Come join a panel of experts and discuss the unfolding crisis in Ukraine. Take the opportunity to raise questions about foreign policy, conflict, international economics, security and minority rights.
Thursday, March 13: 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Koury Business Center room 346
Panel discussion with:
Dr. Graeme Robertson, Political Science-UNC-Chapel Hill
Dr. Bojan Savic, Political Science/Policy Studies-Elon
Dr. Vitaliy Strohash, Economics-Elon
Moderated by: Dr. Safia Swimelar, Political Science-Elon
Protests in the capital of Ukraine, Kiev, started in November 2013 as thousands of citizens demanded their country’s stronger integration with the European Union. Ignited over a seemingly technical trade agreement with the EU, initially peaceful demonstrations spiraled into violent riots, as dozens of demonstrators on Kiev’s main square were gunned down and thousands were left injured between February 18 and 20, the majority suffering at the hands of violent police oppression. After members of parliament voted Russia-backed President Yanukovych out of office, a new interim government was approved. The reaction of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin was vehement: on March 2, Russian troops established control over the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine. As “anti-Kiev” and purportedly “pro-Russian” counter-protests are spreading throughout eastern Ukraine, tensions in the country are growing. And as Russia tests its intercontinental ballistic missiles 500 miles east of Ukraine, politicians, diplomats and media networks across the world, and in the United States, are indulging in a frenzy of their own: Is the world on the brink of a new cold war between the old nemeses of East and West?
These developments raise a number of questions: What, if any, is President Putin’s end game in Crimea and eastern Ukraine? How should a national compromise in Ukraine be catalyzed and can domestic politics still be pacified? What role can external actors – such as the United States, NATO, and the European Union – play in the crisis? Can and should they counter the effects of Russian involvement in Ukraine? What political, security, and economic factors drive their decisions? Why is the narrative of the Cold War being rekindled both East and West of Kiev?
Sponsored by: Political Science and Policy Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, and International Studies