June 2, 2010 (Moscow, Russia): Many leading and novice experts in British studies assembled for the one-day roundtable discussion, Great Britain 2010: New Political Situation. The event was attended by professors, lecturers, PhD students and students from the Institute of Europe, the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Russian State University for Humanities. Organized by the Centre for British Studies of the IE RAS, it also heard the addresses from the representatives of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the British Embassy in Moscow. Scholars and diplomats discussed the election campaign, the legacy of Labour party, the results of the election, and the prospects of the three main political parties and the government. Reports delivered at the roundtable will soon be published within the Reports of the Institute of Europe series.

February 19, 2010 (Moscow, Russia) – The Institute of Europe RAS will host the conference “The Crisis of Social Democracy in Europe: roots, forms, solutions”. The event will have been jointly arranged by the IE RAS, A Just World Institute, and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. It will cover such questions as: present conditions of social democracy in Europe; anti-crisis proposals of European social democrats; relations between the traditional social democrats and post-communist and left-socialist parties; regional specifics of social democracy; searches for new ideas and values. The event will be attended by the members of the Russian parliament, leading Russian and foreign experts, specialists and representatives of various public organizations.

The conference begins at 11 AM.

December 14, 2009 (Moscow, Russia) – Leading Russian specialists and young researchers in British studies gathered at the Institute of Europe, RAS, to analyze the political, social and economic situation in Great Britain before the 2010 general election. The roundtable discussion devoted much of the time to summing up the achievements and failures of the Labour governments and Conservative’s prospects, as well as to the effects of the global economic crisis. The scholars paid much attention to the changes in the foreign policy of Great Britain, including its relations with the US, the EU, Russia and China.

December 2, 2009 (Moscow, Russia) – Two PhD dissertations will be presented before the Academic Board of the Institute of Europe RAS. Aleksander Strelkov will defend his thesis entitled “The Principle of Conditionality of EU’s Foreign Policy”. Daria Savchenko will prove her conclusions from the research “Indo-Pakistani Standoff And The War In Afghanistan”. The abstracts are available at http://ieras.ru/diss1.htm (in Russian only).

The first meeting of the Board will take place at 3 PM.

November 25, 2009 (Moscow, Russia) – The Institute of Europe RAS will host a Russian presentation of its new book, The Countries of the Alpine Region and Benelux In A Changing World. The work is a collective achievement of the group of researches led by Professor Vladimir Shveitser, Chief Research Fellow and Head of the Center on Party and Political Studies. The content and summary of the book are available at http://ieras.ru/books1.htm (in Russian only).

The presentation will start at 3 PM.

October 22-23, 2009 (Helsinki, Finland) – the European Economic and Social Committee and the Delegation of the European Commission to Finland held the conference “The Baltic Sea Region: The Best Place to Work and Do Business.” The event was devoted to the discussion of issues of a new direction of the EU policy, the Baltic Sea Strategy. This strategy is aimed at improving employment and further economic development of the region.

The Institute of Europe RAS was represented by Natalia Antyushina, Chief Research Fellow in the Centre for Northern Europe. The paper she prepared for the event was entitled “Factors and Prospects of Cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region”.