Russia and the West: US Foreign Policy Since 9/11

Russia and the West: Identities, Foreign Policies and Conflicts

Russia and the West returns after a successful launch focusing on Russian foreign policy since 9/11.  In the second event of the series, we turn our attention to the United States with Chair Chris Hoekstra (UCL Institute of Americas) and speakers Dana Allin (International Institute for Strategic Studies, London), Inderjeet Parmar (City University London) and Cindy May (King's College London).  A third event will follow next month.

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall three major rapprochements between Russia and the West have been initiated: throughout the 1990s by Boris El’tsin and Bill Clinton, the so-called “Bush-Putin honeymoon” from 2001 to 2008 and the “Obama Reset” since 2009. Similar to the expectations surrounding the fall of the Berlin Wall, each of these attempts to usher in a new partnership have been disappointing.  

Scholars agree that Russia-West relations develop in cycles with phases of limited cooperation and conflict. By 2015 the relations had reached the lowest level of the third post-Soviet cycle. Russia and the West: Identities, Foreign Policies and Conflicts is a cross-disciplinary attempt to answer the main questions occupying the minds of scholars and commentators: are the relations between Russia and the West doomed to a vicious cycle? What are the major factors that contribute to the deterioration of relations between Russia and the West? What is the current prognosis for present and future relations? How do different disciplines approach these issues?  This project will provide an academic forum to explore questions of this type.

The first series of events, focusing on Russia’s relationship with the US specifically, will be organised in cooperation with IISS,  a world-leading authority on global security, political risk and military conflict.  UCL is the only university to feature speakers from the IISS and we are grateful for the opportunity to benefit from their expertise.

Chair

Chris Hoekstra (UCL Institute of Americas)

Speakers

Dana Allin (IISS, London)

Dana is the IISS Senior Fellow for US Foreign Policy and Transatlantic Affairs, as well as the Editor of the IISS journal Survival: Global Politics and Strategy.

Inderjeet Parmar (City University London)

Inderjeet is Professor of International Politics at City University London, former President of the British International Studies Association, and co-editor of Routledge Studies in US Foreign Policy.  

Cindy May (King's College London) Cindy May is a Lecturer in the Defence Studies Department at King's College London.  She has worked at the U.S. State Department in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research and the Political and Military Affairs Bureau.  Cindy is a specialist in U.S. foreign policy analysis, particularly in the Middle East.

Fourth Special Guest TBC

Upcoming events:

27.04.2016 Russia-US Relations since 2001 (TBC)