02/07/2026 18:30 - 19:30

HALL: Pola - School of Journalism

Contact: Serhiienko V.

Chair: Zavatti F.

With the overarching goal of understanding how the state repression of civil society and the establishment of inequalities become normalized, this panel brings together two papers that examine how the Soviet Union produced, normalized, and managed religious inequalities. Drawing on Soviet history and Vatican history, the panel analyzes how communist regimes constructed hierarchical religious orders by selectively repressing, tolerating, co-opting, or exploiting religious communities according to political goals. Focusing on the liquidation of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, its repression, and its long-term marginalization in both political and epistemic terms, the contributions investigate the shifting combinations of repression, control, infiltration, and instrumentalization of religious life. Particular attention is given to the processes through which repression was not only imposed but also normalized and justified through bureaucratic classification, legal regulation, surveillance practices, diplomatic negotiations, and scholarly representation. By situating the repression and normalization of religious life in the Soviet Union within broader East-West dynamics, the panel highlights the role of international actors, including the Vatican, and of diplomacy and soft diplomacy in shaping both the practice and the interpretation of religious repression. In doing so, it illuminates how national politics and international relations interacted to produce enduring forms of structural inequality around established religions. Ultimately, the panel seeks to establish a cross-disciplinary conversation on how inequalities are produced, stabilized, and contested at the intersection of religion, power, and knowledge in modern Europe.