Recap of Russia and Eurasia Program Spring 2018 Speaker Series
By Markian Kuzmowycz, MALD 2019 Candidate, The Fletcher School
The Russia and Eurasia Program at The Fletcher School kept up its momentum from an exciting inaugural Fall 2017 semester with an active speaker series in Spring 2018.
On January 24, we welcomed Shaun Walker, former Moscow Correspondent for The Guardian, to discuss his new book The Long Hangover: Putin’s New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past (2018). Walker walked us through Vladimir Putin’s use of history, especially the memory of the Soviet victory over fascism in World War II, to create a new sense of national pride in Russia.
Ahead of the presidential elections in Russia, the program welcomed journalist and expert Andrei Kolesnikov of Carnegie Moscow Center on February 2. As a foremost authority on Russian political institutions and domestic politics, Kolesnikov provided invaluable insight into public opinion and the political role of opposition protests in Russia today.
We hosted another book talk on February 12 with James Cameron, author of The Double Game: The Demise of America’s First Missile Defense System and the Rise of Strategic Arms Limitation (2018). Cameron, Assistant Professor of International Relations at Fundação Getulio Vargas in São Paulo, Brazil, explained how the United States moved from a position of nuclear superiority over the USSR in 1960 to one of nuclear parity and mutually assured destruction in 1972. The complexities of the Cold War arms race between the U.S. and Soviet leaders provided a useful historical context for understanding the issue of nuclear disarmament today.
Shifting from the issue of strategic stability to that of Russian public diplomacy, we welcomed Alex Dolinskiy, MALD 2009 and founder of Coursalytics.com, on February 26 for an engaging roundtable discussion on Russian soft power, cultural and educational exchanges, broadcasting, and foreign aid.
On March 5, we hosted Alexander Hug, Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine. Hug, who has presided over dozens of rounds of negotiations of the Minsk peace process, shared the difficulties of observing the war in Donbas in an enlightening lecture on “Dilemmas for a Civilian Unarmed Observer Mission in a Conflict Area.”
Celeste Wallander, President and CEO of the U.S. Russia Foundation, came to The Fletcher School on March 12 to discuss “Scholarship, Knowledge, and Understanding in U.S. Russia Policy,” the role of experts in contemporary U.S.-Russian relations, and the importance of Track II diplomacy. Wallander also talked about her experience working on the National Security Council under President Barack Obama.
Ginn Library hosted a book talk on April 4 with Professor Chris Miller on Putinomics: Power and Money in Resurgent Russia . (2018) On April 10, we were joined by Victoria Nuland for a lecture on “The Evolving Russia Challenge.” Nuland, a career diplomat and CEO at the Center for a New American Security, discussed her time in the U.S. government and the current approach of the Trump administration to Russia policy.
On April 26, we hosted Natalia Arno, President of the Free Russia Foundation, and Olga Shorina, Executive Director of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom, for a roundtable discussion on exiled pro-democracy Russians.
Finally, we organized a roundtable discussion with Andrei Kortunov, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), on May 2 to discuss “The Fourth Term: What does Vladimir Putin have in stock for the world?” and answer questions about Russian foreign policy.
The first academic year of the Russia and Eurasia Program welcomed a variety of insightful perspectives to the halls of The Fletcher School. Along with robust courses, recent exchanges with Russian universities and think tanks, the successful start of the Fletcher-MGIMO conference series, the activities of the growing Eurasia Club, and emerging funding for research and internships, Fletcher students are finding more opportunities to engage with the program and learn about the region and U.S.-Russia relations. We look forward to another exciting academic year and the many new speakers we will welcome to Medford.