We are pleased to announce the full program for the Seventh Global Conference of WISC, which will be held in Warsaw on 24-26 July 2024. For your convenience, a directory of confirmed participants is also available for consultation. You can browse the list here. Additionally, you can download a PDF copy here.
WB08: Conceptualizing and Discussing Russian (Retro)Imperialism as a Challenge for European Security and Prospects
Time:
Wednesday, 24/July/2024:
11:00am - 12:30pm
Session Chair: Prof. Anatoliy Kruglashov, University of Lodz
Location:Room 0.410
Ul.
Dobra 55
Roundtable
Presentations
ID: 571 136 – Conference Theme: "International Relations in a World of Flux: Understanding Continuity, Change and Contestation" Roundtable WISC Member Associations: Polish International Studies Association (PISA) Preferred Date: Friday, July 26, 2024 Keywords: war, Ukraine, Russia, (retro)imperialism, revisionism
Conceptualizing and Discussing Russian (Retro)Imperialism as a Challenge for European Security and Prospects
Chair(s): Prof. Anatoliy Kruglashov (University of Lodz/Faculty of International Relations and Political Studies), Dr. Michał, Adam Słowikowski (University of Lodz/Faculty of International Relations and Political Studies)
Presenter(s): Prof. Agnieszka Legucka (Vistula University/Business and International Relations), Prof. Tomasz Stępniewski (The John Paul II Catholic Univeristy of Lublin/Faculty of Social Studies), Dr. Andrzej Szabaciuk (The John Paul II Catholic Univeristy of Lublin/Faculty of Social Studies), Dr. Jakub Olchowski (UMCS/International Security Department), Prof. Ulrich Schneckener (Osnabrueck University)
Russian aggression against Ukraine in February 2022 seems to have finally stripped away the illusions of Western elites about the possibility of developing cooperation with Russia as a "normal" state - predictable and responsible one. However, Russia's (retro)imperial activity did not begin back in 2022. The aggression against Ukraine was preceded by a series of other actions against post-Soviet states that violated their sovereignty and/or territorial integrity. Russia's ruling elites sent signals to the West that the international order formed in the post-Soviet period - but that order and the European Union in particular seemed not to recognize or did not want to see the growing threat from Russia. It has a number of practical and theoretical implications from the point of view of the European Union's security and development, from the question of the possibility of neutralizing the Russian threat, to the vision of relations with Russia after the end of the war in Ukraine, to the question of whether Russian imperialism is possible to eradicate in the foreseeable future. Russian policy in the post-Soviet region bears revisionist features, it includes desires to rebuild the empire, to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states - a proper theoretical diagnosis of Russian political thinking will make it possible to effectively neutralize the threat from it.
