Citizen Engagement in Times of Polycrisis: Learning from Ukraine’s Communities During Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion

"Citizen participation holds significant normative value in response to global crises, such as pandemics, climate change, and Russia's war against Ukraine, destabilising international systems. It is seen as a potential source of legitimacy and co-production benefits. As a result, international development cooperation increasingly prioritises participatory projects for its beneficiaries. However, the global democratic deficit exacerbated by these crises reveals that the lack of citizen engagement, often caused by people opting out, undermines the core promise of (local) democracy. Focusing on local democracy in Ukraine during Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion, this study explores the individual-level predictors of citizen participation and local government strategies that encourage it, using a mixed-methods approach, including surveys and case studies in up to eight municipalities. By understanding why citizens in Ukraine still engage in local democracy and how local governments shape those intentions during the war, we will offer recommendations on how to adjust local democratic practices to citizens’ needs during large-scale crises." For subsection "Engaging dissatisfied citizens: participatory practices in Central and Eastern Europe Bettina Mitru (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)". Additional information This paper examines the conditions under which citizens choose to participate in local decision-making and the co-production of public services under conditions of protracted crisis. Focusing on local democracy in Ukraine during Russia’s full-scale invasion, it integrates Mancur Olson’s logic of collective action with Elinor Ostrom’s theory of co-production to analyse how participation emerges when risks, costs, and institutional uncertainty are high. The paper argues that citizen participation becomes sustainable not primarily through civic norms, but through institutional mechanisms that reduce participation costs and create context-specific incentives. Empirically, the study addresses three questions: why citizens participate in local governance, how local democratic institutions mitigate participation deficits, and how external democracy-promotion actors can support these processes without undermining local legitimacy. Using mixed methods, including survey data and comparative analysis of Ukrainian municipalities, the paper identifies key institutional and governance mechanisms enabling participation during wartime, and derives implications for theories of participation, local governance, and international democracy support.