News at SITE

Maria Perrotta Berlin, Assistant Professor at SITE, contributed to the Sorbonne Alliance research initiative “Europe and the War in Ukraine” - a joint project led by ESCP Business School, INALCO, and Paris Sorbonne Nouvelle examining the war’s consequences for Europe in geopolitical, geoeconomic, and business terms.

Why do carbon and fuel taxes trigger political backlash? In a new policy brief, Julius Andersson (researcher at SITE) points to income polarization. As the middle class’s income share shrinks, the tax burden shifts toward middle-income groups – helping explain backlash such as the Yellow Vests protests and fuel-tax rollbacks.

What shapes social cohesion under extreme pressure - and what sustains resilience during war? On January 19, 2026, the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) hosted Ukrainian sociologist Tymofii Brik (Kyiv School of Economics), who drew on nearly three decades of survey evidence to trace how trust, identity, and political attitudes in Ukraine have evolved before and during Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Russia has ramped up its outreach to African countries since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, hoping to soften international isolation and gain new partners. This new policy brief analysis by Maria Perrotta Berlin (SITE) and Lev Lvovskiy (BEROC) argues that the strategy is bringing Moscow only limited and uneven gains.

Ukraine and Moldova’s push to join the European Union is tied to security, rebuilding economies, and protecting democracy while facing Russian pressure. A new policy brief by Anastasiia Arbuzova and Anders Olofsgård, based off last year’s SITE Development Day, discusses what’s helping the two countries move forward and what could still derail them.

The United States’ new sanctions on Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil are reshaping global energy flows and testing Europe’s political unity. This new policy brief analysis by Maria Perrotta Berlin (SITE) and Chloé Le Coq (CRED) explains why these measures matter and how they could redefine the future of EU sanctions.