukraine and the dangers of the Russian nuclear threat:

Conversation with Ukraine's Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Oleksandra Matviichuk
Is Russia Committing Genocide in Ukraine? — featuring Dr. Azeem Ibrahim and Emily Prey, presenting independent legal analysis by the New Lines Institute and Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
Russian Nuclear Threat — featuring Dr. Volodymyr Borysenko (Head of the Atomic Engineering Division, Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants at Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences & Professor of Nuclear Engineering at the Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University), Dr. Mariana Budjeryn (Senior Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center), and Dr. Yevhen Fedchenko (Director, Kyiv Mohyla University School of Journalism; Co-founder and Chief Editor of fact-checking website StopFake.org)

Seizure of vegetables from
peasants in Novo-Krasne village — Seizure of vegetables from peasants in Novo-Krasne village in Odesa Oblast, Ukraine. November of 1932.

In October of 2023, Sophia Wilson was a Visiting Fellow at the Weizenbaum Institute in Berlin, as she began work on her new book, Fascism vs. Communism: Ukraine under Three Occupations, comparing the effects of occupational tactics by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and modern Russia. Stay connected for forthcoming publications of her research on this topic.

Wilson's publications on human rights practices in authoritarian regimes are based on extensive fieldwork she conducted in Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and Ukraine, including multiple interviews with judges, journalists and activists:

Why do judges risk helping journalists avoid harsh punishments under authoritarian regimes? Read "Courts, Police, and Journalists: Overlooked Support for Press Freedom in Post-Soviet Authoritarian States" in Problems of Post-Communism.

In Tajikistan and Azerbaijan, legal provisions offer an easy route for divorce, but effectively limit women's ability to inherit property. However, police and judges make systematic efforts to circumvent those laws. On one hand, they deliberately violate existing legal provisions to prevent women from divorcing or filing charges against their husbands in cases of domestic violence. On the other, judges often rule to protect women's living space after the dissolution of religious unions even though the law does not recognize those unions in Tajikistan. Why? Read, "Majoritarian values and women's rights: police and judicial behavior in Tajikistan and Azerbaijan" in Post-Soviet Affairs.

Across post-Soviet countries, laws governing the practice of religion differ. However, these laws are not always a good predictor of the level of discrimination against religious minorities. Why do Jewish congregations experience relative freedom in Muslim-majority Azerbaijan, while Evangelical groups often experience discriminatory treatment from local law enforcement? Read "Law Enforcement and the Politics of Religious Minority Rights in Azerbaijan," in Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization

Research Grants

IREX-IARO Dissertation Research Grant · University of Washington Graduate School Chester-Fritz Research Grant · Dissertation Writing Fellowship from the University of Washington Graduate School

Dr. Wilson
presenting at the Global Initiative

Wilson presented at an event organized by Ukraine's First Lady, Olena Zelenska, and the Embassy of Ukraine to the United States, coinciding with the United Nations General Assembly in 2025. She also attended a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for representatives of the Ukrainian community in the United States, at the Ukrainian Institute of America.

As the president of the American Association for Ukrainian Studies, Wilson promoted efforts aimed at decolonizing Western academia, across all disciplines within the Humanities and Social Sciences. Her efforts include leading the work to create the Decolonization Syllabus – collecting scholarship and materials to help address the gap in Western understanding of Ukraine, with a focus on history and culture of the 20th–21st centuries.

In collaboration with the Shevchenko Scientific Society and Razom for Ukraine, she promoted a workshop for early-career scholars – aimed at strengthening network connections among students dedicated to Ukrainian studies.

In May 2022, she was an invited lecturer for the online Invisible University for Ukraine, organized by the Central European University Budapest for Ukrainian students affected by the Russian invasion.

Visit the AAUS website for more sources for scholars of Ukraine and those interested in studying more about Ukraine.

Sophia Wilson, PhD

Maidan: Ukraine's Democratic Revolution

Research Grants

Russia–Ukraine War

Authoritarian Regimes

Research Grants

Ukrainian Studies