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Mikhail Minakov (also known as Mykhailo Minakov; born on 6 October 1971) is a political philosopher living in Kyiv and Milan. His major philosophical investigations focus on human experience, social knowledge, political system, historical consciousness, and multiple modernities.

Current affiliations

Biography

Mikhail Minakov grew up in Zaporizhzhya oblast. He graduated from the Zaporizhzhya Medical School in 1990 and worked as a village doctor (feldsher). The same year he started studying history and sociology at Zaporizhzhya State University. In 1992, Mikhail Minakov was accepted into Kyiv-Mohyla Academy where he studied philosophy, political science, sociology, and comparative literature leading him to a BA in Philosophy (1996) and an MA in Philosophy (1998).

Academic Career

Mikhail Minakov started his academic career as a part-time Assistant Professor at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in 2001 after defense of his Candidate Dissertation (Kant’s Problem of the Faith of Reason) at the Kyiv Institute of Philosophy. The same year he published his first book ‘Vchennia Kanta pro viru rizumu‘ (from Ukrainian: Kant’s Teaching on the Faith of Reason).

In 2007, Dr. Minakov defended his Doctoral Dissertation (‘Dosvid i filosofia: evoluzia poniattia dosvidu v zahidnii filosofii XIX-XX st.’, from Ukrainian: Experience and Philosophy: Evolution of the Concept of Experience in Western Philosophy of 19th–20th centuries). After that, he joined the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy as an Associate Professor, and then Professor in 2017-18. The same year, Prof. Minakov published his second book ‘Istoriia poniattia dosvidu‘ (from Ukrainian: History of the Concept of Experience).

Between 2010 and 2014, Prof. Minakov cooperated with several Western universities: Harvard University (visiting scholar in 2010 and 2013, visiting professor in 2012), Greifswald University (visiting professor in 2010 and 2014),  Wilson Centre for International Scholars (Fulbright Kennan Scholar in 2012-2013).

In 2011, Mikhail Minakov became a founding Editor-in-Chief of a scholarly peer-reviewed journal ‘Ideology and Politics.’ The Ideology and Politics Journal aims to develop an interdisciplinary platform for debates of informed and non-partisan researchers in the fields of social philosophy, political science, sociology, political economy, intellectual history, and cultural studies.  Devoted to the advancement of the understanding of socio-political processes in post-Soviet Belarus, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine, it deals with ideological and intellectual issues arising in the course of the formation of new societies.

In 2012 Mikhail Minakov started working as Director of Krytyka Institute and Representative for the Harvard Ukraine InitiativeKrytyka is a Kyiv-based Ukrainian-language journal of intellectual essays, book reviews, and political and literary criticism; a research institute – the Krytyka Institute – that promotes scholarship in Ukrainian studies around the world; and a publishing house – Krytyka Press – that is committed to publishing cutting-edge scholarship in history, culture, literature, and political and media studies. The main purposes of the potential Harvard Ukraine program is to pursue excellence in research and education in the area of Ukrainian Studies, to identify and utilize both academic and research resources, and to foster scholarly involvement of both faculty and students in Ukraine.

Mikhail Minakov was a Fellow at Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute (2010, 2013), Kennan Institute (2012-13) and Krupp Wisseschaftskolleg Greifswald.

Minakov was Associate Professor and, later, Ordinary Professor at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies (Kyiv-Mohyla Academy) between 2001-2017. Courses thought in philosophy: ‘Contemporary Western Philosophy’, ‘Political Epistemology’, ‘Philosophy of History’, ‘Philosophy of Kant’, ‘German Classical Philosophy’, ‘Contemporary Epistemology’. Courses thought in history and politics: ‘Methods of Political Analysis for Practitioners’, ‘History of Post-Soviet Countries’, ‘Post-Soviet Politics’.  In 2018 Minakov left the position of Professor while accepting the position of Principal Investigator on Ukraine at Kennan Institute.

Mikhail Minakov was a DAAD Gues-Professor at the Europe Viadrina University (2017-19) and a Visiting Professor at the Pavia University. In 2023, Minakov hot Italian habilitiation (2nda fascia) in the history of international relations and political philosophy.

Outside Academia

Prof. Minakov combined his academic career with work in program management and political consulting. He worked at Eurasia Foundation (Assistant in 1996-1998; Director for Development/Belarus-Ukraine-Moldova in 2005-2007), the Open Society Institute – Budapest (2000-2001), Soros Foundation in Ukraine (Program Manager in 1998-2000; Deputy Director in 2001-2004), Victor Pinchuk Foundation (Director for Development, 2007-2008), UNDP – Ukraine (Senior Program Manager, 2008-2010).

In 2010, Mikhail Minakov together with a group of dedicated experts (Aliona Sibiriakova, Alexandr Blank, Volodymyr Bogatyr and Natalia Sheiko) established the Foundation for Good Politics. The Foundation’s ambition is to link global academia, European experts, and post-Soviet politicians and provide political parties and governments with advice and consulting. Since that time and until 2015 his colleagues and Mikhail have been working with politicians and officials from the USA, Germany, Ukraine and Russia.

Mikhail Minakov travels around the world with public lectures promoting ideas and practices of tolerance, values-based leadership, and communicative rationality. In 2017 Mikhail was selected as a UN Ukraine Envoy of Tolerance


Degrees and Certificates

Mikhail Minakov holds a Doctor of Sciences in Philosophy degree from Kyiv Institute of Philosophy, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (2007). This dissertation was supervised by prof. Dr. Anatolii Loy; the dissertation was reviewed by prof. Dr. Yevhen Prychepii and prof. Dr. Maria Kultayeva.

Mikhail also holds degrees of Candidate of Sciences in Philosophy (2001, Kyiv Institute of Philosophy), MA in Philosophy (1998, UKMA), BA in Philosophy (1996, UKMA), Feldsher (1990, Zaporizhzhya Medical School). In 2023 Dr. Minakov has successfully comleted habilitation (abilitazione nazionale italiana) in political philosophy (A1, seconda fascia) and history of international relations (B2, seconda fascia).

Dr. Minakov is also certified in

  • International Management Centre – Budapest (1998 – 2000): Strategic Management; Program Implementation Techniques; Methods of Monitoring and Evaluation; Successful Fundraising; Financial Management for Non-for-profit Organizations

  • UNDP (2008): Business Ethics; Results-Based Programme Management, etc.

Mikhail Minakov has also had special training at the Aspen Institute (Aspen, CO) as a moderator for Aspen Executive Seminar (Values-Based Leadership, 2007, 2008).


Associations

2023 – to present                           Member of Institut de philosophie indepenant, Paris 

2022 – to present                           Member of Società italiana Storia internazionale

2022 – to present                           Member of Società Italiana di Filosofia Politica

2020 – to present                           Member, Council for Inclusive Capitalism with Vatican  

2019 – to present                           Editor in chief, Koine.Community

2021 – 2022                                   Member of founding committe and professor, University of New Europe

2018 – to present                           Member, L’Associazione Italiana di Studi Ucrainistici

2017 – to present                           Senior Fellow/Editor-in-Chief, Kennan Focus: Ukraine, Kennan Institute (DC, USA)

2017 – to present                           Member and Vice President, Academic Board, Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS, Berlin)

2015 – 2020                                   Member, Supervisory Board, Hromadske TV

2015 – to present                           Member, Editorial Board of a Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society

2014 – 2021                                   Member, Free Historical Association (Vol’noie Istoricheskoie Obshchestvo), Russia

2017 – 2020                                   UNDP Ukraine Tolerance and Good Will Envoy (Kiev, Ukraine)

2013 – 2018                                   Head of Immanuel Kant Society in Ukraine (Secretary in 1998-2013)

2013 – 2018                                   Member of the Board, Center.UA (http://uacentre.org.ua/)

1998 – 2014                                   Member of the Editorial Board for bi-annual ‘Ukrainiskyi Himanitarny Ohliad’

2010 – 2017                                   Member, Krytyka Editorial Board

2007 – 2010                                   Member of the Board, East European Leadership Network

2005 – 2008                                   Chair of the Programme Board for George Soros Translation Project


Languages

Russian and Ukrainian                      native

English and Italian                           fluent

German, French, Chinese, Polish      minimal working knowledge