Russia and the Ukraine Crisis: Thinking beyond Geopolitics
Friday, May 1st, 2015
| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, May 1, 2015 | 5:00PM - 8:00PM | The Vivian and David Campbell Conference Facility, Munk School of Global Affairs 1 Devonshire Place |
Series
Annual Munk Lecture on European Affairs
Description
**A link to the live webcast of this event can be found at the bottom of this page. The webcast begins at 5 p.m.*
Western specialists and practitioners have struggled to explain why Russia has been ready to challenge Ukrainian sovereignty so graphically since the Maidan Revolution. For many the default explanation lies with the shifting tectonic plates of geopolitics and the prospect of Ukraine engaging deeply with the EU and NATO. However, Russian officials and analysts cast the crisis as a struggle not merely over power relations, but over the identity of Russian communities and even historically and culturally defined territories. More fundamentally, acute observers point to the Russian fixation on threats arising from ‘regime change’ and to domestic sources of Russian foreign policy and strategic conduct. Given fears of renewed conflict and deeper Russian intervention in Ukraine or beyond, with all the implications of that for collapsing Russian-Western relations, this lecture argues that it is essential to think beyond simple geopolitical categories to explain Russian actions and the severity of the challenge to European stability.
Prof. Allison joined the School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies (SIAS) in 2011 from a Readership in International Relations at the London School of Economics. He was previously a doctoral student and an ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow at St. Antony’s College, Oxford; a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham (1987-99) and Head of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) (1993-2005). Between 2001 and 2005, Prof. Allison was also a Senior Research Fellow attached to the Centre for International Studies in the Department of Politics and International Relations, Oxford University. His broad research interests include the international relations, foreign and security policies of Russia and Eurasia and has travelled extensively there for research projects under his direction.
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