23 October, 2009 n Issue 4
The annual Aleksanteri Conference brings hundreds of scholars to Helsinki in late October. See pages 4-11 for the seminar
programme and keynote speakers.
upcoming Seminar
Focus on the caucasus
The collapse of the Berlin Wall on November 9th, 1989 marked
the end of the Cold War and ended the division of Europe. The
Aleksanteri Institute, together with the Embassies of
Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland
and the Slovak Republic, will organise a seminar on
November 9th 2009 to commemorate those events and
discuss their consequences from the viewpoint of various
European countries.
"The way in which the war was portrayed in the West
was unfair to Russia, while the way in which the war was
portrayed in Russia was unfair to Georgia" said Finnish
Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb in a seminar organised
in Helsinki. The situation in the Caucasus and the
European Neighborhood Policy was the common theme
of two intensive seminars on September 9th and 10th.
Read more on page 3.
Read more on pages 12 -13.
Europe reunited 1989 - legacy
and vision
seminars in Cooperation with the
eurasian partnership foundation
and wider europe network
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Face of the Month: Sari autio-sarasmo
M
any of us recall Soviet
leader Nikita Khrushchev shouting that the Soviet
Union would catch up and
overtake the West. (Whether
he was guilty of banging a
shoe to strengthen his argument remains open to debate). Nonetheless, it was
during the Khrushchev era
that the Soviet leadership
was forced to admit that the
Soviet Union was seriously
lagging behind the West,
and that intensive economic growth was not possible
without importing technology
from the West. “During the
Cold War, transferring technology through the Iron
Curtain was difficult but far from impossible”, says Dr Sari
Autio-Sarasmo, a senior researcher at the Aleksanteri
Institute.
Finland played an important role in such technology
transfers. In 1955 a Finnish-Soviet agreement on scientifictechnical cooperation was signed and Soviet specialists
started to visit Finland. They were particularly interested
in high technology, so it is hardly surprising that Nokia was
one of their key interests. Both sides profited: the Soviets
were able to import technology and keep abreast of recent
developments in high technology, while Nokia was able
to secure a market for its products. “This was particularly
important during the years of economic recession and
resulted in a remarkable level of growth, even during those
years”, said Dr Autio-Sarasmo.
In the 1980s, under the Reagan administration, the United
States tightened the embargo on exports of high technology
to the Soviet Union. In this chilled political climate, Nokia’s
Facts about SARI AUTIO-SARASMO:
n Senior Researcher at the Aleksanteri Institute and a
Docent of General History in the Department of History at
the University of Tampere
n Expertise: Economic history, Cold War history, science
and technology transfer, scientific-technical cooperation
during the Cold War, Soviet history, environmental history
n Coordinator in the Nordic Network Northern Europe –
from the Cold War Division to Restructured Europe, funded by NordForsk 2007–2009, member of the coordination group of the Nordic and European Cold War research
network Norcencowar, funded by Nordforsk 2009–2011,
and coordinator of the Trade and Technology research
group within the Norcencowar network. Dr Autio-Sarasmo
is also a member of the scientific council of the University
of Helsinki and a member of the executive board of the
Finnish Graduate School for Russian and East European
Studies.
dealings with the Soviet Union
became a much more sensitive
issue. Here, however, Finland’s
position as a neutral state
became quite helpful. A secret
agreement was established
between Nokia, Finland and
the United States. In exchange
for Nokia having free reign to
continue its trade with the Soviet
Union, the company promised
to disclose its business with
the Soviets to the West, thus
providing US authorities with
information about the Soviet
Union’s needs. “In a sense, Nokia
and Finland more generally
could both have their cake and
eat it. Finnish actors were truly
Photo: Anu Pöyry
in-between the two blocs and
really knew how to play the Cold War game”, explained Dr
Autio-Sarasmo.
Dr Autio-Sarasmo is the leader of the research project
Knowledge through the Iron Curtain (or KIC in short), funded
by the Academy of Finland, which provides new angles into
the Cold War era. The Cold War is often characterised in
terms of confrontation. “This is certainly true when we look
at the level of superpower politics”, said Dr Autio-Sarasmo,
“but a much more complex picture emerges when we start
to analyse practical cooperation through the Iron Curtain.
We’re used to thinking that politics and big actors, such
as the two superpowers, mattered, but actually politics and
ideology yielded to economic interests, and small actors
turned out to be much more powerful than we have so far
thought.”
Anna-Maria Salmi
Sari Autio-Sarasmo is Head of the Organising Committee of the 9th
Annual Aleksanteri Conference, Cold War Interactions Reconsidered.
n Her publications include:
n ‘Khrushchev and the challenge of technological
progress’ In: Khrushchev in the Kremlin. Eds. JR Smith
and M. Ilic. Routledge 2010 [in print];
n ‘Soviet Economic Modernisation and Transferring Technologies from the West’ In: Modernisation and Russian
Society in the 20th Century. Eds. Markku Kangaspuro and
Jeremy Smith. Studia Fennica Historica 12, Finnish Literature Society (SKS), Helsinki 2006.
n Understanding Russian Nature. Representations, Values and Concepts. Eds. Arja Rosenholm and Sari Autio-Sarasmo. Kikimora Publications Aleksanteri Papers
4/2005, Helsinki 2005.
n Suunnitelmatalous Neuvosto-Karjalassa 1928–1941.
Paikallistason rooli Neuvostoliiton teollistamisessa.
[Planned economy in the Karelian ASSR. The role of the
local level in the industrialisation of the Soviet Union.] Bibliotheca historica 71. SKS, Helsinki 2002
P.O. Box 42 (Unioninkatu 33), FI-00014 University of Helsinki n aleksanteri@helsinki.fi n
Tel. +358 (9) 191 24175 n www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/english
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Project news
COMPETITION in socialist society
T
upcoming seminar
Europe reunited 1989 - legacy and
vision
T
he Berlin Wall collapsed on November 9th, 1989. Twenty
years to the day, this seminar assembles notable persons
from seven European countries to discuss the causes and
consequences of the collapse of the Iron Curtain and
thoughts on the future.
The panellists have followed the changes from a variety
of vantage points; some even actively participated in the
course of events. A Finnish viewpoint will be presented by
Paavo Lipponen, who will also preside over the discussion.
The seminar is divided into two parts: Legacy and Vision.
The panellists will be encouraged to discuss the historic
events of 1989 in their respective countries and freely
elaborate their views on the outcome of the change and the
challenges that European countries have had to overcome.
Panellists:
n Mr. Wilhelm Molterer, Member of the Austrian National
Council, Spokesperson on Constitutional Matters, Austrian
Peoples' Party, Former Vice Chancellor, Minister of Finance
and Minister of Agriculture (Austria)
n Mr. Šimon Pánek, Co-chairman of the Central Students
Strike Committee in 1989, Founder and General Manager
of People in Need organization (Czech Republic)
n Dr. Hans-Friedrich von Ploetz, Member of the Expert
Group on Nato's new strategy and former Secretary of
State and Ambassador, in 1989 Ambassador and German
Permanent Representative on the NATO-Council (Germany)
n Mr. László Kovács, Member of the European Commission,
Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union, State
Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary in
1989-90 (Hungary)
n Dr. Czesław Bielecki, Architect, Dissident and Political
activist, Adviser to the former President Lech Wałęsa,
Former chairman of the Parliamentary foreign affairs
commission (Poland )
n Mr. Ján Figeľ, President of the Christian-Democratic
Movement, Former Commissioner (Slovak Republic)
The Aleksanteri Institute is organising the seminar in cooperation with the Embassies of Austria, the Czech Republic,
Germany, Hungary, Poland and the Slovak Republic.
Date and time: Monday, 9 November, 2009 at 3–5 p.m.
The Aleksanteri Institute (Unioninkatu 33, third floor).
Registration by Tuesday 3rd November on electronic form. For
more information, please see:
www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/english/news/events/2009/
1109europe_reunited.html
he Competition in Socialist Society project, led by Dr
Katalin Miklóssy, was granted funding by the Academy
of Finland for 2010 to 2012. The project investigates forms
of competition adopted from the West and merged into the
communist framework, a topic that will provide a significantly
new angle to studies of the Cold War era. The research
group will host its first network meeting together with the
Civil Society group of the NORCENCOWAR (Nordic and
Central European Network of Cold War Researchers)
network, which will be coordinated by Professor Karl Molin
during the Aleksanteri Conference on 30 October 2009.
Guest lecture on 6th October
Azerbaijan and Regional Dynamics
Photo: Erkka Lehto
T
he Azerbaijan Ambassador to Sweden, Norway and
Finland, Mr Rafael Ibrahimov, delivered a thoughtprovoking lecture that offered new insight on this important
but relatively unknown South Caucasian country.
In an historical overview, Ibrahimov pointed out the important role that the Nobel brothers (Robert and Ludwig)
played in the first Baku oil boom at the turn of the 20th
century. He also noted that the Baku-Batumi railway link
was the first energy corridor from the South Caucasus to
the outside world.
Mr Ibrahimov then turned to more recent regional developments, underlining the close regional economic cooperation between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, which extends far beyond joint oil and gas export pipeline projects.
Armenia, however, remains sidelined from these projects
due to Azerbaijan’s categorical withdrawal from any regional project involving Armenia. Bilateral relations between the
two neighbours remain strained by unresolved conflict over
the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, which the Azeri side regards as the cradle of Azerbaijani culture. As a result of
the conflict, Azerbaijan considers 20 percent of its territory
– the Nagorno-Karabakh as well as seven adjacent regions
of Azerbaijan proper – as being occupied by Armenia.
According to Ibrahimov, Azerbaijan is seeking peaceful
settlement of the conflict, in the negotiation process mediated by the Minsk group of the OSCE, based on the norms
and principles of international law. As a precondition for
any discussions regarding the legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan also insists on the restoration of its territorial integrity and the return of refugees and IDPs to their
homes. Ibrahimov also stated that Karabakh Armenians
would be offered the highest possible level of autonomy.
P.O. Box 42 (Unioninkatu 33), FI-00014 University of Helsinki n aleksanteri@helsinki.fi n
Tel. +358 (9) 191 24175 n www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/english
Mikko Palonkorpi
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COLD WAR
Interactions Reconsidered
programme
Thursday 29 Oct
8.30-9.30 Registration
Info Desk, Entrance Hall
9:30-10:00 Opening Session
n Professor Markku Kivinen: Opening words
n Dr. Sari Autio-Sarasmo: Viewpoints to Cold War era in Europe
Small Hall
10:00-11:00 Plenum
n Chair: Sari Autio-Sarasmo
n Professor Jadwiga Staniszkis: The Military Revolution
and the end of Communism
Small Hall
AC ‘09
LEKS
ONF
Annual Aleksanteri Conference
n Riikka Nisonen-Trnka: "Visiting the "Civilised World" travel accounts of Czechoslovak scientists from the West
in the 1960s"
n Lars P. Haga: Encounters across the intrasystemic border. VOKS, the European Peoples´ Democracies and Soviet Identity
Auditorium XIV
Linguistics and Politics during the Cold War
n chair Sanna Turoma
n Maxim Waldstein: Across the Iron Curtain: The
Adventures of Soviet Structuralism in the West
n Mika Lähteenmäki: Reading Bakhtin in the Context of
the Cold War: Creation of a Myth
n discussant Jonathan Platt
Auditorium XI
12:45-13:45 Lunch break
11:00-11:15 Break
11.15-12.45 Session 1
13.45-15.45 Session 2
Beneath the Barricades: The Search for Cooperation
Breaching the Wall: Ostpolitik/Westpolitik and Trade
n chair Markku Kangaspuro
n Mikhail Lipkin: Moscow Economic Conference of April
1952: An early bid for peaceful coexistence or idelogical
warfare?
n Juhana Aunesluoma: Watching the Finns. Finland in
Western Integration Strategies 1955 - 1974
n Pauli Heikkilä: "Essential milestone in the European
unification". Estonian delegation in the Central and Eastern
European Conference in London January 1952
Audiorium II
On the Airways: Media in the Cold War
n chair Jukka Pietiläinen
n Richard H. Cummings: The Crusade for Freedom, 19501960: Winning the Battle for America’s Hearts and Minds in
the Struggle Against Communism
n Ioana Macrea-Toma: Beyond the Cold War Linearities:
Radio Free Europe and the Interplay of Distant Fantasies
n James Schwoch: Finland and Cold War TV in the 1950s
and 1960s
n discussant Simo Mikkonen
Auditorium IX
Party, Flag, and Tribe: the Politics of Ethnicity
n chair Anna Korhonen
n Robert Knight: Ethnicity in the Cold War
n Tapani Kaakkuriniemi: Multiple otherness: Yugoslav
nationalities in Zwischeneuropa
n discussant Juraj Buzalka
Auditorium III
Trans-systemic Cultural Interactions
n chair Sari Autio-Sarasmo
n György Péteri: "Reporting form ´Over There´: Eastern
Europe´s Ford Fellows on Their Experience in the USA
during 1960s"
n chair and discussant Benedikt Schoenborn
n Sara Tavani: Poland opens to the West: Polish-German
diplomacy and Market Socialism (1970-1976)
n Silviu Miloiu: Playing with the Trojan Horse? The British
decision-making process regarding Romania´s adhesion to
IMF and IBRD (1972)
n Suvi Kansikas: Room to manoeuvre? East European
CMEA countries and the European Economic Community
(1969-1976)
n Lisa Bicknell: Action, Reaction and Interaction: Ostpolitik
and Poland, 1969-1972
Auditorium XIV
NORCENCOWAR PANEL: Early Cold War Media and
Propaganda: Cases from Scandinavia and Estonia
n chair Vahur Made
n Olaf Mertelsmann: Early Cold War Media and the
Response of the Audience in a Soviet Republic
n Palle Roslyng-Jensen: A Third Voice: Scandinavian
Media Discourses on the Soviet Union 1945-49
n Ivo Juurvee: KGB as a History Writer? Case Study of
Historiography Published in the Estonian SSR Exclusively
for Est. Diaspora during the CW
n Mikael Nilsson: US Propaganda Activities in Sweden
during the 1950s and 1960s
n discussant Valur Ingimundarson
Auditorium XIII
Individual Biographies in the Cold War
n chair and discussant Marianne Liljeström
n Tiiu Jaago: Mapping the Cold War effects in Estonian
remembrance cultures
n Ene Kõresaar: Mapping the Cold War effects in Estonian
remembrance cultures
n Mari Ristolainen: Toivo Vähä - Ivan Petrov: "The last
man standing on the far side of the world"
P.O. Box 42 (Unioninkatu 33), FI-00014 University of Helsinki n aleksanteri@helsinki.fi n
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n Tuulikki Kurki: One life and two perspectives separated
by the border: the case of Taisto Huuskonen
Auditorium II
Encounters of the Third Kind: Cultural Interactions
Across the Iron Curtain
n chair Pia Koivunen
n Simo Matias Mikkonen: Weapons or Victims? Soviet
Emigration in attendance of Superpower politics
n Dina Fainberg: The heirs of the future - Foreign
correspondents meeting youth on the other side of the
iron curtain
n Tomas Tolvaisas: Cold War Communications: American
Exhange Exhibitions in the USSR, 1959-1991
n discussant Tal Zalmanovich
Auditorium III
Èmigré Intellectuals and the Power of Literature
Interaction and Cooperation
n chair Hanna Ruutu
n Kathleen Parté: The Weaponization of Literature:
Reconsidering Russia´s Dangerous Texts
n Nataša Kovačević: The Mediatization of History and
Global Politics of Forgetting in Milan Kundera
n Sanna Turoma: Joseph Brodsky and Oriental Identity as
Discursive Strategy
n discussant Irina Sandomirskaja
Auditorium IX
The Politics of Pedagogy: the Role of Education in
the Cold War
n chair Maija Jäppinen
n Alla Zeide: Teaching Russian History During the Cold
War: M.M. Karpovich at Harvard
n Tuomas Takala, Nelli Piattoeva: Conceptions of development assistance to education in post-Soviet international
discourse
n Yulia Gradskova: Russian discourses on childcare and
preschool education centres´ from "Soviet education is the
best in the world" to what?
n discussant Veronika Sušová
Auditorium XI
15:45-16:15 Coffee
16.15-18.15 Session 3
Solidarnosc and the West
n chair Riikka Nisonen-Trnka
n Robert Brier: Poland´s Democratic Opposition and the
Western Left, 1976-1980. Transnational Activism and International Symbolic Politics in the late Cold War
n Bent Boel: The Socialist international and Dissidence in
Eastern Europe during the Cold War
n discussant Jadwiga Staniszkis
Auditorium II
"Beyond Peace and Friendship" - Cultural Cold War
Encounters at the World Youth Festivals, 1940s - 1970s
n chair Suvi Kansikas
n Pia Koivunen: Bridging the East and West – Informal
Interaction at the World Youth Festivals in the 1940s–60s
n Tom Junes: From Stalinist hubris to generational nemesis: the 1955 Warsaw World Youth and Students Festival
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n Joni Krekola: Peace and Friendship or Freedom? Meaning
of the Slogans at the World Youth Festival in Helsinki, 1962
n Nicholas Rutter: The Great Correction: the World Youth
Festival transformed, 1968-1973
n discussant Rosa Magnusdottir
Auditorium III
Bringing the Post-War "Grand Narratives" together:
the Cold War and the Welfare State
n chair Johanna Rainio-Niemi
n Klaus Petersen, Pauli Kettunen, Johanna Rainio-Niemi:
Mapping contact zones between Cold War and the Welfare
State
n Helge Pharo: Development aid and the Norwegian historical experience: promoting growth and projecting values
n Jonathan Bell: Building a Left Coast: The California
Welfare State and the Challenge to Cold War Liberalism in
the 1960s
n discussant Marju Lauristin
Auditorium XIII
The Transfer of Knowledge and Changing Values
n chair Jussi Lassila
n Margareta Tillberg: Design in the USSR: collaboration
for compatibility within and beyond the Eastern Bloc
n Isabelle de Keghel: Western in style, socialist in content?
Visual representations of GDR consumer culture in the
"Neue Berliner Illustrierte" (1953 - 1964)
n Janna Svendsen: Cold War - friendly rhetoric?
Auditorium IX
Picturing the Cosmic: Soviet Visual Culture in the
Cold War and its Post-Soviet Afterlife
n chair Jonathan Platt
n Iina Kohonen: Cosmic Landscape: Photographs from
the Far Side of the Moon, Earth from Space and the Art of
Alexey Leonov
n Cathleen S. Lewis: Screening Hope: Cosmonaut
Nostalgia in Post-Soviet Film
n Roman Marek: First Cosmonaut Laika: a Veteran of
the Cold War Persists on Flickr, YouTube and the Infinite
Space of the Internet
Auditorium XI
Images of Enemies: Representations and Projections
n chair Kaarina Aitamurto
n David Tompkins: Israel as Friend and Enemy in the Early
Cold War: Constructing a Pedagogical Image in Poland
and East Germany
n Olga Malinova: The Idea of "the West" in Discourses of
Perestroika: Stereotypes of Cold War Thinking and Transformation of Collective Identity in Late-Soviet Context
n James Koranyi: Romanian German writings of Romania
during the Cold War
n discussant Anni Kangas
Auditorium XIV
P.O. Box 42 (Unioninkatu 33), FI-00014 University of Helsinki n aleksanteri@helsinki.fi n
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Friday 30 Oct
8.00-9.00 registration
Info Desk, Entrance Hall
9.00-11.00 Session 4
Choosing Sides: Was Neutrality Really Possible?
n chair and discussant Thomas Fischer
n Johanna Rainio-Niemi: New Perspectives on the
Pol-icies of Neutrality: Austria, Finland and the Cold War
Battle of Ideas
n Norbert Götz: Witch-hunt in Cold War Sweden: The
"Hjalmarson Affair" Revisited
n Cecilia Notini Burch: Refugee policy and national
security in Cold War Sweden (1945-1960)
n A. Alexander Stummvoll: The Vatican and the Cold War,
1947-1991: Truth trumps neutrality
Auditorium XIII
Women and the Cold War
n chair Aino Saarinen
n Janou Vorderwuelbecke: Taking the "Troubles" to East
Berlin: How the 1975 Womens´s World Congress became
a transnational forum for the Northern Ireland conflict
n Helene Carlbäck: Woman to woman. Swedish womens'
magazines on the "Woman question" in the Soviet Russia
during Cold War
n discussant Melanie Ilic
Auditorium III
The Cold War's Impact on Historiography
n chair and discussant Mikko Majander
n Anna K. Johns: Julius and Ethel´s Ghosts: History and
Memory of the Rosenbergs in American Life, 1953-2008
n Andrea Peto: Refraiming historical canon about WWII in
post communist context
n Brendan Humphreys: "The Lone Rider of Santa Fe", The
Reagan Hagiography and the End of the Cold War
Auditorium IV
Silenced Voices: Tamizdat, Samizdat and PEN
n chair Jouni Järvinen
n Olga Zaslavskaja: On reciprocity of samizdat
phenomenon and East-West communication during Cold War
n Friederike Kind-Kovács: Lifestories reconnected:
Tamizdat as a universal human experience across the Iron
Curtain
n Andrea Orzoff: The PEN and the State: Germany´s PEN
Clubs and Europe´s Cold War
Auditorium IX
A "Cold War Culture"? Music, Radio and
Documentaries across the Curtain, 1945-1989
n chair Jon Bell
n Leo Goretti: ‘Amore or Dollars’? The youth policies of
the Italian Communist Party and the outbreak of the Cold
War (1947-1949)
n Linda Risso: Don´t mention the Soviets! The short
movies produced by NATO between 1949 and 1989
n Matthew Worley: One Nation under bomb: The Cold
War and British Punk
Auditorium X
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The Archaeologies of the Cold War's Metalanguages
n chair Irina Sandomirskaja
n Egle Rindzeviciute: Cybernetics as a Metalanguage of
Soviet Governance: The Issues of Freedom and Critique
n Aleksei Semenenko: In Search of Universal Language:
The Case of Tartu-Moscow Semiotic School
n Vessela Misheva: The Cold War and the Unity of Science Movement
n Johan Öberg: Conseptualism across the Iron Curtain
Auditorium II
11:00-11:15 Break
11:15-13:00 Plenum
n Chair: Riikka Nisonen-Trnka
n Professor Jessica C. E. Gienow-Hecht: What Leaders
Can Learn from the Past: Cultural Diplomacy, Civil Society
and the Limits of the Cold War
n Mr. Yale Richmond: Cultural Exchange and the Cold
War: How the West Won
Small Hall
13:00-13:45 Lunch break
13.45-15.45 SESSION 5
When the War Turned Hot: Struggles and Ideology
in the Third World
n chair Susanna Hast
n Leo Jansons: "Segregation and Immunity of African
Diplomats in the U.S. During the Presidency of John F.
Kennedy: Another Sharp Edge of Cold War Ideological
Struggle?"
n Robert J. McMahon: Reconsidering the Cold War in the
Third World
n Artemy Kalinovsky: Soviet Nation Building and Counter
Insurgency in Afghanistan and Ethiopia
n discussant Liisa Laakso
Auditorium III
Other Voices: Peace and Human Rights' Movements
n chair Jouni Järvinen
n Holger Nehring: The Last Battle of the Cold War: Peace
movements and Cold War politics in the 1980s
n Thomas Fischer: G2W - Faith in the Second World: Using the Helsinki Network to Overcome the East-West Divide
n discussant Matti Jutila
Auditorium IX
Dealing with the Traumatic Past I
n chair Silviu Miloiu
n Tuuli Lähdesmäki: Images of President Urho Kekkonen
– remembering and recontextualizing the Kekkonen era
n Tomáš Bouška: Memories of Czech Political Prisoners
n Aili Aarrelaid: Baltic Biographies at Historical Crossroads. Two traumas
n discussant Li Bennich-Björkman
Auditorium XI
P.O. Box 42 (Unioninkatu 33), FI-00014 University of Helsinki n aleksanteri@helsinki.fi n
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Cold War mediators and travellers across the Iron
Curtain
n chair Jessica Gienow-Hecht
n Piotr H. Kosicki: The travels of politically engaged
Catholic intellectuals
n Riikka Nisonen-Trnka: Czechoslovak scientists raising
the Iron Curtain
n Dora Vargha: "We love our children too". Cold War
intractions in the fight against polio from a Hungarian
perspective
Auditorium II
On the Big Screen: Cinema in the Cold War I
n chair Hanna Ruutu
n Andrey Shcherbenok: Iron Curtain as a Distorting Lens:
The Vision of the Enemy in Soviet and American Cold War
Cinemas
n Oleg Riabov: Gendering the Enemy in the Soviet and
the American Cold War Films
n Andrei Kozovoi: "This film is harmful": obstacles in the
representation of America in Soviet cinema during the Cold
War
n discussant Yale Richmond
Auditorium XIII
Law I/ The Legal Dimension in the Cold War
Interactions
n chair William Simons
n Jane Henderson: Talking across the fence: Cold War
academic cooperation in the legal sphere
n Jukka Kekkonen: Cold War and legal culture in Finland
n Zlata Benevolenskaya: The new political polarization of
the world and the reform of state property management in
Russia
n discussant Pia Letto-Vanamo
Auditorium IV
15:45-16:15 Coffee break
16.15-18.15 SESSION 6
Fueling Change: Europe and Cold War Trade Blocs
n chair Tapani Kaakkuriniemi
n Ksenia Demidova: US and Euro-Soviet gas trade in the
time of energy crises of 1973-1979: issues of political
leverage throug Hydrocarbons during the Cold War
n Niklas Jensen-Eriksen: CoCom and Neutrality: Western
export control policies, Finland and the Cold War, 1949-1958
n Suvi Kansikas: The USSR, the CMEA and the EEC
challenge, 1969-1975
n discussant Barbara Zanchetta
Auditorium III
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Backchannels of Cooperation
n chair and discussant Arto Luukkanen
n Mike Dennis: Over the Wall: Football and Agency in East
Germany
n Stefan Wiederkehr: Sport Physicians and Sport Officials
between Cold War Confrontation and Co-operative Rule
Setting in International Sport Bodies
n Ville Jalovaara: The Churches and the Cold War - Case
Solved?
Auditorium IX
Dealing with the Traumatic Past II
n chair Katalin Miklossy
n Li Bennich-Björkman: Transition from "dreaming about
politics" to "doing politics" in the Baltic contexts
n Jelena Obradovic: Victims, violence and "remaking
worlds" after war trauma in Serbia
n Nadezhda Stoyanova: Securitising Identities: the Power
of Exclusion
n Brendan Humphreys: The Politics of "Never Again!",
from Kosovo to Munich
n discussant Markku Kangaspuro
Auditorium XI
Transferring Technology
n chair and discussant Sari Autio-Sarasmo
n Frank Dittmann: The first computer communication
network between East and West
n Jeremy Smith: Learning from the French: The Modernisation of Soviet Winemaking, 1955-1961
n Steven E. Harris: Soviet Housing Architects and the
Western Media in the Early Cold War
Auditorium II
On the Big Screen: Cinema in the Cold War II
n chair Mark Nash
n Kathleen Starck: In Love with the Other - Russian-American
Relationships in Early Cold War Films
n Kimmo Ahonen: Science Fiction Film and the Cold War:
Red Planet Mars (1952) as an Anticommunist Fantasy
n Elena V. Baraban: The Cold War and the Soviet
Discourse of WWII in Cinema
n discussant Tony Shaw
Auditorium XIII
Law II/ Round table: Remnants of Cold War Policy
Making over the Past Two Decades: Has There Been
Peace Dividend?
n chair Jane Henderson
n Matti Mikkola: Divided Europe - Divided human rights
n Leena Lehtinen: Relevance of the Cold War for Russian
jurisprudence: Private law
n Tania Borisova/ William Simons: The other and law: Is
the legal field immune from particularities in a globalizing
world?
n discussants Zlata Benevolenskaya, Ilmari Larjavaara,
Marju Luts-Sootak, Kirsti Rissanen
Auditorium IV
P.O. Box 42 (Unioninkatu 33), FI-00014 University of Helsinki n aleksanteri@helsinki.fi n
Tel. +358 (9) 191 24175 n www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/english
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Saturday 31 Oct
9.30 -11.30 SESSION 7
Constructing Post-Cold War Europe: "New Europe"
and the EU
n chair and discussant Henri Vogt
n Laura Dib: Closing the gap - the identification of the EU
institutions in relation to the East after 1989
n Benedict E. DeDominicis, Yulia Shenderovich: NeoContainment Strategy: Nationalism and Competive Interference in the Politics of European Post Communist States
n Nelly Bekus-Goncharova: Constructing Post-Soviet
Belarus Identity: Efficiency of the Cold War Legacy in
Defining the "Belarussianness"
n Martin Dangerfield: East/Central Europe and Regional
Integration after the Cold War: Continuity and Change
Auditorium IV
Intellectual and Dissident Activism
n chair and discussant Piotr Kosicki
n Lars Fredrik Stöcker: Network across the Baltic Sea The activities of Polish and Estonian political émigrés in
Sweden during the Cold War era
n Rosa Magnusdottir: Intellectual Activism during the Cold
War: Icelandic Socialists and their International Networks
n Nancy Jachec: Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz, Jean-Paul Sartre, and ´Questions of Method`: a case study of intellectual
exchange and ideological revision in the first phase of the
Cold War
Auditorium III
The Old World Order: Reassessments and
Re-conceptualisations
n chair Hanna Smith
n Susanna Hast: Genealogy of the Concept of Sphere of
Influence: Practices of the Cold War
n Anastasia Mitrofanova: Cold War Reconsidered in the
Light of the Hegemonic Stability Theory
n Patryk Babiracki: Soviet-East European Interactions
during the Cold War: In Search for an Analytic Paradigm
n Alaeddin Yalcinkaya: Cold War Nostalgia and Eurasianist
Politics
n discussant Tuomas Forsberg
Auditorium IX
The Enemy of My Enemy: The Search for Independent
Socialism
n chair Tapani Kaakkuriniemi
n Elena Dragomir: When the other is "our elder brother".
The role of perceptions in constructing the "deviant" profile
of Romania´s foreign policy at the beginnig of the 1960s
n Louie Milojevic: Was Tito a Tito? The Dilemma of
"National Communism" for an anti-Communist Foreign
Policy in the Soviet-Yugoslav Split, 1948-1958
n Stephen J. Scala: East German New Thinking? Transnationalization, Conseptual Change, and Institutional Stasis
in GDR Foreign Policy Expertise
n Goran Miloradovic: Anomaly of cold war: ideological
character and international function of socialist Yugoslavia
n discussant Kimmo Rentola
Auditorium XI
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Music, Literature and Fine Arts in the Cold War Soviet
Union
n chair and discussant Sanna Turoma
n Yelena Kalinsky: Double Distortion: Art and Politics in
the Moscow Underground
n Barbara-Renata Chrzan: Literature of the "iron curtain"
Empire of Evil in Camp Literature
n Meri Herrala: The Impact of the Cold War on Soviet
Music, particularly during the Antiformalist Campaign
Auditorium II
ROUNDTABLE
n
n
n
n
n
n
chair Irina Sandomirskaja
Jutta Scherrer
Markku Kivinen
Manuel de los Reyes Garcia Markina
Katalin Miklossy
Joseph Pilat
Auditorium XIII
11:30-12:00 Coffee break
12.00-13.30 SESSION 8
Post-Chernobyl Mobilization Beyond the State: the
Cases of Belarus, Ukraine, and Germany
n chair Astrid Sahm
n Alexandr Dolgowskij: Perception of Chernobyl in Written
Sources in Belarus
n Anastasiya Leukhina: Ecological Movement in Ukraine
After Chernobyl
n Melanie Arndt: "Children of Chernobyl. Interweavement
of civil societal initiatives in Germany and Belarus
Auditorium III
Communism and Post-communism: Reconstructing
and Understanding the Legacies of the Past for the
Politics of the Present
n chair Veronika Sušová
n Barbara J. Falk: The Museology of Memory and the
Practice of Postcommunist Politics
n Libora Oates-Indruchova: Feminism East and West:
Bourgeois Ideology, a Western Import, or a "Homegrown"
Blend?
n Paulina Bren: Major Zeman´s Revisionist Crime-Fighting:
The Politics of Memory and Media from Late Communism
to Post-Communism in the Czech Republic
Auditorium IV
Exhibitions and the Performing Arts
n chair and discussant Brendan Humphreys
n Verity Clarkson: "Embassy exhibitions" and national
identities: the organisation and reception of Eastern
European exhibitions in Cold War Britain
n Jasna Galjer: Between and out of East and West:
Yugoslavia and international exhibitions as strategy of self
promotion
n Jonathan Rosenberg: Fighting the Cold War with Violins
and Trumpets: US Symphony Orchestras and the EastWest Struggle
Auditorium IX
P.O. Box 42 (Unioninkatu 33), FI-00014 University of Helsinki n aleksanteri@helsinki.fi n
Tel. +358 (9) 191 24175 n www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/english
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Seeing Red: (de) Constructing the Russian Enemy in
Western Popular Culture
n chair Leonid Trofimov
n Christopher Read: Peeping through the Curtain: Revealing
the "Real" Russia
n Simon Willmetts: Hitchcock´s Cold War: Filming the
Soviet Menace
n Christopher R. Moran: Russophobia and the British Spy
Thriller
n discussant Dina Fainberg
Auditorium XI
The Impact of the Cold War on Soviet Scholarship
n chair and discussant Markku Kivinen
n Simo Leisti: How did the Prague Spring turn into Autumn
of Sociology in Moscow
n Katerina Mishuris: Making the Bourgeois PseudoScience Soviet: Opinion Surveys in the late 1950s and the
1960s
n Stefan Rohdewald: "Futurology - Bridge between East
and West?" Western and Soviet Visions of Scientific Form
of the "Fight for the Future"
Auditorium II
13:30-14:30 Lunch
14:30-15:30 Plenum
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aleksanteri conference
Keynote speakers
Professor Nadia Arbatova
Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO),
Russia
P
rofessor Nadia Arbatova is
the head of the Department
on European Political Studies
Institute for World Economy and
International Relations (IMEMO)
at the Russian Academy of
Sciences. She has previously
worked as a visiting professor
at the Department for Strategic
Studies of the Swedish National
Defense College 1998–1999,
and at the ELIAMEP, Greece, in
2003. Professor Arbatova has
been the director of Policy Studies and the editor at the
Committee “Russia in a United Europe” 2001–2007 and
the director of the Forum “European Dialogues” in 2008.
Arbatova is the author of numerous publications including
four individual monographs and brochures on international
relations and Russia’s foreign policy. Her professional
interests include European Integration, European Security,
Russian foreign policy, terrorism and conflict prevention.
n Chair: Suvi Kansikas
n Professor Nadia Arbatova: Russia and the West: Time to
step out of the Cold War Shadow
Small Hall
Russia and the West: Time to Step out of the Cold War Shadow,
Saturday 31st October, Plenum at 14:30 in Small Hall
15:30-16:00 Closing Session
Russia and the West: Time to Step
out of the Cold War Shadow
n Chair: Suvi Kansikas
n Closing remarks:
Professor Markku Kivinen and Dr. Katalin Miklóssy
Small Hall
Organising Committee:
n Sari Autio-Sarasmo
Head of Organising Committee
Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki
n Suvi Kansikas
Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki
n Eeva Korteniemi
Conference secretary
Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki
n Riikka Nisonen-Trnka
Conference coordinator
Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki
n Merja Suomi
Conference trainee
Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki
n Contact: fcree-aleksconf@helsinki.fi
Summary of the Keynote Speech
The recent Caucasus crisis has become a culmination
of the Russia-Western security differences and raised
fears of a new Cold War. Given that “Cold War” is not so
much a scientific but rather a journalistic term; any serious
confrontation between Russia and the West can be labeled
as “a new Cold War”. It is often used to describe any heightened
tension between states, but this interpretation does not
indicate any starting point from which the rise in tension
can be measured and its probable consequences and
dangers assessed. As we know from our recent history,
the Cold War was a period of conflict and competition
between the US and the Soviet Union that began in the
1940s and lasted until the early 1990s. This period can be
characterized by several distinguishing features which are
no longer present.
Nonetheless, the last decade of mutual dissatisfaction
and mistrust has deeply affected Russia-Western relations.
After the end of bipolarity, these relations passed through
several stages beginning with euphoria in early 90s and
ending with the recent flare-up in tensions between Russia
and the United States during the Caucasus crisis. Why
did it go wrong? And what should be done to avoid a new
confrontation, whatever the name, between Russia on the
one side and the United States, NATO and the European
Union on the other? These fundamental questions are the
main focal points of the keynote address.
P.O. Box 42 (Unioninkatu 33), FI-00014 University of Helsinki n aleksanteri@helsinki.fi n
Tel. +358 (9) 191 24175 n www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/english
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Mr. Yale Richmond
Professor Jadwiga Staniszkis
Y
P
USA
ale Richmond, a specialist in
intercultural communication,
served 30 years in the U.S.
Foreign Service with postings
abroad as a cultural or information
officer in Germany, Laos, Poland,
Austria, and the Soviet Union.
During the detente years of the
1970s, he was Director of the
Office of Soviet and East European Exchanges in the Bureau
of Educational and Cultural
Affairs, U.S. Department of
State.
After retirement in 1979, he served three years as a Staff
Consultant to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Congress), and eight years as a
Senior Program Officer with the National Endowment for
Democracy. In 1983, he was a member of the U.S. delegation to the Madrid review meeting of the Conference on
Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Mr. Richmond is a graduate of Boston College from
which he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1943;
Syracuse University, Bachelor of Electrical Engineering in
1947; and Columbia University, Master of Arts in History
in 1957. He is the author of 10 books on intercultural communication.
"Cultural Exchange and the Cold War: How the West Won", Friday 30th October, Plenum at 11.15 in the Small Hall
Summary of the Keynote Speech
Cultural Exchange and the Cold
War: How the West Won
To the many other reasons for the end of the Cold War, the
author adds cultural exchange between the Soviet Union
and the West, and in particular with the United States in
the years 1958-1988. During those years more than 50,000
Soviet citizens traveled to the United States under cultural
exchange, and many thousands more came to Western
Europe. Cleared by the KGB, they came, they saw, and
they realized that communism had failed them, how far
behind the West the Soviet Union had fallen, and how their
Soviet media had not been telling them the truth about the
West.
The author describes the various US-USSR exchanges,
including, among others, the scholarly, motion pictures,
exhibitions, political, cultural, and performing arts, and how
they brought change to the Soviet Union and prepared
the way for Gorbachev and his reforms. And it was done
mostly with the cooperation of the Soviet Union, and at a
cost that was minuscule in comparison with U.S. military
expenditures for defence and intelligence over the same
period of time.
Poland
rofessor Jadwiga Staniszkis
is a Polish sociologist and
political scientist, and a former
professor at the University
of Warsaw and the Wyższa
Szkoła Biznesu (National-Louis
University). During Solidarity
origin in August 1980 she was
one of the advisers of Strikers
Committee in the Gdansk
Shipyard.
Staniszkis is the author of
several books dealing with
socialism. Most of her studies were published only after
the transformation of the political system in Poland. Her
works include Poland's Self-Limiting Revolution (1984),
The Dynamics of the Breakthrough in Eastern Europe:
The Polish Experience (1991), The Ontology of Socialism
(1992) and Post-communism: Emerging Enigma (1999).
“The Military Revolution and the end of Communism”, Thursday
29th October, Plenum at 10.00 in the Small Hall
Summary of the Keynote Speech
The Military Revolution and the
end of Communism
The purpose of my presentation is to analyze three separate
(though interdependent) currents of the "military revolution"
that took place in the communist bloc in the years 19751985, to elucidate their origin and shed light on their
influence upon the process of abandoning communism and
on the shape of the post-communist order.
By "military revolution" I mean the process by which
technological innovations in the military domain (and the
consequent changes in military doctrine and organization)
lead to revolutionary (albeit unintended) transformations in
the spheres of politics and economy.
The main current of the military revolution in the communist bloc was triggered by technological changes
accumulating in the USA in the first half of the 1970's and
their synthesis in the form of the Schlessiger Doctrine. The
response to this doctrine was a radical reformulation of the
doctrine of the General Staff of the USSR, and a reorganization of the Warsaw Pact in 1978. A "Crisis Stability Based
on Attack" and the Ogarkov Plan of "controlled escalation"
were articulated.
The growing conflict between the political and military
establishments of the USSR during the period of Brezhnev's
rule led members of the former to conclude (in 1982-1983),
during the rule of Andropov) that only radical political
solutions (withdrawal from Central Europe, unification of
Germany, dissolution of the Warsaw Pact) could prevent
war in Central Europe. The implementation of this policy
began in 1985. The above-mentioned shift of policy set
further unintended processes in motion, that ultimately led
to the end of communism in the USSR and the disintegration
of the Empire.
P.O. Box 42 (Unioninkatu 33), FI-00014 University of Helsinki n aleksanteri@helsinki.fi n
Tel. +358 (9) 191 24175 n www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/english
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Professor Jessica C. E. Gienow-Hecht
University of Cologne, Germany
J
essica C. E. Gienow-Hecht
is a Professor of International History at the University
of Cologne. She has previously
been a Heisenberg fellow at the
Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am
Main. She has also taught at the
Universities of Virginia, Bielefeld,
Heidelberg,
the
Universität
Martin-Luther-Universität HalleWittenberg, Harvard University
and the Hertie School of
Foto Katrein
Governance in Berlin.
Her field of interest is the interplay of culture and
international relations since the early modern period.
Gienow-Hecht’s study Transmission Impossible: American
Journalism as Cultural Diplomacy in Postwar Germany,
1945–1955 (Baton Rouge, 1999) was co-awarded the
Stuart Bernath Book Prize (best first book in diplomatic
history) as well as the Myrna Bernard Prize (best book in
diplomatic history written by a woman), both given by the
Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. Her
latest study, Sound Diplomacy: Music and Emotions in
German-American Relations since 1850 will be published
by the University of Chicago Press in 2009.
"What Leaders Can Learn from the Past: Cultural Diplomacy,
Civil Society and the Limits of the Cold War", Friday 30th October,
Plenum at 11.15 in the Small Hall
Summary of the Keynote Speech
What Leaders Can Learn from
the Past: Cultural Diplomacy,
Civil Society and the Limits of the
Cold War
What can contemporary policymakers learn from the
Cold War? This paper takes a broad look at the history
of cultural diplomacy since the 19th century to ask a
simple question and to conclude with a central thesis. The
question: how does cultural diplomacy after the Cold War
and, especially after 9/11, compare to previous cultural
strategies run by the state? The answer: Complicated as
this history may be, cultural diplomacy in the 21st century
resembles increasingly structures developed in the 19th
century more than the far-reaching, cost-intensive cultural
and information programs that we remember so well from
the second half of the 20th century.
Thanks to the rich literature on Cold War cultural
diplomacy, we know quite a bit about the state-orchestrated
programs developed or solidified during the period between
1945 and 1989/91 as well as their non-governmental
associates; several panels at the conference will address
precisely this change and this paper also highlights some
of the recent research.
Yet, in historical retrospect, the state-orchestrated programs around the world and notably the information and
exchange programs developed by both superpowers after
1945 mark an aberration rather than the norm.
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Before World War One, cultural diplomacy remained an
informal project. Nineteenth-century cultural expansionism
in Europe involved, above all, a vast array of private and
NGO interest groups. French, British and German officials
offered much leeway and money to non-governmental
cultural exports. Yet there were no centralized bureaucracy,
no organizations such as USIS or the Goethe Häuser
that would have offered themselves as a tool for cultural
diplomacy. Most politicians agreed that the presentation
of culture abroad should remain confined to individual
interest groups and entrepreneurs.
After the Cold War, the structure of public diplomacy
in the United States and elsewhere is returning to a
state similar to the decades prior to World War One.
For example, leaders in the United States dissatisfied
with America’s image abroad have devised strategies to
improve their nation’s international standing with the help
of private initiatives and programs.
In other words, the Cold War provided an exception to
the rules, motivations, and administrative procedures of
cultural diplomacy. And when contemporary leaders ponder
the value of civil society’s engagement in place branding,
they should not look to the Cold War but to the years prior to 1914: this historical antecedent has a story to tell
about the advantages but also the risks of such a shift of
responsibility – most notably the risk that private interest
programs can immensely harm the national image abroad.
The next Aleksanteri Conference
focuses on the Eurasian Energy
sector
F
or the past several years, Russia's role as a significant provider of energy for EU consumers has been
under the microscope. Owing to the increasing media
attention and academic scrutiny of Russia's energy
sector, the Aleksanteri Institute's 2010 Conference will focus on the nature of Russia's role in the Eurasian Energy
sector.
Far beyond solely providing the EU with natural gas
and oil, Russia's Energy Strategy to 2030 outlines
significant development of its eastern resources to fulfill
Asia's anticipated demand as well as Russia's own domestic consumers.
Russia's eastern trajectory adds another dimension
to the debate surrounding the country's central role as
an energy provider not just for the EU but conceivably
for a great number of consumers on the Eurasian landmass.
Therefore the conference, to be held from the 27th
to the 29th of October 2010, will focus on the structure
of Russia's domestic energy sector
along with its potential influence over
EU and Northeast
Asian energy policies.
P.O. Box 42 (Unioninkatu 33), FI-00014 University of Helsinki n aleksanteri@helsinki.fi n
Tel. +358 (9) 191 24175 n www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/english
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Seminar with the Eurasia Partnership Foundation (EPF)
Ascertaining Facts: The Georgian War and its Impact on the Media in
the War-torn South Caucasus
T
he lack of progress in the Geneva negotiation process
has resulted in Abkhazia and South Ossetia becoming
deep-frozen conflicts. So said Finnish Foreign Minister
Alexander Stubb, the first keynote of the seminar held on
September 9th at the Aleksanteri Institute. Mr Stubb said
that the way in which the war was portrayed in the West
was unfair to Russia, while the way in which the war was
portrayed in Russia was unfair to Georgia.
YLE correspondent AnnaLena Laurén presented
her new book on the
Caucasus, entitled “Vuorilla
ei ole herroja – Kaukasiasta ja
sen kansoista”. Ms Laurén
said that the situation in
Dagestan, Chechnya and
Ingushetia could best be
described as anarchy. For
the majority of the people
living in the South Ossetia
region – regardless of their
nationalities – the August
war changed their lives for
Minister Alexander Stubb
the worse.
Deputy State Minister for the Reintegration of Georgia,
David Rakviashvili, reminded attendees of a report
published by the Georgian Government on the first
anniversary of the war (one month before the EU-backed
investigation) that presented the Georgian perspective on
the conflict. Mr Rakviashvili reiterated that his government
is seeking ways to engage the people of two breakaway
republics, in parallel with the so-called de-occupation
process.
The first panel of the afternoon was moderated by EPF
President George Zarubin. It focused on media perceptions and challenges in the South Caucasus, where
conflicts remain unresolved, governments maintain a wartime mentality and the independent media remains in crisis.
CRRC Director Hans Gutbrod discussed the public perception of major trends in the media in Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Georgia during the last two years. Levon Barseghyan
from the Asparez Journalists’ Club in Armenia outlined the
issues affecting the implementation of Armenia’s Freedom
of Information law. Khadija Ismailova from Radio Liberty
Azerbaijan talked about the media under the government’s
control, and Lia Chakhunashvili, Dean of Caucasus
School of Media at the Caucasus University, presented an
overview of the major challenges and achievements of the
Georgian media.
The second panel sought
to find ways to prevent widespread media bias in the
South Caucasus and define the role that civil society organizations could
play in the process. Shain
Abasov from IREX Azerbaijan suggested ways to
redress the threats faced
by journalists. Ketevan
Vashakidze, EPF’s Georgia
Country Director, emphasised the role of the media
as a watchdog institution
Minister David Rakviashvili
and Boris Navasardyan
from the Yerevan Press Club discussed investigative
journalism and the security of journalists in Armenia.
In addition to the before mentioned, also Arto Luukkanen,
Mikko Palonkorpi, Susanna Niinivaara, Harri Kämäräinen and Anna-Maria Salmi took the floor at the seminar.
All in all, the seminar attracted close to 100 active participants,
including international scholars, journalists, diplomats and officials.
Mikko Palonkorpi
For the full seminar programme and some of the presentations, please visit:
www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/english/news/events/2009/0909caucasus.htm
Read more about EPF at www.epfound.org
Khadija Ismailova, Levon Barseghyuan, and Lia Chakhunashvili attended the panel moderated by George Zarubin (second from right)
P.O. Box 42 (Unioninkatu 33), FI-00014 University of Helsinki n aleksanteri@helsinki.fi n
Tel. +358 (9) 191 24175 n www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/english
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Seminar with WEN & EPF
From Northern Dimension to Eastern Partnership – The Evolving
European Neighbourhood Policy in the East
T
his seminar, held on October 10th, gathered politicians,
practitioners and academics to discuss the current
state of affairs in the European Union’s relations with its
Eastern neighbours.
The keynote speech by Finnish Member of Parliament
Erkki Tuomioja addressed the issue of the European
Union as an actor in the global political arena. Mr
Tuomioja emphasised the EU’s role as a soft power in the
neighbouring region; a power whose policies are based
on multilateralism and openness rather than unilateralism
and exclusion. The speech provided a starting point for
discussion on four Eastern dimensions of EU policies: the
Northern Dimension, the Eastern Partnership, the European
Neighbourhood Policy and the Russian Federation.
Andrey Avetisyan and Hanna Smith
The Northern Dimension (ND) policy was praised for
the equal partnership on which it is based, as well as
its depoliticised nature, which has allowed functional
cooperation even in times of political disagreement. On
the other hand, the policy was deemed too invisible and
lacking in new initiatives and ideas. Although ND has the
potential to become a very important tool in future RussiaEU relations, it also risks fading into the background if it is
unable to attract believers and doers.
Assessments were made of the Eastern Partnership
(EaP) both from the EU perspective and from the point of
view of the policy’s target countries. EaP, like ND, has
supporters who view it as having great potential as an
important tool in the
EU’s Eastern relations;
there are also sceptics, who criticise the
policy for bringing
more diversion than
benefits. A central issue
is Russia’s critical
attitude towards the
policy and its nonparticipation in its realisation.
The panel on civil
society’s perception
of t h e European
Neighbourhood Policy
(ENP) presented data
from Georgia and Minister Erkki Tuomioja
Ukraine that shows
a generally positive attitude towards Western institutions
and reserve towards Russia. Overall, public opinion is
appreciative of political and economic progress regardless
of the policy framework through which it is achieved. The
ENP was criticised for its vagueness and lack of concrete
objectives.
Regarding Russia-EU relations in the North, both parties
see a range of potentially common interests. However,
opinions differ significantly about how to move forward and
utilise those common interests. The Baltic Sea is seen as
an important area for both Russia and the EU but there is
disagreement about how to address it. In order to improve
Russia-EU relations, the EU should make greater efforts to
form a united front in its policy towards Russia, pushing the
visa free regime issue in a new way. For its part, Russia could
try to make its politics more transparent, discuss matters in
a cooperative manner and stop viewing the EU as hostile.
The conclusion reached at the seminar was that because
of Russia and the EU’s strong interdependence, improved
cooperation is the only way forward.
Laura Dib & Hanna Smith
Photos: Erkka Lehto
Alan Mayhew, Christopher Hillion and Nathaniel Copsey discussed Eastern Partnership in a panel chaired by Alexander Wochnik (second from right)
P.O. Box 42 (Unioninkatu 33), FI-00014 University of Helsinki n aleksanteri@helsinki.fi n
Tel. +358 (9) 191 24175 n www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/english
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cooperation with the neru network
Floating, Fun and Friends – Joint Nordic seminar
T
he Graduate School organised its third floating seminar
in mid-September in conjunction with NERU network
partners BEEGS (Södertörn University College, Sweden)
and NUPI (Norway). More than 40 doctoral students,
professors and research leaders participated in the two-day
seminar, which was packed with lectures and workshops.
A special feature of the seminar was that part of it took
place on a boat travelling between Sweden and Finland.
As Director Markku Kivinen said in his welcome, “This is
already an institution”.
The first day of the seminar was held in Helsinki, with
the Swedish and Norwegian guests arriving by ferry in
the morning. The first lectures were presented by Dr
Pami Aalto (Jean Monnet Professor at the University of
Tampere) on the question of energy relations between
Russia and the EU, and Dr Alexander Etkind (Reader in
Russian Literature and Cultural History at the University of
Cambridge) regarding post-Soviet memories of the Soviet
past. These were followed by presentations of ongoing
projects at the Aleksanteri Institute, Södertörn University
NERU
College and NUPI. The entire group then departed for
Sweden by boat, with doctoral students’ papers discussed
in workshops on-board.
Friday’s activities took place in Huddinge at the
Södertörn University College. Lectures were delivered by
two local research leaders, Dr Apostolis Papakostas,
who spoke on the social production of trust, and Dr
Michal Gilek, who discussed environmental risks in the
Baltic Sea. Another important part of the seminar was the
presentation and discussion of the future joint funding
application, inaugurated by Dr Sari Autio-Sarasmo
(Senior Researcher, Aleksanteri Institute).
All participants wholeheartedly agreed that the Nordic cooperation is a tradition that is well worth continuing!
Eeva Korteniemi & Hanna Ruutu
T
he NordForsk-funded NERU network (Northern
Europe – From Cold War Division to Restructured
Europe) is one of the organisers of the Aleksanteri
Conference 2009: Cold War Interactions Reconsidered. The Aleksanteri Conference is also the
closing conference of the network.
network
Happy Floaters posing in Huddinge, Södertörn University
P.O. Box 42 (Unioninkatu 33), FI-00014 University of Helsinki n aleksanteri@helsinki.fi n
Tel. +358 (9) 191 24175 n www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/english
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Visiting Fellows
Sociological perspectives on Russia
application of the concepts of Max Weber’s
sociology to Soviet political institutions.
Professor Maslovskiy’s recent publications
deal with the multiple modernities approach
in historical sociology and its application to
Soviet-type societies. The research project
at the Aleksanteri Institute is devoted to the
sources of legitimacy of the political regime
in post-Soviet Russia.
visiting fellows
Mikhail Maslovskiy
M
ikhail Maslovskiy is Professor in
the Department of Sociology and
Social Work at Nizhny Novgorod State
University.
He graduated from Leningrad State
University in 1991. Two years later he
received the British Council Fellowship
for a one-year study programme at the
University of Warwick, where he obtained
an MA in Sociology. Since 1995 he has
participated in several projects aimed
at developing the teaching of social
sciences in Russia, which were funded
by TEMPUS/TACIS, the Open Society
Institute and the National Training
Foundation. In 2004 he defended his
PhD, on the historical sociology of
socio-political transformations in Soviet
Russia. In particular, he discussed the
Publications include:
n ‘Max Weber’s Concept of Patrimonialism and the Soviet system’. The Sociological Review. 1996. Vol. 44. No. 2.
n Политическая социология бюрократии (Political Sociology of Bureaucracy).
Москва: Институт социологии РАН,
1997.
n Социология политики: классические и современные теории (Sociology
of Politics: Classical and Contemporary
Theories). Москва: Новый учебник,
2004.
Fellowship period: October 2009
visiting fellows
Elena Zdravomyslova
E
lena Zdravomyslova is
Professor at the European
University in St. Petersburg
and Co-coordinator of the
Gender Studies Programme.
Her research and teaching
fields include gender studies,
women’s movements and
qualitative research methods.
Her recent publications include:
n Co-editor and author of
‘Health and Trust: Gender
Perspective in Reproductive
Healthcare’ (2009)
n Co-editor and author of ‘Novyi byt in Contemporary
Russia: Gender Studies of Everyday Life’. SPb EUSPb
(2008)
n Co-editor and author of ‘Russian Gender Order: Sociological Perspective’. SPb EUSPb (in Russian) (2007)
n ‘Soldiers’ Mothers Fighting the Military Patriarchy’ In:
I. Lenz, Ch. Ullrich and B. Fersch (eds.) Gender Orders
Unbound? Barbara Budrich Publishers, Oplanden &
Farmington Hills. pp. 207-228 (2007)
n Anna Rotkirch, Anna Temkina, and Elena Zdravomyslova: Who Helps the Degraded Housewife?: Comments
on Vladimir Putin’s Demographic Speech. European
Journal of Women’s Studies, # 14: 349–357 (2007)
visiting fellows PROGRAMME
W
ith its Visiting Fellowships programme, the
Aleksanteri Institute invites both established
scholars and talented young researchers to work at
the University of Helsinki for a period of a few months.
The programme was established in 2008 with
the aim of supporting the advancement of Russian
and Eastern European studies and strengthening
links between the international and Finnish research
communities.
The opportunity to undertake a short-term, grantsupported research visit to Finland has been met with
great interest: 95 and 154 applications were received
for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 academic years.
The first ever Aleksanteri Visiting Fellow, Jelena
Obradovic stated: “I really enjoyed my time at the
Institute. It’s such an active research community
and everything’s so well organised. I really liked the
opportunity to teach and to present my research not
only to the academic community but also to a wider
audience.”
For the years 2008-2009 and 2009-2010, the
Aleksanteri Institute has invited 31 scholars for periods
ranging from one to five months.
A list of all the Visiting Fellows and their research
themes can be found on the Institute’s website:
www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/english/fellowship/
Fellowship period: November - December 2009
P.O. Box 42 (Unioninkatu 33), FI-00014 University of Helsinki n aleksanteri@helsinki.fi n
Tel. +358 (9) 191 24175 n www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/english
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Related Kikimora publications
These and more available at conference prices!
Progress and Chaos:
Russia as a Challenge for the
Sociological Imagination
by Markku Kivinen
For many people in Russia today, everyday life
appears to be a series of traps. This sense of
being trapped arises from seemingly impersonal
changes sweeping across the structure of societies. The facts of such macro processes as
”building socialism” or ”transition” are also the
facts of the successes and failures of individual
men and women. This analysis provides new
impulses to critical sociology by shedding new
light on the Russian heritage in the leftist tradition and, in so doing, by challenging all forms
of left-wing fundamentalism.
Kikimora Publications : Series B19. 2002, ISBN 951-45-9636-6
Recalling the Past – (Re)constructing the
Past: Collective and Individual Memory
of World War II in Russia and Germany
Ed. by Withold Bonner and Arja Rosenholm
Memories and scholarly exploration on memory
have become a significant part of contemporary
cultural studies. The aim of this multi- and interdisciplinary volume is to examine the fractures,
interactions and intersections of private and
collective memories in Germany and Russia
after World War II and to facilitate understanding
of how both recalling and forgetting play a
significant role in constituting identities by
individuals, communities and nations.
Aleksanteri Series 2:2008, ISBN 978-952-10-4098-6
Russia Forever?
Towards Working Pragmatism in
Finnish/Russian Relations
Ed. by Helena Rytövuori-Apunen
The eastern enlargements of the EU and NATO
have highlighted change in Russian/ European
relations, which at the present are the primary
context for Finnish foreign, security and defence
policies. Russia’s ‘perennial dilemma’ of contention
and co-operation in her Northwestern rim again represents a trait of historical and conceptual continuity
in Russian/European relations. Understanding
the interplay of continuity and change in a longterm perspective is essential in the contemporary
political constellation in which Finland is part of the
EU and European cooperation and seeks to maintain good bilateral
relationships with Russia
Aleksanteri Series 1:2008, ISBN 978-952-10-4095-5
4/2009
Aleksanteri Institute
Finnish Centre for Russian and Eastern
European Studies
The Aleksanteri Institute is affiliated with
the University of Helsinki and operates as
a national centre of research, study and
expertise pertaining to Russia and Eastern
Europe, particularly in the social sciences
and humanities. The institute co-ordinates and
promotes co-operation and interaction between
the academic world, public administration,
business life and civil society in Finland and
abroad.
The Aleksanteri Institute was founded
in 1996. It has grown rapidly into a working
community of around 50 people, including
doctoral students in the Institute’s Graduate
School who work at their respective
universities. The Institute has a board of
trustees that represents the University of
Helsinki and other interest groups. The Institute
also has an international Advisory Board and
is also guided in its various activities by the
executive boards of the Master’s programme
and of the Graduate School and by an editorial
board.
Aleksanteri Institute
P.O. Box 42 (Unioninkatu 33)
FI-00014 University of Helsinki
aleksanteri@helsinki.fi
Tel. +358 (9) 191 24175
www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/english
Aleksanteri News is published in both
electronic and printed format.
Download the electronic version at
www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/english/
news/newsletter.
The next newsletter will be published
in January 2010
Editor:
Niina Into
Writers:
Laura Dib, Eeva Korteniemi,
Mikko Palonkorpi, Hanna Ruutu, Hanna
Smith, Anna-Maria Salmi
Layout:
Niina Into and Anu Pöyry
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P.O. Box 42 (Unioninkatu 33), FI-00014 University of Helsinki n aleksanteri@helsinki.fi n
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