Join PONARS Eurasia for a full day of panels with leading experts on a wide array of Russia and Eurasia policy matters.

Schedule

9:00am—Opening Remarks

9:15-10:45am—Panel 1: A “New World Order”? Russia’s Strategies on the International Scene

Location: Lindner Commons, Room 602, Chair: Henry Hale, George Washington University

• “U.S.-Russian Relations and the ‘New Cold War’ Metaphor,” Mark Kramer, Harvard University
• “The Politics of U.S.-Russian Arms Control,” Mikhail Troitskiy, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO)
• “Russia and the ‘Western’ Rules: On the Cultural Aspects of Great Power Misconduct,” Viatcheslav Morozov, University of Tartu (presenting), Xymena Kurowska, Central European University and Aberystwyth University and Anatoly Reshetnikov, Central European University

Discussant: William Hill, National War College

10:45-11:15am—Coffee Break

11:15am-12:45pm—Panel 2: “In” And “Out”: Russia’s Levers of Influence at Home and Abroad

Location: Lindner Commons, Room 602, Chair: Marlene Laruelle, George Washington University

• “The Use of Twitter Bots in Russian Political Communications,” Joshua Tucker, New York University
• “To Hack and Ban: Russia’s Cyber Activism at Home and Abroad,” Alexandra Yatsyk, Kazan Federal University
• “The Strategic Logic of Fifth Column Claims in Russia and the Near Abroad,” Scott Radnitz, University of Washington
• “Geopolitical Remittances: Russian Soft Power and Kyrgyz Labor Migration,” Ted Gerber, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Discussant: Wayne Merry, American Foreign Policy Council

12:45-2:30pm—Lunch Talk: Cold War and the Academy: An Oral History of Russian and Eurasian Studies

Location: Lindner Commons, Room 602, Chair: Peter Rollberg, George Washington University

Alexander Cooley and George Gavrilis discuss what a new oral history project at the Harriman Institute is teaching us about the rise, fall and rebirth of area studies and what this means for academia’s ties to the policymaking community.

2:30-4:15pm—Panel 3: Ukraine’s Domestic and Foreign Policy Transformations

(Breakout Session) Location: Lindner Commons, Room 602, Chair: Maria Popova, McGill University

• “The Ukrainian Anomaly? Systemic Vulnerability and Ukraine’s Failure to Build Growth-Promoting Institutions,” Jordan Gans-Morse, Northwestern University
• “On the Eve of the Big Election Year in Ukraine: Winners Take a Toll?” Olexiy Haran Kiev-Mohyla Academy (presenting) and Petro Burkovsky, National Institute for Strategic Studies, Kiev
• “Dissecting the Trump Administration’s Policy on Ukraine,” Volodymyr Dubovyk, Mechnikov National University, Odessa
• “Religion and Geopolitics: Kiev And Moscow Clash Over the Constantinople Patriarchy’s Decision On Ukrainian Autocephaly,” Volodymyr Kulyk, Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies, Kiev

Discussant: Samuel Charap, RAND Corporation

2:30-4:15pm—Panel 4: North and South Caucasus: Terrorist Networks and Foreign Policy

(Breakout Session) Location: Room 505, Chair: Yoshiko Herrera, University of Wisconsin

• “’Armed Underground’: Diffused and Fragmented Terrorist Networks in Russia’s North Caucasus,” Mariya Omelicheva, University of Kansas (presenting) and Lawrence P. Markowitz, Rowan University
• “Russo-Georgian Relations and the Potential Impact It May Have on Regional Trade and Security,” Kornely Kakachia, Georgian Institute of Politics
• “U.S. Disengagement From South Caucasus: A Holy Place Is Never Empty,” Anar Valiyev, ADA University, Baku

Discussant: Cory Welt, Congressional Research Service

4:15-4:45pm—Coffee Break

4:45-6:15pm—Panel 5: The Donbass War and its Impacts

(Breakout Session) Location: Lindner Commons, Room 602, Chair: Andrew Barnes, Kent State University

• “How Do Ukrainians Want to End the Donbass War?” Mikhail Alexseev, San Diego State University
• “Attacks on Civilian Infrastructure in the Donbass Conflict,” Erik Herron, University of West Virginia (presenting), Cynthia Buckley, University of Illinois and Ralph Clem, Florida International University
• “Nationalist Radicalization Trends in Post-Euromaidan Ukraine," Volodymyr Ishchenko, Kiev Polytechnic Institute

Discussant: Jeffrey Mankoff, CSIS

4:45-6.15pm—Panel 6: Kazakhstan's Development Strategies: Domestic and Foreign Evolutions

(Breakout Session) Location: Room 505, Chair: TBD

• “Goals, Plans and Indicators: How Kazakh Bureaucrats Implement the State Developmental Agenda,” Dinissa Duvanova, Lehigh University
• “Kazakhstan: A New Citizen, Policed,” Erica Marat, National Defense University
• “Testing Causes of U.S. Favorability Decrease in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan,” Eric McGlinchey, George Mason University and Marlene Laruelle, George Washington University

Discussant: Paul Stronski, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace