CBEES Talk with Katarina Engberg, senior adviser at the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies, SIEPS

Speaker: Katarina Engberg, Ph.D. in Peace and Conflict Studies, Senior Adviser at the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies, SIEPS

Moderator: Mark Bassin, Professor in History of Ideas, Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES), Södertörn University

Abstract: Bookstores are today flooded with new titles on Russia, an avalanche released by the Ukraine war. This contrasts with the decadelong decline of Russia studies. What caused the decline, how does it affect our understanding of the world around us, and how can we make up for this loss?
The speaker will discuss the development of Russia studies in the context of decline of other modern languages and area studies in general. Changing threat perceptions and assumptions of the linkage between market economy and democratization in Russia (and China) contributed. The Ukraine war caught the general public as well as decision makers unprepared for the understanding of the drivers behind the invasion and, more generally, of the historic patterns of interaction between the East Slavic peoples. What has the chock of war in Europe made with the general perception of the world around us, and how can Russia studies and Academia contribute to a better understanding of the drivers behind current momentous changes and the prospects for future evolution?

Katarina Engberg is senior adviser at the Swedish Institute for European Studies, SIEPS. She is a former director in the Swedish Government Offices, previous positions include Director of Strategic Planning in the Ministry of Defence and expert in the Defence Commission. Katarina Engberg holds a Ph D in Peace and Conflict Studies from Uppsala University, a Master in Public Administration, MPA, from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor’s Degree, including studies of the Russian language, from Stockholm University. She has been a Fellow and Research Associate at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, WCFIA, served on the Board of Uppsala Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Uppsala University and been affiliated with the Russia and Eurasia Pogramme, Swedish Institute for International Affairs. Publications include: ‘The EU and Military Operations. A Comparative Analysis’, 2014, Routledge.