The editors wish to thank the British Academy for generous funding that enabled most of the contributors to take part in workshops, first in Manchester and then in Poltava. Other support was forthcoming from the Jean Monnet Fund, University of Manchester, and from BASEES, the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies. We are also grateful to staff at the University of Manchester and the Poltava University of Economics and Trade for providing the necessary facilities. We are indebted to Betty-Ann Bristow-Castle for her assistance in arranging the two workshops so efficiently. We received helpful advice from anonymous reviewers at the start and end of the research process. We are also grateful for additional advice and support at various stages from Tomas Balkelis, John Horne, John-Paul Newman, Kaja Širok, Matthew Stibbe, Petra Svoljšak and Julie Thorpe. The two workshops were made more …