Russian and Eurasian Studies Centre

The Russian and Eurasian Studies Centre at St Antony's College includes college Governing Body fellows, whose research is also conducted through the School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies, the Department of Politics and International Relations and the History Faculty (Professor Roy Allison, Centre Director; Professor Paul Chaisty and Professor Dan Healey), Visiting Fellows, Research Fellows and Academic Visitors, all of whom have interests in the RESC region and work in different disciplines.

Research on conflict, security, war and peace include the following:

Roy Allison has been conducting research on the normative, legal and political aspects of Russian military interventions in Ukraine and Syria and contested understandings about the use of force between Russia and Western states. This extends research in his book ‘Russia, the West and Military Intervention’ (OUP, 2013). He is has also been investigating the conflicting narratives on international order between Western states, Russia and other major powers which underpin current confrontational policies. His articles include on these themes include: ‘Russia and Syria: explaining alignment with a regime in crisis’, International Affairs, vol. 89, no. 4, July 2013, pp. 795-823; ‘Russian “deniable intervention” in Ukraine: how and why Russia broke the rules’, International Affairs, vol. 90, no. 6, November 2014, pp. 1255-97.

Paul Chaisty (with Stephen Whitefield in DPIR) have undertaken survey research which has focused on questions of institutional choice and nationalism at times of profound conflict in both Russia and Ukraine.

Dan Healey’s work on gender and sexuality has examined the impact of war and revolution on relations between the sexes in the Soviet Union, in both public and private spheres.

The Centre also hosts a large project supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York – the University Consortium (UC), which seeks to address the deterioration of security relations between Russia and Western states. This is directed by Dr Julie Newton, Visiting Fellow at RESC. The US brings together six universities in the United States, Europe and Russia: the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University, the Harriman Institute at Columbia University, St  Antony’s College at Oxford, Freie Universität Berlin, Moscow State Institute for International Relations (MGIMO) and the National Research University-Higher School of Economics in Moscow (HSE). The UC promotes inter-regional dialogue, research and policy outreach on issues critical to resolving the crisis in Russia-West relations. The collaboration of the six institutions aims to build a new Euro-Atlantic network of students and faculty with greater mutual understanding through constructive engagement with each other across three geographic regions. Activities involve joint teaching, student and faculty exchanges, conferences and written output. A major intention is to shed new light on the competing narratives that divide Russia and the West, particularly focusing on the sources (domestic and international, material and ideational) of those divisions. In the process, the UC seeks to identify potential areas of common ground and to generate innovative policy-oriented ideas to enhance prospects for renewed Euro-Atlantic cooperation.

 

For details of upcoming events at the Centre, please follow this link.