2023 IES Undergraduate Conference

The Institute of European Studies will be hosting the annual Undergraduate Conference on November 17th, 2023! 

From Kiev to Brussels: Understanding the Implications of the War in Ukraine in a Broader European Context

On February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin shocked the international community by invading Ukraine through the city of Kharkiv. Today, well over a year later it is challenging to predict what will happen next. While European allies such as France, Poland and Denmark have generally united in support of Ukraine, there are concerns that a continuation of the conflict, surging energy prices, and unstable supply chains may end up exposing fractures within the European Union. While EU members continue to strive for European solidarity, as evidenced by Finland’s recent ascension into NATO, there is still not a timeline for Ukraine’s path to EU or NATO membership. Simultaneously, the EU faces a number of other challenges, from climate change and slow economic growth to immigration, which has led to a steady decline in popular support for the established parties and growing support for extremist parties, especially on the far-right. The intersection of the prolongation of conflict, the rise of extremist parties, and energy instability pose challenges to the future of European values, institutions, and alliances.

Program

1:10 Introductory remarks from IES Director Professor Jeroen Dewulf

1:15 - 2:15 Panel 1: Civil Society

Moderator: Professor Jonah Levy, UC Berkeley

Speaker 1: Jinze Hu, DeAnza College

Speaker 2: Ashley Meyer, Stanford University

Speaker 3: Grant Gillinger, Berkeley

2:30 - 3:30 Panel 2: Security and Defense

Moderator: Professor Luis Miguel Hinojosa Martínez, University of Granada

Speaker 1: Alexander Richter, Berkeley

Speaker 2: Christina Mueller, Berkeley

Speaker 3: Zachary Yan

3:45 - 4:45 Panel 3: Focus on Eastern Europe

Moderator: Professor Carmen Pérez Bernárdez, University of Granada

Speaker 1: Brett Dunham, Berkeley

Speaker 2: Ali Ansari, Stanford University

Speaker 3: Andrey Kasputin, Berkeley

5:00 Keynote speech from Evan Reade, International Affairs Advisor, Office of the Lt. Governor of California

Evan G. Reade joined the staff of California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis in 2019 following a 27-year career as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State. He served on President Obama’s National Security Council staff as Director for Western Europe from 2014 to 2016. Prior to that, he was the U.S. Consul General in Strasbourg, France, and, concurrently, the U.S. Observer to the Council of Europe.