The Center for European and Mediterranean Studies at NYU, the Harriman Institute at Columbia University, NYU’s Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia and Deutsches Haus at NYU present “Worst Case Scenario – Critical Junctures in Russia-Ukraine-West Relations.” After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia and the West reached uneasy new security and economic arrangements that were intended to promote peace and free trade. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine marks the collapse of these arrangements. This is a worst-case scenario – a deadly and costly war with global consequences involving multiple nuclear powers. It is now clear, that the economic incentives built into the European security architecture are insufficient to resolve the conflict. How did we end up here?
This symposium will bring together leading scholars from different fields in three panels to weigh in on critical mistakes that have led to the current situation. Topics of discussion will include NATO expansion, economic liberalization, energy relations, Ukrainian political development, EU security, US foreign policy, imperialism, and changing domestic ideologies.
AGENDA:
10:15 AM–12:00 PM (ET) Europe and Russia: Between Trade and Threat – Virtual Panel
The main themes of the panel include European security and Germany’s role within it, NATO and the European Union, European energy, and post-Cold War East-West relations.
Chair: Stephen Gross (New York University)
Panelists:
Margarita Balmaceda (Seton Hall University)
Emily Holland (US Naval War College)
Stefan Meister (German Council of Foreign Relations)
Sara Moller (Georgetown University)
2:00-3:45 PM (ET) The US, Russia, and the Global Order after 1991
The main themes of the panel include the post-Cold War international system, new challenges to the global order, and US-Russia relations.
Chair: Hadas Aron (New York University)
Panelists:
Alex Cooley (Barnard College)
Mark Kramer (Harvard University)
Rajan Menon (City University of New York)
Angela Stent (Georgetown University and Brookings Institution)
4:15-6:00 PM (ET) Putin’s Russia – The Post-Cold War Trajectory
This panel seeks to understand Russia’s role and interests in its own region and in the international system, and Russia and Ukraine’s path forward from the war in Ukraine.
Chair: Maya Vinokour (New York University)
Panelists:
Volodymyr Dubovyk (Mechnikov National University, Odesa, Ukraine)
Elise Guiliano (Columbia University)
Henry Hale (The George Washington University)
Christoph Neidhart (Remarque Institute, New York University)
Mike Petersen (US Naval War College)
“Worst Case Scenario – Critical Junctures in Russia-Ukraine-West Relations” is funded by the Harriman Institute at Columbia University, NYU’s Jordan Center, and the DAAD from funds of the German Federal Foreign Office (AA)
