Conference sections:
1) Russia war on Ukraine: Current and post-war economic recovery
2) Rebuilding after European Wars
Subsection 1: Western economies
Subsection 2: Mixed economies in the post-war era
3) European Societies in Recovery
What lessons, if any, can we learn from European experience of post-war revivals? What challenges are the Ukrainian authorities likely to face? These will undoubtedly be multifarious. For one thing, there will be resource constraints, with shortages of both finance and raw materials, as well as a pressing need for export earnings to pay off wartime debts and rebuild the economy. There will be a need to facilitate, organise and use foreign debt relief and aid in an orderly way, as the Marshall Plan to some extent allowed after the Second World War. How will societies be aided in the recovery phase and then in the longer term, in terms of the public sphere – schools, hospitals, health centres, metro and rail – and also in terms of public trust and mental health? These burdens all pressed very heavily across the whole of Europe in the inter-war and post-Second World War phases, and there must be suggestions and lines of inquiry to follow based on how other societies have suffered and recovered, both general and specific.
Ukraine currently shows high resilience not only on the battlefield, but also on the economic front, and in terms of European integration: the economy continues functioning, although in smaller size. At the same time, some areas are intensively developing, such as engineering, digital and modern military technologies. In this regard, it is important to focus efforts on integrated approaches to sustain the economy during the war and prevent major deviations from its efficient functioning in the future. Some sectors (such as energy) are under aggressive attack and their planning must be both smart and flexible. Such work should not be just about the restoration of destroyed and damaged objects, but also energy efficiency and renewable sources in even the smallest activity. Other industries are strategically important – in particular, those that have high export potential which could bring much needed currency return to the country, as well as those that are important for the defence complex and for forming the base for European economic integration. Regional and territorial features in the post-occupation context also require special attention, as they were part of the hidden push for the first occupation in 2014.
Thus, this conference aims and will make an effort to relate the historical post-war experience and its lessons directly to the situation in Ukraine now and after the war, both in its geopolitical and economic context.
Svitlana Slava (University of Oxford: svitlana.slava@politics.ox.ac.uk) & Glen O’Hara (Oxford Brooks University: glen.ohara@brookes.ac.uk)
