| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday, November 13, 2019 | 4:00PM - 6:00PM | Seminar Room 108N, Munk School of Global Affairs 1 Devonshire Place M5S 3K7 |
This lecture is based on a study that suggests that the “Putin Exodus” is composed of highly educated and socially aware individuals— lending support to the idea that outbound migration is in fact a “brain drain.” The study also indicates that this emigration is composed of people who identify with the values that have made the West prosper. The results indicate that so long as authoritarianism and politically connected economic privilege continue in Russia, talented people will continue to leave. The study also undermines the notion peddled by the Kremlin that Russia represents a distinct civilization with its own distinctive values, stressing communal advantage over individual liberty and well-being. In short, the study suggests that the emigration can be a bridge between the West and a Russia that is not destined to be authoritarian. The political views of this group are encouraging. So is their continued interest in Russia. Russians, not the West, will determine the future of Russia. But the values and activities of these émigrés provide reason to hope that future may be one that includes cooperation and comity between Russia and the West based upon the values that have produced extraordinary liberty, prosperity, and peace since the end of World War II.
Dr. Sergei Erofeev is currently a lecturer at Rutgers University in New Jersey. He has been involved in the internationalization of universities in Russia since the early 1990s. Previously, Dr. Erofeev served as a vice rector for international affairs at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, the dean of international programs at the European University at Saint Petersburg, and the director of the Center for Sociology of Culture at Kazan Federal University in Russia. He has also been a Hubert H. Humphrey fellow at the University of Washington. Prior to his career in academia, Dr. Erofeev was a concert pianist, and has worked in the area of the sociology of the arts.
This event is sponsored in part by the DAAD with funds from the German Federal Foreign Office (AA).
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