The Fletcher School Announces a Conference on Russia-West Economic Warfare
By Akshat Dhankher, MALD 2025 Candidate, The Fletcher School
The Fletcher School at Tufts University is pleased to announce an academic conference titled “Global Repercussions of Russia-West Economic Warfare.” The event will be held on campus in Medford, Massachusetts on September 26-27, 2024. The conference will explore Russian and Western efforts to impose economic sanctions, export controls, and import restrictions before and during the Russia-Ukraine war.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has reshaped the conduct of economic statecraft around the world. The West continues to ramp up a collective regime of sanctions and trade restrictions on the Kremlin dating back to 2014, while Russia’s countermeasures and both sides’ adaptations have rewired global commerce. While the impacts continue to unfold, there will undoubtedly be lasting repercussions not only for Russia and the West but also for the global economic order, as seen through the spillover effects across continents and industries.
Amid this uncertain landscape, the conference will bring together prominent policymakers and scholars to address the implementation and enforcement of sanctions, their global economic and political implications, and their specific impacts on the international financial system, energy markets, and complex manufacturing sectors. The conversations will also delve into responses and adaptations to economic warfare and assess how China, Russia, and Western countries have adapted their strategies toward sanctions—at a time when all great powers are thinking about trade, technology, and financial ties not only through economic but also through security lenses.
The conference is organized by the Fletcher Russia and Eurasia Program, which is dedicated to teaching and research on a broad range of historical and contemporary issues related to Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus. The program’s mission is to educate future scholars and practitioners, generate cutting-edge scholarly analysis, and foster cooperation with institutions across the region.
“Western sanctions against Russia have the potential to scramble the global political economy for decades to come,” says Daniel Drezner, Distinguished Professor of International Politics and Co-Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program. “This conference will draw on some of the best analytic minds working on this subject to provide some illumination into the future of the global economy.”
Chris Miller, Professor of International History and Co-Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program, explains, “The future of technological progress, regional stability, energy security, and the global economic landscape are all implicated in this economic conflict. We look forward to unpacking these interconnections with the brilliant scholars attending the conference.”
The conference is open to the public virtually and to the academic community and sponsors in person. Please register via the Google Form here and see the event agenda, speakers, contact information, directions and parking details, and suggested readings.
For more information about the conference, please contact Arik Burakovsky, Assistant Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program. For media inquiries, please contact Katie Coleman, Media Relations Manager at Fletcher. We hope you can join us for these timely and important discussions.