Stanford University

Security

FSI scholars produce research aimed at creating a safer world and examing the consequences of security policies on institutions and society. They look at longstanding issues including nuclear nonproliferation and the conflicts between countries like North and South Korea. But their research also examines new and emerging areas that transcend traditional borders – the drug war in Mexico and expanding terrorism networks. FSI researchers look at the changing methods of warfare with a focus on biosecurity and nuclear risk. They tackle cybersecurity with an eye toward privacy concerns and explore the implications of new actors like hackers.

Along with the changing face of conflict, terrorism and crime, FSI researchers study food security. They tackle the global problems of hunger, poverty and environmental degradation by generating knowledge and policy-relevant solutions. 

Whither the Russian Economy? A Lecture by Sergei Guriev

This event is now full.  We are no longer able to accept further RSVPs. 

 

The Russian Economy is in a recession due to a perfect storm of the low oil prices, sanctions and the lack of reforms. First time since 1998, Russians see a major fall in their real incomes. How long will the recession continue?  What can the Russian government do? What will happen after the recession is over?
 

Sergei Guriev is a professor of economics at Sciences Po in Paris, France. From 2004 to 2013, Dr. Guriev was a tenured professor of economics and rector of the New Economic School in Moscow. He will begin an appointment as Chief Economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in 2016.

Dr. Guriev’s research interests include contract theory, corporate governance, political economics and labor mobility. Dr. Guriev has published in international refereed journals including American Economic Review, Journal of European Economic Association, Journal of Economic Perspectives and American Political Science Review.  In 2006, he was selected a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. In 2011, he was a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Europe, in 2012-14 – a co-chair of the Global Agenda Council on the New Economic Thinking, and in 2014-15 – a member of the Global Agenda Council on the Geoeconomics. In 2000 and 2005, he was awarded Gold Medal for the Best Research in Development Economics by the Global Development Network. In 2001, he was announced the Best Academic Manager in Humanities by Russia’s Science Support Foundation. In 2009-11, he was included in the top 100 of the President of Russia’s Cadre Reserve. In 2009, he was also awarded the Bill Maynes Award by the Eurasia Foundation. In 2009 and 2010 he received the Independent Director of the Year prize from Russia’s National Association of Independent Directors. In 2010, he received a Certificate in Company Directorship from the Institute of Directors (UK) and was voted the Best Independent Director by the Association of Managers of Russia and the Russian Institute of Directors.
 
He has been a board member of Sberbank (2008-14), E.ON Russia (2013-14), Alfa-Strakhovanie Insurance Company (2009-13), Russia Venture Company (2009-13), Russian Home Mortgage Lending Agency (2008-12) and Russian Agricultural Bank (2008-09), a member of the President of Russia’s Council on Science, Technology and Education (2008-12), and a member of the board of the Dynasty Foundation (2007-2015).  He is a member of the Scientific Council of the BRUEGEL think tank (Brussels), of the Advisory Council of the Peterson Institute on International Economics (Washington, DC), and of the Academic Advisory Board, Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University. He is also a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research, London.
Sergei Guriev Professor of Economics Speaker Sciences Po, Paris
Lectures
European Security Initiative
European Security Initiative Lecture Series

The Europe Center November 2015 Newsletter

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Special Event: The European Security Initiative

Upcoming talk by Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Philip M. Breedlove.

"Europe at the Crossroads"
Date: November 9, 2015 
Time: 12:00PM to 1:30PM 
Location: Koret Taube Conference Center, Room 130 
RSVP by 5:00PM November 5, 2015.

Photo of General Philip M. Breedlove
General Philip M. Breedlove is a four-star general in the United States Air Force and the current Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). In this position, General Breedlove is one of NATO's two strategic commanders and is the head of Allied Command Operations (ACO). General Breedlove became the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe on 13 May 2013. During his visit to Stanford, General Breedlove will discuss Europe's rapidly-evolving geopolitical climate and highlight many of the security challenges for which the United States and NATO must prepare.

General Breedlove has served in the United States Air Force since graduating from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1977. Immediately prior to assuming his current position, General Breedlove served as Commander, U.S. Air Forces in Europe; Commander, U.S. Air Forces Africa; Commander Headquarters Allied Air Command, Ramstein; and Director, Joint Air Power Competence Centre, Kalkar Germany. We invite you to visit ourwebsite for additional information about this event.

Featured Faculty Research: Jens Hainmueller

We would like to introduce you to some of the faculty members that we support and the projects on which they are working. Our featured faculty member this month is Jens Hainmueller, who is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science.

Jens Hainmueller

Jens earned his Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University in 2009 and joined the faculty at Stanford University in 2014. His research interests include statistical methods, immigration, political economy, and political behavior. An example of Jens's research on immigration and migrant integration is his recent co-authored work with Dominik Hangertner at the London School of Economics and Giuseppe Pietrantuono at the University of Zurich, which examined the effect of naturalization on migrant political integration into the host society. Establishing the effects of naturalization on political integration is complicated by an unobservable selection process; a non-random sample of migrants chooses to apply for naturalization and a non-random sample of naturalization applicants is approved. As a result, previous work has neither been able to establish the direction of the relationship between naturalization and poitical integration nor isolate the effect of naturalization on political integration vis-à-vis alternatives. In order to limit the bias induced by this dual-selection process, Jens and his coauthors analyzed data from Switzerland, where some municipalities used referendums to make decisions on naturalization applications. By limiting the sample to those applications that were approved or rejected by only a few votes, the authors were able to establish treatment and control groups that were otherwise equivalent, thereby removing selection bias from their data. Using this unbiased sample, Jens and his coauthors found that naturalization indeed has a positive effect on migrant political integration by increasing political participation, political knowledge, and political efficacy, among others. This research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. We invite you to visit our website for additional information about this research.

Publication Details: Hainmueller, Jens, Dominik Hangartner, and Guiseppe Pietrantuono. 2015. "Naturalization Fosters the Long-Term Political Integration of Immigrants." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112(41):12,651-12,656.

Featured Graduate Student Research: Jason Weinreb

We would like to introduce you to some of the students that we support and the projects on which they are working. Our featured student this month is Jason Weinreb (Political Science). Jason is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Political Science at Stanford University.

Jason WeinrebJason is a political economist who is interested in political risk, the politics of public finance, and economic history. His dissertation examines how newly-independent states finance themselves, focusing on former British colonies. Analysis of the London Stock Exchange in the quarter century following World War II reveals a surprising trend: colonial debt bond prices remained remarkably stable throughout decolonization. In his research at the British National Archives in London, funded in part by The Europe Center, Jason found that price stability was an insufficient indicator of investor confidence. Far from reflecting investors unperturbed by the uncertainty of decolonization, Jason's research uncovers evidence that investors were indeed concerned about the effects of independence on their investment. In fact, investor concerns manifested in higher interest rates, fewer colonial debt bond issues, and lower subscription rates relative to earlier periods. His archival research further uncovers factors that explain why colonial debt bond prices fail to reflect investor sentiment. Chief among these was the British government's intervention in the market. Its strategic purchase and holding of colonial debt bonds ensured price stability despite investor concerns.

Featured Event: Taking the Stand - A Film Presentation and Q&A with Survivors of the Holocaust

Firestone, Liska, and RammerstorferPictured: Renée Firestone, Hermine Liska, and Bernhard Rammerstorfer
By: Christof Brandtner and Sebastian Schuster 

This year we commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. At the same time, the number of people who can give us a personal account of the cruelties of the Holocaust is dwindling. Together with students from the Stanford Austria Club, The Europe Center hosted two survivors of the Holocaust and witnesses of the Nazi era: Renée Firestone (born in 1924 in today's Ukraine) and Hermine Liska (born 1930 in Austria). Firestone and Liska were introduced by TEC affiliated faculty Prof. Amir Eshel, interviewed by Austrian documentarian Bernhard Rammerstorfer, and answered engaging questions from students and community members in the audience. In their accounts, Firestone and Liska reported on the years leading up to their persecution, highlighted the importance of religion and family for their survival, and pointed out connections between the diaspora of the 1930s and 1940s and the current global refugee crisis. Rammerstorfer also presented his newest film and book project ‘Taking the stand: We have more to say’ which condenses the experience and memories of nine Holocaust survivors in response to 100 questions from high school students around the world.

Recap: Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen Visits Stanford

Anders Fogh RasmussenIn his recent visit to Stanford University, former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen painted a bleak picture of global politics. The hope of the Arab Spring has been replaced by new authoritarian regimes, civil war, and ISIS. Russia is becoming more internally authoritarian and externally aggressive. According to one measure, global levels of freedom have been in decline for the past nine consecutive years. "It looks", he said, "as if a Pandora's box of religious, ethnic, and political strife has been opened, and many nations have plunged into chaos and extremism." According to Rasmussen, successfully navigating these global challenges requires a concerted effort among liberal democratic states, spearheaded by American leadership. In order to create a strong global community of liberal democracies, he advocated strengthening the Transatlantic alliance. In addition to the existing military alliance forged through NATO, he proposed the creation of a Transatlantic Free Trade Area (TAFTA) and a Transatlantic peoples program, which would foster educational, scientific, and cultural exchanges among the partner states. More than 150 people attended the talk, which was held on September 25. To watch Rasmussen's talk in full, please visit our website.

Fall 2015 Graduate Student Grant Competition Winners Announced

Please join us in congratulating the winners of The Europe Center Fall 2015 Graduate Student Grant Competition: 

  • Elena Dancu, Comparative Literature, "From Vienna to Rio de Janeiro: Stefan Zweig and a World in Ruins."
  • Mathilde Emeriau, Political Science, "Discrimination and Integration of Asylum Seekers in France."
  • William Parmer, Philosophy, "The Art of Cruelty."
  • Rebecca Perlman, Political Science, "The Politics of Protection: Health and Safety Regulation in a Globalized Marketplace."
  • Nicola Pierri, Economics, "Credit Constraints and Firms' Productivity: Evidence from the Italian Economy."
  • Jens Pohlmann, German Studies, "Capitalizing on the Avant-Garde? An Analysis of Adversarial Authors’ Marketing Strategies in the Second Half of the 20th Century."
  • Beata Szymkow, History, "Nationalisms Interacting, L'viv 1890-1914."
  • Alice Underwood, Comparative Literature, "The Comrade's Deviant Body: Myth, Citizenship, and Socialist Decay in the Pre-Perestroika Soviet Union."
  • Ashley Walters, History, "The Evolution of a Modern Jewish Legal Defense Against Anti-Semitism in Late Imperial Russia ."
  • Jason Weinreb, Political Science, "Decolonization's Money Doctor: The Bank of England and Commonwealth Central Banks, 1955 - 1970."
  • Seth Werfel, Political Science, "Representation as Intermediation."
  • Duygu Yildirim, History, "Historicizing Nature: Approaches to The Natural History of Crete in the Eastern Mediterranean."
Please visit our website for more information about our Graduate Student Grant program.

The Europe Center Sponsored Events

November 5, 2015 
6:30PM - 9:30PM 
Romanian Film Festival (Stanford, Day 1) 
"Travelling Shorts:Families Beyond Boundaries" 
East Asia Library, Room 224, Lathrop Library Building 
Please visit our website for additional information.

November 8, 2015 
1:00PM - 8:45PM 
Romanian Film Festival (Stanford, Day 2) 
"Travelling Shorts:Families Beyond Boundaries" 
Cubberley Auditorium 
Please visit our website for additional information.

November 9, 2015 
12:00PM - 1:15PM Mart Kuldkepp, Scandinavian Studies, University College London 
"Russian deserters to Sweden in World War I" 
Reuben Hills Conference Room, Encina Hall East 
Open to Stanford affiliates only. 
RSVP requested
This seminar is organized by the Center for Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies and co-sponsored by The Europe Center.

European Security Initiative Events

November 9, 2015 
12:00PM - 1:30PM 
General Philip M. Breedlove, Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Commander, US European Command, NATO 
"Europe at the Crossroads" 
Koret-Taube Conference Center, Room 130, Gunn-SIERP Building 
RSVP by 5:00PM November 5, 2015. 

November 10, 2015 
5:30PM - 7:00PM 
Lilia Shevtsova, Non-Resident Fellow, Brookings Institution and Associate Fellow Russia-Eurasia Program, Chatham House - The Royal Institute of International Affairs 
"Russia as a Global Challenge" 
Bechtel Conference Center, Encina Hall 
RSVP requested 

Save the Date: January 5, 2016 
Sergei Guriev, Professor of Economics, New Economic School, Moscow and Visiting Professor of Economics, Sciences Po, Paris 

Other Campus Events of Interest

November 16, 2015 
6:30PM - 8:15PM 
"In the Crosswinds" (2014) Film Screening 
Cubberley Auditorium, Cubberley Education Library 
RSVP requested 
For more information, please visit the event website.

We welcome you to visit our website for additional details.

 

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NATO commander calls for recalibration in Europe

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Clifton Parker
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NATO must bolster its presence in Europe as a way to counter Russian aggression in the region.

That was the message from General PHILIP M. BREEDLOVE, the supreme allied commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), when he visited Stanford on Monday.

“Europe is clearly at a crossroads,” he said.

Breedlove addressed the need for a strong NATO amid the evolving geopolitical climate in Europe. Of great concern are Moscow’s intrusions into Ukraine, Crimea and Georgia in Eastern Europe in recent years.

“We have to recalibrate what we’re thinking,” he said. NATO is building up its troop rotations to deal with hostile moves in the region, for example.

Breedlove spoke to a couple hundred people at the Koret Taube Conference room in the Gunn Building. Breedlove’s speech was sponsored by The Europe Center in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI).

“Highly dynamic” is how Breedlove described Europe’s security situation as a resurgent Russia seeks to “rewrite” the rules of international order. “They have been aggressive and coercive in their use of diplomatic, military and economic tools,” he said.

Lies and distortions characterize Russia’s attempt to change borders and bully its neighbors, Breedlove added. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s greater goal is to destabilize NATO and chip away at the alliance. Russia is acting in the east, south and north of Europe, including forays into the Arctic Circle and near Japan.

“This is all about extending Russian control” over its neighbors, Breedlove said.

Massive, seemingly endless migration coming from the Middle East into Europe poses a monumental crisis, he added. “The situation is creating serious political problems for political leaders” in European countries, he said. On top of this, possible terrorists and foreign fighters within the sheer numbers of migrants are extremely difficult to track, he added.

These European and NATO challenges intersect in the case of Syria and Russia’s involvement there, Breedlove said. “Russia’s striving to project [itself] as a world power.”

Syria is an opportunity for Putin to shift the world’s attention from his country’s aggressions in the Ukraine to the Middle East, he said. Breedlove disputed Putin’s rationale – fighting ISIS and terrorism – for intervening in Syria. “There’s a clear gap between his words and actions.”

Time will tell if Russia overextends itself in its adventurism, Breedlove said. For NATO, it must “rebuild its capacity” to address such threats. “Defend territory, people and values” is how he defined NATO’s mission.

A free, peaceful and prosperous Europe is much more attractive to the world than a menacing Russia that lacks similar values and attributes, he noted.

The security of Europe is Breedlove’s “daily business,” said MICHAEL MCFAUL, director of FSI. “You could not have a more well informed person speak about European security.”

McFaul noted that a new initiative series on European security, sponsored by the Europe Center, will bring other speakers and events to campus.

Breedlove, a distinguished graduate of Georgia Tech’s ROTC program, has flown combat missions, mostly in the F-16 jet, and has served as vice chief of staff for the U.S. Air Force and commander of the U.S. Air Force in Europe and Africa.

“I feel right at home, because this is the type of weather we have in Belgium,” he quipped on a rainy day at Stanford.

 

This article was originally published in The Stanford Report on November 9, 2015.

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18th Annual Dallin Lecture: Russia as a Global Challenge

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The Russian System of personalized power has been demonstrating an amazing capacity for survival even in the midst of decay. It has defied many predictions and ruined many analytical narratives. Today the Russian authoritarian rule is trying to prolong its life by turning to repressions at home and by containing the West. Russia, kicking over the global chess board with the war in Ukraine, returns to the international scene as a revisionist and revanchist power. The Russian Matrix demise will be painful, and it already has brought about  Russia’s confrontation with the West.  The challenge posed by Russia’s decaying petro –nuclear state is huge, and it is sure to be one of the dominant problems of the twenty-first century.

RSVP

Lilia Shevtsova is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution (Washington), and an Associate Fellow at the Russia-Eurasia Program, Chatham House - The Royal Institute of International Affairs (London). She is the member of the boards of the Institute for Humanities (Vienna), the Finnish Centre for Excellence in Russian Studies (Helsinki), the Liberal Mission Foundation, and the New Eurasia Foundation (Moscow); a member of the International Forum for Democratic Studies’ Research Council(Washington); a member of the Editorial Boards of the journals: “American Interest,”“Journal of Democracy,” and “New Eastern Europe.“ Shevtsova was Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (Washington) and the Moscow Carnegie Center, founding chair of the Davos World Economic Forum Council on Russia’s Future, and a member of the Council on Terrorism. “Foreign Policy” magazine included Shevtsova in the list of 100 Global Public Intellectuals. She was a participant at the Bilderberg Club meetings; served as Chair of the Program on Eurasia and Eastern Europe, SSRC (Washington) and member of the Social Council for Central and Eastern European Studies. She contributes to global leading media, including: Foreign Policy, FT, Washington Post, Le Monde, Monde Diplomatique, Die Zeit, Fokus, El Pais, American Interest, Survival, Journal of Democracy, Diplomaatia. 

Shevtsova is author of twenty books, including Yeltsin’s Russia: Myths and Reality; Putin’s Russia; Russia –Lost in Transition: The Yeltsin and Putin Legacies; Lonely Power (Why Russia Has Failed to Become the West and Why the West Is Weary of Russia), Russia: Change or Decay (in co-authorship with Andrew Wood), Crisis: Russia and the West in the Time of Trouble.

 
Lectures
European Security Initiative

Stanford's new European Security Initiative focuses on changing geopolitical landscape

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May Wong
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The new European Security Initiative at Stanford will examine the long-term policy issues and trends in Europe's changing geopolitical landscape, especially given Russia's growing aggression in the region.

 

First, it was the 2014 annexation of Crimea. Then, it was the intervention in eastern Ukraine. Most recently, airstrikes and naval cruise missiles are hitting targets in Syria.

What, many are wondering, is Russian President Vladimir Putin up to?

Russia's spate of aggressive tactics has thrust Europe into a new era of uncertainty and has raised pertinent policy questions that Stanford scholars have set out to explore more deeply with the launch this fall of a new European Security Initiative (ESI).

The working group of a dozen senior faculty members – whose breadth of expertise in Russian and Eurasian affairs spans multiple administrations – portrays Russia's actions as constituting the greatest challenge to European security and stability since the end of the Cold War. At the same time, Russia's own unstable economy and political landscape complicate the matter; policy changes moving forward will be high-stakes decisions, as Russia and the West step into a period of sustained competition.

Stanford, with its heavyweight lineup, is poised to play a role. The European Security Initiative – formed by the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), the Europe Center, the Hoover Institution and other university partners – will serve as the collaborative framework for the policy research.

"Policymakers in Washington have to react immediately to events in the world, making it difficult to develop longer-term strategies for dealing with ongoing challenges," said FSI's director, Michael McFaul. "At Stanford, we have the luxury of being able to think about longer trends and then recommend more enduring strategies to our colleagues in government.

"We also have deep expertise on Russia and Europe, which assigns us a special responsibility to tackle these new challenges to European security."

The initial group of Stanford faculty involved in the initiative includes: McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia and a professor of political science; Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. secretary of state and a professor of political science; international studies Professor Coit Blacker, former special assistant to President Bill Clinton and director for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian Affairs on the National Security Council; David Holloway, professor of history and of political science, and one of the world's leading authorities on Russia's nuclear weapons program and defense policies; and Kathryn Stoner, an expert on Russia's governance and political economy and a senior fellow at FSI. 

Analyzing Russia's actions

One of the first objectives of the initiative is to understand the nature of the conflicts at hand and develop theories on Russia's domestic and international intentions.

For example, is Putin trying to re-establish Russian dominance over former Soviet states? Is he trying to distract internal constituencies from an array of domestic problems? Depending on the answers, the initiative's faculty members say the United States would have to pursue different policy options.

Working group discussions and a series of public events featuring key figures in U.S.-Russian and European policy will facilitate the Stanford-based dialogue and help broaden the academic discussion among students.

In September, for instance, ESI launched the new academic year with a talk at the Europe Center by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who was at the center of European and global politics as the former secretary-general of NATO.

Other fall quarter ESI events, past and upcoming, include an Oct. 14 talk by Sergey Aleksashenko, a former deputy chairman of the Russian Central Bank; a Nov. 2 visit by Vladimir Milov, the former Russian deputy minister of energy; and a Nov. 9 visit by General Philip M. Breedlove, supreme allied commander, Europe. 

Students, scholarship

In addition, Stanford students are showing a growing interest in Putin's actions and the unfolding refugee crisis in Europe. Applications for new student fellowships on European issues in Brussels this past summer far outstripped the six spaces available. To capitalize on this renewed interest, the initiative will involve students through events, new fellowships and a new seminar.

The initiative aims to rebuild scholarship in an area of academic interest that waned as the Cold War ended.

"At the end of the Cold War, many thought that we no longer needed to study Russia. I myself even stopped teaching courses on Russia and Eastern Europe," McFaul said. "That was a mistake." He noted that Stanford is ideally positioned to seed a new generation of expertise on Russia and Europe.

FSI provided the startup money to create the initiative, but it will be looking for funds to sustain the program.

 

This article was originally published in The Stanford Report on October 28, 2015.

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Sam Rebo

Encina Hall

616 Serra St., C100

Stanford, CA 94305-6055

(650) 723-9732
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Sam Rebo is a Research and Project Assistant at FSI. He aids FSI Director Michael McFaul with background research for his upcoming book and facilitates FSI's new European Security Initiative.

Sam received his B.A. in International Relations with Honors in International Security from Stanford University. In the past, he has worked at the Moscow Carnegie Center, the French Institute of International Relations in Paris, and Global Integrity in Washington, D.C. His interests include Soccer and the Violin. He claims to make the best grilled cheese sandwich known to man.

Research Assistant and Project Coordinator

McFaul Explains the Myth of Putin's Strategic Genius

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Michael A. McFaul
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In an opinion piece published on October 23, 2015 in the New York Time, FSI director and senior fellow Michael McFaul shares his latest comentary on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Read Professor McFaul's Op Ed in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/23/opinion/the-myth-of-putins-strategic-….

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Understanding Russia's New Tsar: a lecture by Steven Lee Myers

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This event is now full.  Please contact khaley@stanford.edu if you would like to be added to the wait list.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is not the cipher he is sometimes thought to be. His early life, his career in intelligence, and his early service in the newly democratic St. Petersburg -- explain the policies now on display at home and increasingly abroad. Putin has evolved as the country has, becoming the most consequential leader of any country in the world. Although he is often portrayed as an enigma or as caricature, it is essential to understand the characteristics, events and goals that motivate him.  

Steven Lee Myers has worked at The New York Times for twenty-six years, seven of them in Russia during the period when Putin consolidated his power. He spent two years as bureau chief in Baghdad, covering the winding down of the American war in Iraq, and now covers national security issues. He lives in Washington, D.C.

 

 

 

Steven Lee Myers Diplomatic Correspondent, Washington Bureau, The New York Times
Lectures
European Security Initiative
European Security Initiative Lecture Series

On Cruelty: Global Reflections from the Age of Revolutions to the War on Citizenship

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This is the second meeting of the workshop series on Civility, Cruelty, Truth. A one-day event hosted by the Stanford Humanities Center, the workshop will explore the genealogies, promises, and limits of civic virtue—at the heart of which is the city, the classical polis, itself— as a universal ideal. European in its moral contours, constituted by a deep fascination with the rule of law, borders, and security, at once coercive and oblique in whom it excludes and includes, how it punishes and protects, the city held out the promise of a humane center for ethical and sovereign life, one upon which anticolonial struggles against European empires too were first conceived and mounted. This workshop will examine the ambiguous foundations and resolutions of that vision in Asia, Europe, and the fatal waters in between; a vision that has come to be marked today by extreme violence and tragic displacements, and which now presses new questions against the very limit of modern political imagination.
 
Faculty Organizer: Aishwary Kumar (Department of History)
Student Assistant: Ahoo Najafian (Department of Religious Studies)
 
Schedule (coming soon)
 

Co-sponsored by the Department of History, Department of Religious Studies, The Europe Center, The France- Stanford Center for interdisciplinary Studies, Program in Global Justice, McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, Stanford Global Studies, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford Humanities Center, Center for South Asia

 

Stanford Humanities Center
424 Santa Teresa St.
 

Conferences

Is Russia (Becoming) a Failed State? A Lecture by Sergey Aleksashenko

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**Reservations for this event is closed**  We are at capacity and cannot accept further reservations.

 

Twenty-four years ago the Soviet Union collapsed. Since then, Russia has been transformed in many dimensions but it is difficult to describe the country today.  According to its Constitution, Russia is a democratic republic and federation, but modern Russia looks more like an absolute monarchy. The Russian economy is dominated by state corporations, the oligarchs of the 90's, and the cronies of the 2000’s. The economy has been in recession for more than a year and hasn’t exhibited any signs of recovery. Is the country stable? Can it face its governance and economic challenges? Can we forecast the medium-term future of the Russian economy? Could the economy collapse?

 

Sergey Aleksashenko is a Senior Fellow at the Development Center (a Moscow-based think tank) and Nonresident Senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Since graduating Moscow State University in 1986, he has been involved in academia, the public sector, and in business. From 1990-1991 he was appointed to the Commission on Economic reforms of the Government of the USSR as one of the "500 days" plan members. In 1993-1995 he worked as deputy Minister of Finance of Russia in charge of budgetary planning, macroeconomic, and tax policy. From 1995-1998 he was responsible for monetary policy as the first deputy Governor of the Central bank of Russia. From 2000 to 2004 he was the deputy CEO of the Interros Holding where he lead the strategy and business development teams. In 2006-2008 he was the Chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch Russia, the largest financial institution in Moscow, where he greatly increased the bank's scope and presence. Before the financial crisis of 2008, he returned to academia and became the Director of Macroeconomic Research at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. At the same time, he sat on the boards of Aeroflot, United Grain company, United Aircraft Corporation, and the National Reserve bank. At the end of 2012 he faced political persecution and in September 2013 he left Russia for Washington D.C. where he currently resides. 

Sergey Aleksashenko Former Deputy Chairman of the Russian Central Bank
Lectures
European Security Initiative
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