At the "official" geographical centre of Europe, Radžiuliai/Purnuškės
(25 km north of Vilnius, Lithuania)

Curriculum Vitae

Research Interests

Publications

Research Projects

Comments about The Rise and Fall of Neo-liberalism

"Since the 1970s, the politics of "neo-liberalism," based on the purported concern to minimize state interference in the economy and thus to unleash "free" markets, have been mobilized at various sites and scales across the world economy. This book provides useful intellectual tools for deciphering the ideological, social and institutional foundations of neoliberalism and its wide-ranging implications for the still ongoing regulatory reorganization of capitalism." - Neil Brenner, Professor of Sociology, New York University, USA

"This is an outstanding book not only because of the sophisticated critiques offered by some of the most highly regarded thinkers on the topic of the destruction and misery wrought through neoliberal capitalism, but also because its forward looking emphasis on a more egalitarian and hopeful future offers insights about the work that needs to be done by activists and scholars alike. Moreover, this book helps us recognize that the emergence of any talk of a post-neoliberal era is premature beyond helping to construct a road map for ways citizens of the world can collectively, and deliberately, move forward." - Nik Heynen, Associate Professor of Geography, University of Georgia, US

"This timely and wide ranging book traces the changing contours of neoliberalism, demonstrating how market-oriented policies gave rise to a globally hegemonic political-economic project. The emphasis is on identifying the different forms neoliberalism takes and the diverse responses to it. At a juncture when this political-economic project is under increasing scrutiny from supporters and opponents alike, the book challenges existing conceptions of neoliberalism and makes an important contribution to the reinvigorated search for political alternatives." - Wendy Larner, Professor of Human Geography and Sociology, University of Bristol, UK

"A timely volume on the nature, varied manifestations, and above all limitations of a an economic order that is failing so spectacularly with the financial crisis. Highly recommended for academics, students, or for that matter anyone interested in the politics of our times." - Magnus Ryner, Professor of International Relations, Oxford Brookes University, UK

"a valuable set of essays" - Environment and Planning A, vol. 42 (9), Sept 2010, p. 2037

"provides useful insights on the rise to power of neoliberalism to its present state as a beast that lies wounded in front of our eyes." - Socialist Review, October 2010

"a great collection of essays" - Alan O'Connor, Director of Cultural Studies, Trent University, Canada

"brilliantly analysed ... a clear, highly informative, and even entertaining collection ... a fine epitaph for neoliberalism, the political economy of the undead" - The Hindu, 11 January 2011

"an important contribution to the current debate" - Baltic Worlds, Vol. 2, 2011, pp. 59-60

Vlad Mykhnenko / Влад Михненко

Email: vlad.mykhnenko@gmail.com

EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT

2012 -	Lecturer in Human Geography, Urban Adaptation and Resilience, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK
2008-2011	Research Fellow, School of Geography, University of Nottingham, UK
2005-2008	Research Fellow, Centre for Public Policy for Regions, University of Glasgow, UK
1999-2005	Ph.D. in Political Economy, Darwin College & Faculty of Human, Social, and Political Science, University of Cambridge, UK
2003-2004	International Policy Fellow, Open Society Institute, Budapest, Hungary
1998-1999	M.A. in International Relations and European Studies, Department of International Relations and European Studies, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
1996-1998	M.A. in International Relations, Institute of International Relations, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine
1992-1996	B.A. in International Relations, Institute of International Relations, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine

[For a more detailed account, please, see my CV]

RESEARCH AGENDA Vlad Mykhnenko

I am intellectually committed to the advancement of geographical political economy, typically described as the study of modern capitalist social formations as spatially and temporally uneven and highly differentiated systems, and of their impact on people and the environment.

I am particularly interested in the interplay of economic geography, comparative political economy, and urban and regional studies within the following empirical and theoretical fields:

Cities: growth, resilience, resurgence, shrinkage, sustainable development, and alternative development strategies
Critical political economy: cultural political economy, evolutionary economic geography, global production networks, historical-geographical materialism, 'varieties of capitalism', regulation theory
Europe: eastern, post-Soviet, western
Local government: budgetary politics, municipal finance, and urban governance
Regions: fiscal federalism, industrial restructuring, and territorial cohesion
Uneven and combined development: the 'knowledge-based economy', manufacturing, and neo-liberalism; public health outcomes of economic and fiscal crises

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PUBLICATIONS

[For the full list of my publications, please, see my CV]

Main publications

Mykhnenko, V. (2011) The Political Economy of Post-Communism: The Donbas and Upper Silesia in Transition. Saarbrücken: Lambert Academic Publishing, 244 pages. ISBN: 978-3845409344 (Amazon.co.uk).

Birch, K. and Mykhnenko, V., eds. (2010) The Rise and Fall of Neoliberalism: The Collapse of an Economic Order? London: Zed Books, 288 pages. ISBN: 978-1848133495 (paperback). ISBN: 978-1848133488 (hardcover).

[Reprinted in India as Birch, K. and Mykhnenko, V., eds. (2010) The Rise and Fall of Neoliberalism: The Collapse of an Economic Order? Bangalore: Books for Change, 288 pages. ISBN: 978-8182910900 (paperback).]

Mykhnenko, V. and Swain, A. (2010). 'Ukraine’s Diverging Space-Economy: The Orange Revolution, Post-soviet Development Models and Regional Trajectories', European Urban and Regional Studies, Vol. 17, No. 2 (April), pp. 141-165. Click here to download.

Mykhnenko, V. (2009) 'Class Voting and the Orange Revolution: A Cultural Political Economy Perspective on Ukraine’s Electoral Geography', Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, Vol. 25, Nos. 2-3 (June - September), pp. 278-296. Click here to download.

[Reprinted as Mykhnenko, V. (2010) 'Class Voting and the Orange Revolution: A Cultural Political Economy Perspective on Ukraine’s Electoral Geography', in White, S. & Lane, D. (eds) (2010) Rethinking the 'Coloured Revolutions'. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 166-184. ISBN: 978-0415571692].

Birch, K. and Mykhnenko, V. (2009) 'Varieties of Neoliberalism? Restructuring in Large Industrially-dependent Regions across Western and Eastern Europe', Journal of Economic Geography, Vol. 9, No. 3 (May), pp. 355-380. Click here to download.

Mykhnenko, V. (2009) 'Transition Economies', in Wankel, C. (ed) The Encyclopedia of Business in Today's World, Vol. 4. Thousand Oaks, CA.: SAGE Publications, pp. 1613-1615. Click here to download.

Mykhnenko, V. and Turok, I. (2008) 'East European Cities - Patterns of Growth and Decline, 1960-2005', International Planning Studies, Vol. 13, No. 4 (November), pp. 311-342. Click here to download.

Turok, I. and Mykhnenko, V. (2008) 'Resurgent European Cities?', Urban Research & Practice, Vol. 1, No. 1 (March), pp. 54-77. Click here to download.

Runner-up for Best Published Paper in European Planning 2007 (AESOP)
Turok, I. and Mykhnenko, V. (2007) 'The Trajectories of European Cities, 1960-2005,' Cities, Vol. 24, No. 3 (June), pp. 165-182. Click here to download.

Mykhnenko, V. (2007) 'Strengths and Weaknesses of "Weak Co-ordination": Economic Institutions, Revealed Comparative Advantages, and Socio-Economic Performance of Mixed Market Economies in Poland and Ukraine', in Hancké, B., Rhodes, M., & Thatcher, M., (eds) (2007) Beyond Varieties of Capitalism: Conflict, Contradictions and Complementarities in the European Economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 351-378. ISBN: 978-0199206483. Click here to download.

Mykhnenko, V. (2007) 'Poland and Ukraine: Institutional Structures and Economic Performance', in Lane, D. & Myant, M. (eds) (2007) Varieties of Capitalism in Post-Communist Countries. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 124-145. ISBN: 978-1403996411.

Swain, A. and Mykhnenko, V. (2007) 'The Ukrainian Donbas in "Transition"', in Swain, A. (ed.) (2007) Re-constructing the Post-Soviet Industrial Region: The Donbas in Transition. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 7-46. ISBN: 978-0415322287. Click here to browse.

Mykhnenko, V. (2005) 'What Type of Capitalism in Post-communist Europe?', Actes du GERPISA, No. 39 (December), pp. 83-112. Click here to download.

Mykhnenko, V. (2002) 'State, Society and Protest under Post-communism: Ukrainian Miners and Their Defeat', in Mudde, C. & Kopecký, P. (eds) (2002) Uncivil Society? Contentious Politics in Eastern Europe. London: Routledge, pp. 93-113. ISBN: 978-0415265850.

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Other publications

Влад Михненко. (2010) "Неолібералізм в містах: множинність проявів та можливі альтернативи". Спільне: журнал соціальної критики. – №2. – С. 18-21. Для завантаження натисніть сюди.

Mykhnenko, V., Myedvyedyev, D., and Kuzmenko, L. (2010) Urban shrinkage in Donetsk and Makiivka, the Donetsk conurbation, Ukraine (D4 comparable research report). Nottingham: The University of Nottingham School of Geography. Click here to download.

[Translated as Михненко, В., Кузьменко, Л. и Медведев, Д. (2010) "Убывание в городах Донецк и Макеевка, Донецкая городская агломерация, Украина: Доклад по результатам исследования". Ноттингем, Великобритания и Донецк, Украина: Школа географии Ноттингемского университета и Институт экономики промышленности НАН Украины. Для загрузки нажмите здесь].

Turok, I. and Mykhnenko, V. (2008) 'The Shifting Fortunes of European Cities', Town & Country Planning, Vol. 77, No. 7/8 (July-August), pp. 319-322. Click here to download.

Mykhnenko, V. (2008) Review of Revolution in Orange by A. Åslund and M. McFaul (eds) (2006), Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 60, No. 5, pp. 867-869. Click here to download.

Mykhnenko, V. 2008. Review of Understanding Ukrainian Politics by P. D’Anieri (2007), Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 60, No. 2, pp. 340-342. Click here to download.

Mykhnenko, V. and Turok, I. (2007) European Regions and Cities Dataset 1960 - 2005: Methods and Sources, Working Paper 3. Glasgow: University of Glasgow CPPR. Click here to download.

Mykhnenko, V. (2006) Review of Rescaling International Political Economy by D. E. Paul (2005), Urban Studies, Vol. 43, No. 11, pp. 2126-2127. Click here to download.

Mykhnenko, V. (2004) 'From Exit to Take-Over: the Evolution of the Donbas as an Intentional Community', Paper presented at Workshop No 20. 'The Politics of Utopia: Intentional Communities as Social Science Microcosms, The European Consortium for Political Research Joint Sessions of Workshops, 13-18 April, Uppsala, Sweden. Click here to download.

Mykhnenko, V. (2004) Rusting Away? The Ukrainian Iron and Steel Industry in Transition. Budapest: Open Society Institute & Central European University Centre for Policy Studies. Click here to download.

Mykhnenko, V. (2004) 'Ukrainian Steel: Vulnerable Overseas, Weak at Home', Steel Times International, Vol. 28, No. 7, pp. 54-57. Click here to download page 54 and page 57.

Mykhnenko, V. (2001) Book note on Тайная политика Сталина by G. V. Kostyrchenko (2001), E-Extreme, Vol. 2, No. 4. Click here to download.

Mykhnenko, V. (2001) Book note on Labour and Political Transformation in Russia and Ukraine by R. Simon (2000), E-Extreme, Vol. 2, No. 3. Click here to download.

Mykhnenko, V. (2001) Review of Українські ліві: між ленінізмом і соціал-демократією by O. Haran’ and O. Maiboroda (eds) (2000), E-Extreme, Vol. 2, No. 2. Click here to download.

Mykhnenko, V. (2001) Review of Russian Workers by S. Ashwin (1999), E-Extreme, Vol. 2, No. 2. Click here to download.

[For the full list of my publications, please, see my CV]

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PAST RESEARCH PROJECTS

2003-2004: Rusting away? Post-Communist States and the Politics of Steel

My policy research project was conducted at the Open Society Institute International Policy Fellowships Programme in affiliation with the Central European University Centre for Policy Studies in Budapest, Hungary. It focused on the state capacity in leading economic sectors in post-communist Europe, particularly the Ukrainian iron & steel industry.

2005-2008: Cities and Regions: Changing Spatial Imbalances

In collaboration with Ivan Turok (Glasgow) at the CPPR, I undertook a large research project on understanding spatial economic change and changing urban imbalances in Europe. The project examined the diverse trajectories and variable performance of cities across Western and Eastern Europe, drew out the implications for urban and regional development policy, and engaged with public policy stakeholders. (For some of the media coverage, click the following for The BBC, Guardian, Financial Times, Irish Independent, Newcastle Evening Chronicle).

2006-2008: Neoliberalism, Anti-Neoliberalism, and De-Ideologisation

Jointly with Kean Birch and Katherine Trebeck, I ran a special seminar series financed by the UK Economic and Social Research Council. The seminar series considered neo-liberalism an ideology characterised by an antipathy towards state involvement in economic exchange and an emphasis on the benefits of market forces, illustrated the ascendancy of neo-liberal processes, rules and institutions, and highlighted the impact that such an ideology have on social research and policy, especially where it is presented as a technocratic rather than political matter. The seminar series provided a forum in which both senior and junior academics were able to engage in dialogue with each other and with research users, broadly defined.

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

2009-2012: Shrink Smart - Governance of Shrinkage within a European Context

I am currently working on a new collaborative research grant project funded through the European Union's Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7). Taking part in a major research consortium with seven other European universities and academic research institutes, I am studying the role of policies and governance systems in different types of shrinking cities. The project is based on comparative case studies from seven cities and conurbations throughout Europe with a focus on disadvantaged urban regions in eastern, southern, and western Europe, suffering from economic decline, population loss, and a lack of social cohesion. The work will provide a basis for analysing different trajectories of shrinkage, understanding the main challenges for urban political economy, and elaborating alternatives for urban governance. (For some of the media coverage, click here).

2009-2013: COST Action TU0803 Cities Regrowing Smaller - Fostering Knowledge on Regeneration Strategies in Shrinking Cities across Europe

The main objective of the Action is to foster the interdisciplinary knowledge of Regeneration Strategies in Shrinking Cities across Europe. By promoting the exchange of scientific knowledge in Europe and stimulating new ideas in selected reference cities, the network will act as a catalyst for innovative solutions to deal with demographic change and urban decline. COST is supported by the EU RTD Framework Programme.

2011-2016: Privatisation and Mortality in Post-Communism: A Multi-Level Indirect Demographic Analysis

This five-year project led by Dr. Lawrence P. King (Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge) and Professor Sir Michael Marmot (University College London) will study the impact of economic policies on public health by bringing together a community of the world’s leading scholars to provide decisive evidence on the debate. The European Research Council’s funding of €3,483,058 will allow the major international collaboration to develop an innovative methodology of establishing a convenience cohort study of 110,000 respondents to provide an answer to the vital question: Why did millions of people die pre-maturely in the former USSR in the 1990s?

According to the European Research Council: ‘The study is well worth doing, given its pioneering nature. It tries soundly to link the yet poorly connected levels of macroeconomic and institutional change analyses with health and its proximate social determinants analyses. While dealing with Eastern Europe countries it may set an example for rigorous investigations on the relations of macroeconomics and politics with health in general. The amount of funds requested is justified given the possibility of understanding better social and economic determinants of health in a scenario that is not very far from what several societies in Europe may have to encounter in the near future. As this project addresses the very issue on how the organisation of our society is linked to health of the citizens, it is definitely a project with immense potential impact’.

The project in detail:

Between 1990 and 1995, an estimated 7 million premature deaths occurred in the countries that emerged from the USSR, a human catastrophe comparable to the toll exacted by Stalin’s purges and politically induced famines. While public health research has uncovered a great deal about the proximal causes of these deaths, identifying alcohol and psychosocial stress as key causes, incredibly few studies have attempted to address the variation in these proximal causes. Why did people in some countries start to abuse alcohol much more and experience greater stress than in others?

This study will provide decisive evidence on this debate by proposing a new methodology for studying the impact of economic policies on public health, and in so doing advancing an emerging new research tradition called the Political Economy of Public Health. It will do this by way of developing an innovative methodology of establishing a convenience cohort study, based on the Brass indirect method traditionally used by demographers in countries without reliable vital registration data.

There are three central aims of the proposed project. The first is to test the hypothesis that rapid privatisation increased the magnitude of the post-communist mortality crisis. The second is to examine if excess mortality, including any excess mortality found to be associated with privatisation, is unequally distributed by occupational group or other measures of socio-economic position. The third is to investigate socio-economic and behavioural determinants of non-fatal health outcomes in post-communist countries.

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Note: I fully assert my copyright over the papers and other documents posted on this website