PONARS Eurasia Spring Policy Conference

“Domestic Politics in the Shadow of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine”

Draft Agenda | Friday, March 25, 2022

GW Elliott School Hybrid Event (online and in-person)

8:45-9:00 Coffee available for early arrivals

9:00-9:15 Introductions

9:15-10:30 Panel I: Better Understanding Ukraine

Serhiy Kudelia, Baylor University (Virtual)
Putin’s Propaganda and Plans for Ukrainian Domestic Politics

Volodymyr Kulyk, National Academy of Sciences, Ukraine (Virtual)
National Unity and Anti-Russian sentiment in Ukraine after Russia’s Full-Blown Invasion

Mikhail Alexseev, San Diego State University
Trends in Support for Letting Donbas Go

10:30-10:45 Coffee Break

10:45-12:30 Panel II: Russian State Narratives and Mass Responses

Marat Iliyasov, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Vilnius University
War in Ukraine and Russia’s Memory Politics

Scott Radnitz, University of Washington
Pretexts and Pretenses in Putin’s Casus Belli for Invading Ukraine

Henry E. Hale, George Washington University
How Conservative Are Russians?

Olga Iakimova, Ural Federal University
Xenophobia as a Challenge to Solidarity in Pandemic-Era Russia

Sarah Wilson Sokhey, University of Colorado Boulder
Repression with Rewards: Social Policy & the Russian Government’s Illiberal Strategy

12:30-1:30 Lunch Break

1:30-2:45 Panel III-A: Repression and Manipulation in Russia and Belarus

Theodore P. Gerber, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Russia’s Crackdown on Academic Freedom: Trajectory, Consequences, and Possible Responses

Samuel Greene, King’s College London
The Informational Dictator’s Dilemma: Citizen Responses to Media Censorship, Cooptation and Marginalization in Russia and Belarus

Yulia Khalikova, University of Wisonconsin-Madison
Russia and International Law in the Aftermath of the 2020 Constitutional Amendments

Katie Stewart, Knox College
Strengths and Weaknesses of Securitizing Culture to Enhance Regime Legitimacy

1:30-2:45 Panel III-B: Elites in Russia’s Political System

Richard Arnold, Muskingum University
The Spread of Russia’s Cossack Movement

Kirill Melnikov, Institute of Philosophy and Law, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Yekaterinburg, Russia).
The ‘Unified System of Public Power’: Driving Forces and Implications of Redefining Russian Federalism

Gulnaz Sharafutdinova, King’s College London
Can Religious Authorities Help with Covid-19 Vaccination? Lessons from the Muslims in Tatarstan (Russia)

Maria Snegovaya, George Washington University, and Nikolay Petrov, Chatham House
The Nomenklatura Origins of Putinite Elites

2:45-3:00 Coffee Break

3:00-3:45 Panel IV: Unrest in Kazakhstan and Its Implications

Azamat K. Junisbai, Pitzer College
Limits of Authoritarian Learning: Making Sense of January 2022 Events in Kazakhstan

Barbara Junisbai, Pitzer College and Dinissa Duvanova, Lehigh University
The Repertoire of Repression in Post-Soviet Autocracies: What Can We Learn from Kazakhstan’s Failed Coup?

3:45-5:00 Panel V: Prospects for Opposition and Protest in Russia

Irina Busygina, Higher School of Economics and Ekaterina Paustyan, University of Bremen (Virtual)
Ready to Protest? Explaining Protest Potential in Russian Regional Capitals

Stephen Crowley, Oberlin College
From Stability to Stagnation: Economic Reform and the Fear of Social Protest in Russia

Robert W. Orttung, George Washington University
Opposition Politics in Russia

Andrei Semenov, Center for Comparative History and Politics, Perm (Virtual)
Contentious Cities: Urban Conflicts in Russian Millionniks