News Archive

Spring, 2012

2012 Roundtable on Post-Communism: "Energy and Conservation"

On April 6, 2012, The Russian & East European Institute hosted their annual Roundtable on Post-Communism that dealt with the following questions. What new geostrategic dynamics will emerge as massive, rapidly growing economies like China seek new global inter-state relations based on the search for energy supplies, whether in Africa, emerging states in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East, Central Asia or former Soviet states? How will the relative importance of Russia and Central Asia as potential on-going suppliers of energy to Eastern Europe and China change in light of the search by these energy importers for alternative sea-based energy supplies and also given the on-going political turmoil that seems likely to continue in oil-supplying states in North Africa and the Middle East? As a natural gas and oil exporter, what is Russia’s specific take on these shifting dynamics? What role will North American supplies play in the energy future of post-communist countries?

Domestic and regional politics are also sure to play an important role in Eastern Europe’s energy future. Former communist countries that are now EU Member States, will to an increasing extent have energy policies, including renewable portfolio standards, imposed upon them from above. The shape these policies take will be determined by who holds the reins of the EU. We already have seen a change in EU climate policy--taking a much harder line at international conferences on Chinese and Indian participation in mandatory emissions reductions--since Poland took over the EU presidency. On the domestic side, how much are citizens willing to pay for energy conservation? And what is the effect, if any, of the Eurozone crisis on continuing efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through conservation and substitution?

Finally, in what ways does the post-communist character of these countries matter to their contemporary histories of energy and conservation? Click here for a podcast of the event.

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Winter, 2012

Robert C. Tucker and Stephen F. Cohen Fellowship

The Russian and East European Institute at Indiana University has established a new fellowship to support master's degree candidates, thanks to a $240,000 donation by Katrina vanden Heuvel along with her husband, Stephen F. Cohen, an IU alumnus and a pre-eminent scholar of the Soviet Union and Russia.

The fellowship will be called the Robert C. Tucker and Stephen F. Cohen Fellowship. Robert C. Tucker was a faculty member in the IU Department of Political Science from 1958 to 1961 who was instrumental in the institute's early years and was Cohen's mentor.

REEI is an interdisciplinary unit within the IU College of Arts and Sciences. The Tucker-Cohen Fellowship will be given to incoming Master of Arts students who demonstrate an interest in the history and politics of the Soviet Union or Russia and who plan to pursue careers in public service, such as journalism, secondary education, nonprofit work or the foreign service.

Cohen is a professor of Russian studies and history at New York University and professor of politics emeritus at Princeton University. He is considered one of the top U.S. experts on Russian history and policy. He earned his Bachelor of Science in economics and public policy in 1960, and his Master of Arts in government and Russian studies in 1962, both from IU

Tucker joined the Princeton faculty in 1962. Cohen earned his Ph.D. in government and Russian studies from Columbia University in 1969 and eventually joined Tucker at Princeton and succeeded him as director of the Russian Studies Program there. Read more here

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October, 2011

Revisiting the Fall of the Soviet Union Conference

The total collapse of the Soviet Union, from superpower to fifteen brand-new states in the space of just a few months in 1991, outstripped the expectations of even the most astute social scientists. How could one of the most powerful countries in the world simply fall apart, without a war? And what did that collapse portend for its successors?

Twenty years after those epochal events, it is time for reconsideration. Our guests will be the foremost scholar of Soviet politics, Stephen Cohen; one of the most distinguished American journalists, Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation; Jack Matlock, Ambassador to the Soviet Union 1987-1991; and other prominent experts from Russia and the United States.

The Soviet implosion has something for everyone: economic and political transformation; new horizons in culture and in science; suggestive parallels to Russia’s past; powerful, emotional debates about the meaning of freedom and of civil rights; and the visible shifting of international tectonic plates. “Revisiting the Fall of the Soviet Union” offers us all the opportunity to reflect on what those changes have meant and what still lies ahead.

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April, 2010

2010 Roundtable on Post-Communism: "Coping with Uncertainty: Individual Challenges and Institutional Change Twenty Years after the Introduction of Market Economies"

On April 16, 2010, The Russian & East European Institute hosted their annual Roundtable on Post-Communism. This year's theme was "Coping with Uncertainty: Individual Challenges and Institutional Change Twenty Years after the Introduction of Market Economies." Over the past twenty years, the development of market economies has introduced new types of uncertainty into the lives of citizens of post-socialist states. In early arguments about economic transition, many scholars claimed that new economic institutions would reduce citizens’ uncertainty by securing property rights, contractual obligations, and social welfare benefits that would engender support for the new regimes. This macro-level approach did not anticipate the obstacles to building new economic institutions. More importantly, reforms failed to consider how the uncertainty inherent in market-driven economies eventually altered citizens’ coping mechanisms and how these strategies shaped new market institutions as well as individual relationships, family structures, social networks, and even broader political participation, policy preferences, and regime support. This event featured a public roundtable in the morning, proceeded by a follow-up session for faculty and graduate student, which was also open to the public.

For more information, please visit the 2010 Post-Communism Roundtable event webpage.

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March, 2010

In the immediate aftermath of 1989, most Central European cinema grappled with a new sense of freedom. The last decade, however, has seen a phenomenal output of creative energy in the region. This series of films represents some of the finest examples of 21st-century cinema from East-Central Europe. Showcased will be established directors like Andrzej Wajda exploring new themes and styles; a superbly talented middle generation of filmmakers like Petr Zelenka; and some wonderful emerging talents such as George Dorobantu and Xawery Zulawski. Films will revisit the region’s communist past (4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days; Little Moscow), examine 21st-century life in the region (The Polish-Russian War; Kontroll), and meditate on the processes of acting and cinema (The Karamazovs; Sweet Rush). The series is also marked by stylistic originality, including the bleached neon lighting of the Budapest subway in Kontroll, the frenetic cartoonish comedy of The Polish-Russian War, and the magisterial minimalism of Elevator. All in all, this series offers spectacular evidence that Central European cinematography is undergoing one of its strongest and most impressive periods in history.

Sponsored by the Polish Studies Center and the Russian and East European Institute.
All films will be shown on Thursday evenings at 7.30 pm in Student Building (SB) 150.

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February, 2010

The Milosevic Trial: An Autopsy
February 18-21, 2010

It has been three years since the longest and most prominent war crimes trial of the modern era was brought to an abrupt halt by the defendant's death - leaving the court, the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, and the world community without a definitive legal resolution. Precisely because the trial ended without final judgment, its meaning and value are especially contested: for some, the indictment and trial of a sitting head of state reaffirmed the importance of international criminal law as a robust response to state criminality; for others, the collapse of this sprawling case proved the insufficiency of judicial responses to complex mass violence.

The Indiana University Maurer School of Law, in cooperation with the Russian and East European Institute and the Center for West European Studies, propose to conduct an autopsy of the Milosevic trial - a clinical evaluation of the trial and its termination - and a biopsy of the institutional context in which the trial played out, as well as a prognosis for its legacy and impact.

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March 2009

The Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia (CREECA) and the Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will host the Baltic Studies Summer Institute (BALSSI) in the summer of 2009 (June 15-August 7, 2009). Intensive elementary Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian language courses will be offered, as well as lectures (in English) on Baltic history and culture and a rich program of cultural events related to the Baltic countries. Information and application materials are available on the BALSSI Web site. Deadline to apply is April 13, 2009.

BALSSI is sponsored by a consortium of twelve US universities and receives additional support from the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies.

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October 2008

On October 23, 2008, the Indiana University Hungarian Cultural Association commemorated the 52nd Anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Following a welcome by Andrew Burton, REEI Academic Advisor, Professor Ágnes Fülemile, the Visiting György Ránki Chair of Hungarian Studies at Indiana University, gave a commemorative address. Professor Fülemile suggested that the Hungarian Revolution had caused the first cracks in the façade of Communism. She also emphasized the importance of Hungarian lyrical poetry in illuminating the great disconnect between the promises and realities of communism.  She discussed the backgrounds and poetry of four distinguished Transylvanian poets whose poetry, she suggests, “shrieks with one voice, ‘No more dictatorship!’”

Following her address five Hungarian language students recited the poetry of Transylvanian poets Sándor Kányádi, Aladár Lászlóffy, Domokos Szilágyi and Gizella Hervay.  Common throughout all of these poems are their statement against the practices of Communism.  The readings were followed by a piano solo performance of Ferenc Liszt’s St. Francis of Assisi Preaches to the Birds.

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October 2008

On October 14, Ken Jaques, president of Global Communication Strategies, gave a talk entitled "The Evolution of Media and Media Relations in the Former Soviet Bloc." Focusing primarily on his experiences as a consultant to the president of Georgia and his administration, Jaques discussed how he developed a long-term communications strategy for key government ministers in order to gain public support for market reforms. Additionally, he weighed in on the current situation between Georgia and Russia, addressing differences in these countries' public relations strategies.

Jaques also discussed his experiences working in the Balkans and lobbying members of Congress on behalf of Serbia. Following his talk, REEI hosted a lunch with Mr. Jaques where he discussed career opportunities with current REEI graduate students.

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Fall 2008

In the past two years, at least six REEI graduates have accepted positions in the U.S. State Department's Foreign Service. Richard and Stephanie Fitzmaurice (both REEI MA/MPA,'06) are currently serving as Foreign Service Officers at the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Richard works as a Political Officer, focusing on human rights issues. He has reported on human rights abuses, monitored trials and demonstrations, organized human rights-related events at the Embassy, and wrote or contributed to several annual State Department reports, including the 2007 Human Rights Report. As the Cultural Affairs Officer, Stephanie is responsible for Cultural and Educational activities. In addition to overseeing many public diplomacy events, including a nationwide writing contest, an international education fair, and monthly alumni movie night events, she and her staff run all U.S. government educational exchange programs in Uzbekistan.

During the past year, both Richard and Stephanie have had the opportunity to travel throughout Uzbekistan with visiting U.S. government officials and cultural figures and participate in special activities, such as monitoring the December 2007 presidential election. Richard and Stephanie recently learned that they will begin their second tour in Guangzhou, China, in April 2010, following approximately a year of Chinese study in Washington.

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Summer 2008

Knowledge of Slavic, East European, and Central Asian languages prepares students for exciting career opportunities in areas such as government, higher education, not-for-profit institutions, public health, law, international development, the military, journalism, environmental issues, the arts and business. Intensive language training has been offered at the Bloomington campus of Indiana University since 1950. The Summer Workshop in Slavic, East European and Central Asian Languages provides up to 200 participants the opportunity to complete a full year of college language instruction during an eight-week summer session. Utilizing the resources of Indiana University's own specialists as well as native speakers from other universities and abroad, the Summer Workshop has developed and maintained a national program of the highest quality. Allowing all participants to pay in-state tuition fees, the program has as its goal the enhancement of speaking, reading, listening and writing skills through classroom instruction and a full range of extra-curricular activities. Fellowships and funding are available.

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April 2008

The Polish Studies Center will hold the New Directions, New Connections: Polish Studies In Cross-Disciplinary Context Conference, April 17-20. Polish Studies in North America is at a crossroads. Its concerns and modes of operation are undergoing a reevaluation in the light of the political changes of the last two decades, and of the social, artistic, and cultural upheavals that they have engendered. Poland’s historical association with political struggle and oppression is being revalued, because it is no longer a relevant trope in a free and democratic Polish state, and because it has proved to be a limiting way of engaging with Polish literature and art overall. This has led to a reassessment of the canon of Polish literature, and of practices and curricula in Polish programs across the United States and Canada. New theoretical, substantive, and disciplinary modes are reinvigorating Polish Studies and pointing it in innovative and fruitful directions, linking it theoretically and thematically with other fields and disciplines. This has led many in Polish Studies to pose different questions that offer the hope of new responses to old problems and new ones.

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March 2008

"Islam and Post-Communism" was the theme of 2008's Indiana University Roundtable on Post-Communism. The first session of the roundtable took place on Thursday, March 27 from 1-4 pm in the Dogwood Room of the Indiana Memorial Union and was open to the public. A follow-up working session for faculty and graduate students took place on Friday, March 28 from 10 am - 12 pm. The Roundtable featured several prominent scholars on its panel, including Zaindi Choltaev (Chechen Political Activist), Kristen Ghodsee (Bowdoin College), Edmund Waite (University of London) and Indiana's own Gardner Bovingdon (Central Eurasian Studies), Nazif Shahrani (Anthropology), Abdulkader Sinno (Political Science), and Kevin Jaques (Religious Studies). The roundtable focused on a brief "provocation" statement and set of questions sent in advance to the Roundtable panelists. Each panelist prepared a 1000-word statement in response to the "provocation" and the questions. To read archived materals from the roundtable, visit the 2008 Roundtable website, or download the flyer here.

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March 2008

The 2008 presidential elections in Russia handed an overwhelming victory to Vladimir Putin’s anointed successor, Dmitri Medvedev. Still, the future of politics and democracy seems unclear as Putin, the current prime minister, is unlikely to disappear from the Russian political scene. The Russian East European Institute hosted a panel discussion to consider the future of Russian politics and the implications of the Russian presidential elections, featuring prominent Russian political specialists. On Friday, March 21 at 12 pm in the State Room East of the Indiana Memorial Union, Professor Elizabeth Wood (History, MIT), Professor Stephen Hanson (Political Science, University of Washington at Seattle), Ambassador James Collins (former US Ambassador to Russia), and Professor Regina Smyth (Political Science, Indiana University) discussed the events of the recent Russian residential elections and the future of Russian politics.

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January 2008

Joseph Crescente (REEI MA ‘07) worked with American Councils for International Education in the Vladivostok office. He frequently traveled around the Far East region and Eastern Siberia, including Blagoveshensk, Chita, Irkutsk, Magadan, Ulan Ude, Vladivostok, and Yuzhno Sakhalinsk, to help implement US government funded exchange programs. The American Councils works in cooperation with the Russian Ministry of Education and spends most of its time in local schools and education centers. An international not-for-profit organization, the American Councils believes in the fundamental role of education in fostering positive change for individuals, institutions and societies.  The image above depicts Crescente at work in a school in Russia's Far East. For more information about the ACLS view their website at http://www.americancouncils.org/aboutOrg.php.

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December 2007

On December 6th and 7th, 2007, at the John Waldron Arts Center, the Romanian Studies Organization presented Juliet.The drama, by András Visky, is a “dialogue” which documents the true story of his parents from his mother’s perspective. In 1939, Visky’s father fled from Romania to Hungary, where he would meet his future wife. After the end of World War II, both decide to return to Transylvania, by then a part of Romania. After his father is sentenced to 22 years in prison for involvement with the Hungarian Reformed Church, his mother and the seven children are sent to a Romanian gulag a thousand kilometres from their home. But Juliet is not ready to give up her freedom and deny her love, and instead she decides to find a way out. Juliet has been on the program of the Thália Theatre in Budapest since the fall of 2002 and has since been translated into Romanian, opening at the Romanian National Theatre in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, last fall. The English adaptation has been touring the US since the fall of 2006.

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October 2007

In 2007, Olena Chernishenko (Slavic), Markus Dickinson (Computational Linguistics), Ronald Feldstein (Slavic), Steven Franks (Slavic), Denise Gardiner (Title VI Grant Coordinator), and Natalia Rekhter (Public & Environmental Affairs IUPUI) received a grant under the United States-Russia Program: Improving Research and Educational Activities in Higher Education. This grant will provide ample funding for Russian language training at IUB and IUPUI, scholarships for students to study global public health issues in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, and the development of foreign language and multi-disciplinary curricula, including innovative language-learning technologies. The program targets students interested in public health issues and includes a four week course of basic Russian and a four week course of technical Russian related to the program. The program is partnering with Southern Federal University in Rostov-on-Don, which received a similar grant and will create a similar program. View the program website at http://www.indiana.edu/~iuslavic/USRussiaHCProgram.shtml.

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