Breaking the Unbreakable Union: Nationalism, Disintegration and the Soviet Economic Collapse

Lecture | March 4 | 4-5:30 p.m. | 270 Stephens Hall

Speaker: Marvin Suesse, Visiting Scholar in Economics at UC Berkeley

Sponsor: Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES)

In the early 1970’s many foreign observers expected that the Soviet Union would eventually overtake Western economies. Twenty years later, the Soviet economy had collapsed and its model of resource allocation based on central planning had been thoroughly discredited. This presentation aims to shed light on the abruptness of the Soviet economic collapse. It focuses on the return of economic...   More >

38th Annual Berkeley-Stanford Conference: Emancipation

Conference/Symposium | March 7 | 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. | Bechtel Conference Center, Stanford University

Location:  Encina Hall, Stanford, CA

Sponsors: Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES), Center for Russian, East European, and Euriasian Studies

To be held at the Bechtel Conference Center, Encina Hall, Stanford University

Film Screening: "Vahe Oshagan Redux"

Film - Documentary | March 7 | 8 p.m. |  Saroyan Hall (Khachaturian Community Center)

Location: 825 Brotherhood Way, San Francisco

Film Director: Hrayr Eulmessekian

Sponsors: Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES), Armenian Studies Program, Hamazkayin Armenian Education and Cultural Society

Between Vision and Supervision: Lion Feuchtwanger in Moscow, 1937

Lecture | March 10 | 4 p.m. | Dwinelle Hall, Room 160

Speaker/Performer: Anne Hartmann, Slavistik/Lotman-Institut, Ruhr-Universitat Bochum

Sponsors: Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Department of German, Institute of European Studies, Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES)

ATC Lecture - Don Buchla "How Complicated Could a Metronome Be?"

Performing Arts - Music | March 10 | 7:30-9 p.m. | Sutardja Dai Hall, 310 Banatao Auditorium

Featured Performer: Don Buchla

Performers: Nannick Bonnel; Rumen Sali Shopov; Joel Davel

Sponsor: Center for New Media

Educated in physics, physiology, music, and astronomy, Don Buchla's multi-faceted creativity has been applied to fields as diverse as space biophysics research, musical instrument design, and multi-media composition. Much of his work has centered on the refinement of communication channels between man and machine, notably the invention of mobility aids for the visually handicapped, the...   More >

Target audience: All Audiences

Open to audience: All Audiences

Turkish Policy in Central Asia and the South Caucasus

Lecture | March 11 | 4 p.m. | 270 Stephens Hall

Speaker: Bayram Balci, Visiting Scholar, Middle East Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Sponsor: Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES)

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of new independent states in the Caucasus and Central Asia, Turkey had to reorganize its regional political and strategic vision, giving this region a central role in its foreign policy. Ankara’s main objective was to transform this region into a Turkish sphere of influence. However, the ambitious and political dimension of this vision for...   More >

Seminar 281, International: "Was Stalin Necessary for Russia’s Economic Development?"

Seminar | March 12 | 4-5:30 p.m. | 648 Evans Hall | Note change in date, time, and location

Featured Speaker: Sergei Guriev, New Economic School, Moscow

Sponsors: Department of Economics, Clausen Center for International Business & Policy

Economics 211: Berkeley Economic History Laboratory (BEHL) Weekly Seminar: Was Stalin Necessary for Russia's Economic Development?

Seminar | March 12 | 4-5:30 p.m. | 648 Evans Hall | Note change in date and time

Speaker: Sergei Guriev, Visiting Professor of Economics, Sciences-Po, Paris and New Economic School, Moscow

Sponsor: Department of Economics

Joint seminar with Macroeconomics-International; note date, time and location change.

Seminar 291, Departmental: "Was Stalin Necessary for Russia’s Economic Development?"

Seminar | March 12 | 4-5:30 p.m. | 648 Evans Hall

Speaker/Performer: Sergei Guriev, New Economic School

Sponsor: Department of Economics

Host: Stefano DellaVigna

Seminar 237, Macro: "Was Stalin Necessary for Russia’s Economic Development?"

Seminar | March 12 | 4-5:30 p.m. | 648 Evans Hall | Note change in date, time, and location

Featured Speaker: Sergei Guriev, New Economic School, Moscow

Sponsors: Department of Economics, Clausen Center for International Business & Policy

Ukraine: A Panel Discussion

Conference/Symposium | March 13 | 4-6 p.m. | Wheeler Hall, Maude Fife Room, 315

Speakers: M. Steven Fish, Professor of Political Science, UC Berkeley; Yuriy Gorodnichenko, Associate Professor of Economics, UC Berkeley; Andrei Tsygankov, Professor of Political Science, San Francisco State University; Edward Walker, Associate Adjunct Professor of Political Science and Executive Director of the Berkeley Program in East European and Eurasian Studies, UC Berkeley

Moderator: Jason Wittenberg, Associate Professor of Political Science and Acting Director of ISEEES, UC Berkeley

Sponsors: Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES), Institute of European Studies, European Union Center, Institute of International Studies

The dramatic uprising in Ukraine that culminated in the flight and impeachment of then President Viktor Yanukovich and the instauration of an interim Ukrainian government has brought a long simmering dispute between Russia on the one hand and the United States and its NATO and EU allies over Ukraine’s external orientation to a head. What was initially a dramatic domestic crisis has become the...   More >

Modern-Day Slavery - A Reality Close to Home?

Lecture | March 14 | 12 p.m. | 270 Stephens Hall

Speaker: Gulnara Shahinian, Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, United Nations

Sponsors: Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES), Armenian Studies Program

The Road to Home: Defining Success in the Armenian Diaspora

Conference/Symposium | March 16 | 3:30 p.m. |  Haas School: Andersen Auditorium

Speakers: Sarah Leah Whitson, Director of Human Rights Watch, Middle East and North Africa; Aram Ayazyan, Google Project Manager for Google Wallet; Kevin Minissian, CEO of Nortech Corporation; Christine Soussa, Executive at Symantec Corportation; Adam Kablanian, Former CEO of Virage Logic

Sponsors: Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES), Armenian Studies Program, UC Berkeley Armenian Student Assocation

The Amerikan Steppes: The Great Plains in a Russian Mirror

Lecture | March 18 | 4-5:30 p.m. | 270 Stephens Hall

Speaker: David Moon, Anniversary Professor of History, The University of York

Sponsor: Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES)

This paper – based on my new book project - explores connections between the steppes and the Great Plains. The two regions share similar environments – both are semi-arid grasslands – and environmental histories – on both, indigenous populations who lived mobile lifestyles based on livestock (Plains Indians and steppe nomads) were displaced by farmers of European origins or backgrounds who...   More >

Listomania: Catalogue as Technique: with Examples From Poetry and Prose, Classical and Modern, Western and Russian

Lecture | March 31 | 4 p.m. | Dwinelle Hall, Room 160

Speaker/Performer: Alexander Zholkovsky, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Southern California

Sponsor: Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures