Events

Europe and Central Asia are linked by decades of commodity trade, but also by developing climate cooperation. Yet Central Asia plays a limited role in the European public debate on global climate change and energy transition. Both global and local energy transitions pose significant challenges for Central Asia, given its rapidly growing population, ageing infrastructure, heavy dependence on fossil fuels and climate change. At the same time, the transition to renewable energy and the development of hydrogen production and net zero value chains offer new opportunities for all countries in the region. The conference is designed to attract a broad audience, including researchers, policy makers and members of civil society.

Abkhaz, Armenians, Azerbaijani and Georgians have long co-existed in a region framed as the South Caucasus. These different ethnic categories result from socio-political constructions that are rarely questioned. Playing a pivotal role in the wars that have unfolded in the region, ethnic categorization is particularly central in shaping current antagonizations. Since the late 1980s, the coexistence of differently ethnicised populations in the South Caucasus has been deeply challenged by a series of conflicts, wars and pogroms. Since 24 February 2022, the co-existence of Abkhaz, Armenians, Azerbaijani and Georgians has been unfolding against the backdrop of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, bringing an additional layer of complexity.

During the lecture, the speaker Dr. Kseniya Oksamytna (City University of London) will present her article “Imperialism, supremacy, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine” published in Contemporary Security Policy in 2023.

17 March Putin is scheduled to be elected president of the Russian Federation for yet another six years in office, in spite of launching a devastating war against Ukraine and letting oppositional politician Alexei Navalny die in prison. Putin will be the eighth president of Russia since the fall of communism, but he was also the seventh, the sixth, the fourth and the third. Since the start of this millennium he has ruled the country in an increasingly authoritarian way. Elections in Russia have since become a farce, a kind of political theatre or circus that has little to do with democracy. The field of candidates is tightly controlled, opposition politicians sidelined, jailed or murdered and the election results are falsified. How did this come about? When was democracy lost in Russia – or was it perhaps an empty letter from the very start? What purposes do elections serve in Russia's political system if not the election of the country's leaders? On March 13 the IISH and the Moscow Times jointly organize an event to reflect on Russia's presidential elections, past, present and future. With presentations by Gijs Kessler and Mikhail Fishman, followed by a panel discussion with Samantha Berkhead, Alexander Gubsky, and Kristina Petrasova.

This JIRD Special Forum Discussion by UKRAINE-PLUS will aim to critically reflect on individual, institutional and disciplinary stratification and authority in debates of and about war.

Lecture by Prof em. Guido van Oost (Ghent University)

Dialogue between Szilvia Nagy (Central European University) and Prof dr. Madina Tlostanova (Linköping University)

Lecture series on Decolonial and Postcolonial perspectives on the Eastern (of) Europe. Keynote by Prof Dr. Madina Tlostanova (Linköping University).

Lecture series on Decolonial and Postcolonial perspectives on the Eastern (of) Europe. Keynote by Prof Dr. Dace Dzenovska (University of Oxford).

Lecture series on Decolonial and Postcolonial perspectives on the Eastern (of) Europe. Keynote by Prof Dr. Grazina Bielousova (University College London)

From limited interactions in the early 1990s, the EU and Central Asia now consider each other to be increasingly important. During this roundtable, the speakers will discuss the many aspects of these interactions.

A one-day conference gathering academics and practitioners to discuss and assess the legal, political, and economic impact of the EU sanctions against Russia, with specific attention to implementation challenges in practice.