Cederlöf, Henriette
Strannoe cado Xxogo veka: Gender as cosmic mystery in Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s novel Otel’ U pogibsego al’pinista
The subject of my study is a novel by the Strugatsky brothers which is not widely known in the west, and which is generally not considered one of their better works. Nevertheless, it enjoyed a widespread popularity with the Soviet audiences. It was made into a film in the late 1970s, and has recently been turned into a computer game, which shows that even today, it is not forgotten. As it was a work that many people loved, I believe it has something to say about the time and place in which it was written. The focus of this paper is on the representation of gender, especially the representation of women, and the construction of the “other”. Here, I have chosen the figure of the androgyne, the “strange child of the 20^th century” as an important metaphor. S/he is a figure of the past and of the future, of the Soviet 1920s revolutionary utopian ideals (a future that was already well in the past when the novel was written), and all the way back to the period that preceded it, the Russian Silver Age, as well as of the (then contemporary) 1970s counterculture. In him/her, the mystery at the center of the novel is literally embodied. The novel was written at a time when questions about gender were an important topic in western science fiction. In this novel, we see that the same questions were also a concern in the “closed” Soviet society. 

Cloutier, Clarice
Balto-Slavic Timescapes: Tomas Venclova, Josef Brodsky, Vladimír Holan and Jaroslav Seifert
The perception of time finds a voice within the Slavic and Baltic literary canon and is particularly marked in the oeuvre of Czech poets Jaroslav Seifert and Vladimír Holan, Russian Josef Brodsky and Lithuanian Tomas Venclova.  Whereas these writers share the commonly-held Western belief of time on earth as a linear phenomenon bounded by death, they diverge in their individual lyrical strategies, perceiving time as a foe, a forecaster and often as a forger of new associations among words and images.  Special attention will be given to one of the world’s most-recognized commentators on time, St. Augustine of Hippo, who believed that God had created Time, yet despite this, that the interpretation of time’s idiosyncrasies is left to the human mind.  In essence, the philosopher identified time’s peculiar capacity of transformation, which similar to energy, is never gained nor lost, only altered.  Indeed, the four above-mentioned poets can be graphically linked together using Augustine’s theory of temporal transformation by correlating time with other concepts which are significant within their lyrics, thus formulaically creating literary timescapes.  By clearly demonstrating the transformative nature of time, its conversion into meaning becomes self-evident.

Collina, Cristian
Putin’s Russia and the West: Overcoming the Political Confrontation through Bilateralism? Some answers from Russia-Italy Partnership
Under Putin, Russia foreign policy aimed at restoring Russia’s international role, defending its national interests, and promoting a multipolar world. Accordingly Russian approach toward the West has become more pragmatic and sometimes assertive. Putin’s positions and initiatives have often disappointed the expectations of the Western press, political circles and international organisations. On its side Russia replied claiming its full sovereignty, complaining for the Western use of double standards and criticising the US hegemonic attitudes. Nonetheless Russia has not renounced to develop its partnership with the West. This paper will assess how Russian bilateral relations with the European countries helped overcome the reasons for confrontation in Russia-EU and Russia-NATO relations. This paper will also illustrate how the Russian political elites have been keen to adopt the bilateral option and how it worked in Russia-West relations. On the basis of elite interviews and articles from the printed press the case of Russia-Italy relations will be presented in order to provide indications of how/if bilateralism may help escape the perspectives of growing confrontation, under what conditions and at what costs.

Collins, Emily
“Reading in three dimensions”: Nabokov’s spells
In his discursive writings on literature, Nabokov repeatedly equates fiction with fairy tale, the act of writing with magic. Though these images point to the centrality of childhood experience to Nabokov’s work, they also subtly emphasize the performative and transformative aspects of his texts. If the writer is a magician, the text is a spell.     One type of stylistic magic, the verbal sparkle a conjurer uses to distract his audience’s attention from his sleight-of-hand, is often associated with Nabokov. This kind of patter is the entertainer’s most important prop, and works through the audience’s pleasure in being dazzled. Another kind of spell is the ritual, in which the audience must invest belief if it is to succeed. Like patter, ritual is a performance which works by consensus, and whose key element, like that of J. L. Austin’s performatives, is its formal iterability. The novels Nabokov described as “great fairy tales” are those which are read and reread, not only by individuals but by readers all over the world and through many generations: they transform and create the world partly through our repeated communal decisions to believe in them. Bringing the text itself to each successive rereading suggests that its invoked world becomes ever richer and more present; yet the explicit invitations to rereading within Nabokov’s fictions foreground the nature of the process and the unreality of this invoked world, so that the ritual of creation is both supported and subverted. Nabokov’s worldview leaves open the possibility of a third type of spell, the truly supernatural. Unlike patter and ritual, such a true spell would not depend on its audience for its efficacy, but on the mysterious space outside or beyond reality. Nabokov’s writing often insists both on the power of this magical gap and on its resistance to closure.

Copsey, Nathaniel
Poland and the Making of the EU’s PolicyTowards its Eastern Neighbours
The paper seeks to investigate the influence of Poland on the European Union’s policy
towards its eastern neighbours, and, in doing so, to contribute to the wider scholarly
debates on both how policy towards Russia, Ukraine and Belarus is made, and also the
broader question of the evolving nature of the relationship between the European Union
and its Member States. In doing so, it adopts an intergovernmental approach, looking at
the capacity of the national government of Poland to exercise power and influence within
the European Union. Moravcsik’s Liberal intergovernmentalist (LI) theory suggests that
the outcome of decisions on the road to European integration can best be explained
through the relative power of Member States and the intensity of their preference for a
particular policy choice. This paper will assess empirically the assumptions of LI in
order to judge its usefulness for understanding: (a) preference formation in Poland in
the field of policy towards the eastern neighbours, and, following on from this, (b) how
Poland exercises power and influence in the European Union in the field of relations with
the eastern neighbours.

Cornaz, Isabelle
Teaching Religion in Russia’s state schools
My research deals with the question of the teaching of religion at state schools in today’s Russia. Discussions on the secularity of the school are frequent in many countries; however, the Russian case is particularly interesting given the atheist past of the country. The aim of the research has been to understand what motivates the Russian Orthodox Church to be present at school and what could be the consequences of it on education, society in general and on the relationship between the different religions of Russia.  After having briefly summarised the main stages of the implementation of the course Bases of Orthodox Culture, my presentation will first focus on the main arguments of the Russian Orthodox Church in defence of this course. Secondly, special attention will be paid to the conclusions of my research. This includes questions such as the ambiguous relationship of other religious communities with the course on orthodoxy and the extent to which the Russian society and the authorities might be willingly to accept the presence of the Church or religion at public schools.

Crotty, Jo
Putin’s NGO Law: Endangering Civil Liberties or Empty Vessel?
In mid-2006 Putin sought to rein in the activity of Russia’s 300,000 domestic and international NGOs by passing his self-styled ‘NGO Law’, restricting the activity of advocacy groups that "threaten[ed] the sovereignty of Russia, its national independence, territorial integrity, unity or originality, its cultural heritage or national interests."  Motivated further by the perception that both domestic NGOs and their overseas donors were ‘tarnishing’ Russia’s international reputation, this law also placed restrictions on donations from foreign NGOs to Russian groups and stepped up the administrative burden placed upon Russian-based groups. The passing of Putin’s NGO law sees the Russian state encroaching onto Russia’s civil space. Not surprisingly, this legislation has drawn much criticism from the international community vis-à-vis the development of civil society and democracy in Russia. Certainly the limits and burdens, both administrative and financial, it places on domestic NGOs may result in a further contracting of Russia’s civil space. Yet, the extant literature indicates that donor assistance previously received by Russian NGOs has been largely inappropriate. While it has allowed domestic groups to achieve campaigning success, overseas assistance has also resulted in domestic NGOs adopting the agendas of the overseas donor, rather than bonding with their local community. As a result domestic groups with overseas assistance fail to widen Russia’s civil space or improve citizen participation in Russian advocacy groups. This paper, through a review of the extant literature, attempts to predict the likely long-term impact of Putin’s NGO law for Russian civil society development.

Danylenko, Andriy
Myxajlo Lučkaj (1789-1843) and the language question in Subcarpathian Rus’
In his Grammatica Slavo-Ruthena (1830), Myxajlo Lučkaj promoted Church Slavonic as a pan-Slavic literary language. Along with other members of the Viennese circle, e.g., Ivan Fogarašij, he also argued against the use of the vernacular in writing. Yet in his collection of sermons, Tserkovnyja besědy na vsě neděli roka (vols. 1-2, 1831), Lučkaj tried to amalgamate Church Slavonic, as codified in his grammar, with Rusyn (Transcarpathian) dialect, thus seemingly deviating from his theoretical views. I believe that both in his grammar and sermons, he employs Church Slavonic as first codified by Smotryc’kyj (1619) and subsequently used in the Ruthenian territories, though enriched substantially by local elements.

David, Maxine
Russia as ‘Victim’ in the New Cold War
The allegedly Russian state-sponsored murder of Litvinenko, the planting of a Russian flag on the sea bed beneath the North Pole, Russian withdrawal from the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty – all these events are cited as evidence and/or causes of an increasingly cold relationship between Russia and the West, occasioned by Russian realpolitik. There are those who advocate a return to the operation of a similarly Realist foreign policy in the West’s relations with Russia. Relatively little consideration is given to whether such events are reactions rather than actions, and whether Russia can justifiably be considered the victim of foreign policy rather than the protagonist.  This paper has two aims. Firstly it seeks to redress the balance, contrasting Russian actions with western actions, presenting the debate from the Russian perspective. Secondly, it serves as warning that analysis of Russian foreign policy is falling into old habits, that the lessons of the immediate post-Cold War world are being forgotten. I claim that in the absence of reliance on a theoretical framework, we are in danger of reverting to subjective description rather than rigorous, even-handed analysis.  I begin by assessing the way in which Russia, through its foreign policy, has been represented in recent years in both the western media and academic contexts. Next, I present evidence that shows that much of Russia’s foreign policy behaviour is interpretable as that of a state perceiving itself to be marginalised at best and under attack at worst. Finally, I consider the failures and successes of the constructivist theoretical framework, both in respect of its influence on policy and in our understandings of Russia itself.

de Graaf, Vincent
Integration with respect for Minority Identities: the experience of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities from 1992 to 2007
The institution of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) was founded in 1992 against the backdrop of the ethnics conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. The mandate of the HCNM is to identify, at the earliest possible moment, tensions between different ethnic, linguistic or religious groups (national minorities) which have the potential to escalate into violent conflict. This early warning is followed by early action in order to try to contain and de-escalate tensions, followed by efforts to start, maintain and enhance a process of exchanges of views and co­operation between the parties, leading to concrete steps calculated to de-escalate tensions and, if possible, resolve underlying issues. To this end, the HCNM makes concrete and practical recommendations to States and national minorities, which may include changes in legislation, institutions or policies towards national minorities. He also sets up programmes and projects to help to ensure the implementation of policies aimed at reducing tensions. This paper proposes to examine – from a practitioner's view - the questions central to the conference from the perspective of the HCNM and his 15 years of experience in promoting the integration of national minorities. It will examine in particular:
-          the HCNM experience in promoting integration of national minorities in 20 Central, Eastern and Southern European
      as well as Central Asian States;
-          his cooperation with States and national minorities' organisations/ other NGO's;
-          the role of international cooperation and international institutions in promoting and protection the rights of national
      minorities (incl. cooperation between the OSCE, EU and Council of Europe, EU conditionality, etc);
-          one or two case studies (e.g. the Baltic States, Macedonia, Georgia).

Doak, Connor
‘Petukh golandskii, korol’ pskovskii, ili Vladimir Maiakovskii’?: The Ambivalent Male Body in Maiakovskii’s Poetry and Poetic Self-creation.
The developing field of masculinity studies focuses on the changing nature of socially-prescribed gender identities for men.  In Russian Cultural Studies, some work has already been done to show how masculinities are articulated, inscribed and problematised in literature and other media (Borenstein 2000; Clements, Friedman & Healy 2001; Ushakin 2001).  However, relatively little attention has been paid to the representation of masculinity in the poetry of Vladimir Maiakovskii.  This interdisciplinary paper will argue that his work offers a transgressive aesthetic which challenges traditional representations of the male body, but which also expresses deep ambivalence about the possibility of the male body operating as a symbolic site of political change.  My primary analytical framework will be comparative and intertextual: I will argue that Maiakovskii’s appraisal of the male body stems from a desire to distance himself from both the Symbolist tradition (which valued the mystical and shunned the corporal) and the earlier Dostoevskiian tradition (which posited a sinful body / spiritual soul binary).  I will examine parallels between Maiakovskii and Italian Futurism and how they both explore the possibility of the eroticized male body as a symbol of sociopolitical change.  In addition to Maiakovskii’s writings, I will also analyze his photographs and public persona to examine how he negotiated gender identities in his own poetic self-creation.  Enlightening research has already been done on gender and self-creation among women poets such as Akhmatova (e.g. Kelly 1995).  I will suggest that both Maiakovskii’s popularity and notoriety among his contemporaries are linked to the fact that he both challenges and exceeds contemporary norms of masculinity.

Efimov, Nina
The Confessional Genre of Makanin’s Novel “Underground or Hero of Our Time”
Following the rhetoric of confession  (Bakhtin, David Shaw, Dennis Foster, Terrence Doody, Coetzee) in Makanin’s text allows us to circumscribe Underground as the secular confession of its protagonist, Petrovich. The confessional genre here gives an insight into the psychological image of Petrovich whose self-efficiency is a superficial attitude toward a hostile outside world. Although the novel is constructed on Petrovich’s inner and exterior isolation from Russian society, his narration is addressed to an abstract and understanding reader, capable of sharing with him his convictions. His confession makes sense of his self-inflicted loss as artist and  outsider who refuses to commit himself to anything final – a novel, a relationship, or a job. However, by choosing the reader as his confessor and confessing  to him his two murders, Petrovich understands his own loss, achieves self-understanding, is liberated from his repressive memory and regains  a sense of community . His confession  discloses his deeply concealed remorse, brings him to repentance and changes reader’s perception of him as a killer. Given that the formal goal of a confession is always in the support of the community in which a confessant seeks  self-affirmation, I conclude that Petrovich’s readers represent such a community and his appeal to them has a therapeutic function.

Ellman, Michael
The Stalin-Khrushchev Increase in Welfare
In 1945-65 the welfare of the Soviet population, as measured by such indices as infant mortality and life expectancy enormously increased. Why was this? Was it a result of a conscious policy by a welfare-oriented government and system or was it a byproduct of a favourable external environment? Did Stalin really adopt a pro-welfare policy in his old age? Or did the improvement result from the import of foreign technology which enabled the production of antibiotics to be expanded and reduced infectious disease?

Faber van der Meulen, Evert H.
EU-Russian gas relations: embedded liberalism versus suboptimal state control
The current EU gas policy towards Russia based on competition policy damages security of supply, because it neglects the specificities of Russia and Gazprom. The EU tactic is based on the promotion of interdependence via market opening, favouring competition policy over security of supply. The reason for this focus can be found in “embedded liberalism” and the internal EU energy struggle. Via NIE the EU liberalisation policy can be translated as being highly beneficial to the EU. Secondly NIE public utility theory shows that the institutional climate of a country is vital to the liberalisation of the gas sector. The institutional structure of Russia is based on social networks and there is a general lack of institutional trust. This results in the enforcement of trust by a single player in the institutional matrix, the executive. This situation limits Russia’s policy options. For reasons related to lack of capital and economic diversification Russia pursues integration in the world economy. However with its natural resources Russia faces the choice between the capital flight of ‘frontier capitalism’ or state control. As a consequence of the Russian decision for state control Gazprom is used by the state to ensure its own interests. Sustainability of the ‘rent based’ system and geopolitics are therefore essential to Gazprom’s investment strategy. In view of this situation I plead for a pragmatic approach by the EU, that takes security of supply as its focus. In this approach liberalisation of the market can only be a longer term goal.

Fedorova, Milla
The Non-Invitation of Statues in the early American Travelogues of Russian Writers
The motif of a statue, especially the Statue of Liberty is recurrent in early American travelogues written by Russian writers. As a metonymy of the ideal of freedom, the Statue is often mocked: writers’ expectations of finding new freedom on the other side of the ocean are disappointed. The Statue’s physical location near Ellis island does not help. “Poor old maid”, - Esenin exclaims in his essay “The Iron Mirgorod”.  The most elaborated image of statues, including the Statue of Liberty, can be found in Gorky’s essay “The City of the Yellow Devil”. The narrator is expecting the statue to wake, but its dead pupils never light.  In the context of Russian tradition, the motif of a statue coming to live is recognized as either a symbol of God’s wreath (A.Dolinin), or a tool of satanic forces (Jakobson). To come to life a statue should be provoked, or invited to do so (as in Pushkin’s “The Stone Guest”, or “The Bronze Horseman”). Later, in Gorky’s essay we do find an image of waking statues: the monuments of American fighters for freedom leave the city one by one. The reason of these statues’ coming to life is quite the opposite to that in Pushkin: they are not invited, and forgotten; nobody notices them in the streets because the ideas they represent are dead. So Gorky’s statues take their revenge either by “dying” (the Statue of Liberty) or by leaving the city (monuments).

Feklyunina, Valentina
(Un)Reliable Energy Supplier?  Constructing Russia’s Image in the West
This paper seeks to analyse the role of Russia’s image as an energy supplier in Russia’s relations with the “Big Three” European Union (EU) member states, Great Britain, Germany and France.  In recent years, Russia’s image in the EU has become extremely negative, most notably concerning its role as a supplier of oil and gas.  Following Moscow’s dispute with Ukraine over gas prices in the winter of 2005-2006, Russia’s potential or perceived unreliability as an energy supplier became a key factor of the counttry’s image in the “West”.  Russian political elites were very concerned about these changes, regarding them as a threat to the succesful implementation of Russia’s external energy policy.  The Kremlin therefore initiated a vigorous public relations campaign in an attempt to improve Russia’s image and persuade the EU (and its member states) that Russia is in fact a very reliable business partner and would bnever use energy as a coercive instrument to achieve (geo)political aims.  The paper aims to answer the following questions:
a)       How and why do the UK’s, Germany’s and France’s perceptions of Russia as a threat differ in the energy
      sphere?
b)       What kind of image of Russia is projected by the Kremlin and how is it related to the self images of Russia held
      by the Russian political elite?
c)       How do the perceived and the projected images affect Russia’s relations with Great Britain, Germany and
      France, respectively?

Filipescu, Corinna
Integration of Roma Minorities in Europe: The Case of Romania
Throughout history building successful and lasting relations to a dominant majority has not been an easy task for minority populations and the governing bodies involved in the integration process of minority groups. A clear example is Eastern Europe where facilitating a tolerable living and working environment for minorities has been difficult in these ethnically diverse states. Nevertheless, integration programs have been initiated, drafted and implemented in order to integrate minority groups within the wider societies of Eastern Europe. This paper will make a comparison between the integration of the two largest minorities in Romania, the Hungarian and the Roma populations, highlighting three aspects and emphasizing the evident diversity in Eastern Europe. The current Romanian Government Program clearly indicates that the strengthening of interethnic relations policies is highly promoted in order to consolidate the protection and integration of minorities. The first section looks briefly at the involvement of both minority groups in initializing, drafting and executing integration programs. The section illustrates that the interest in consolidating the necessary frameworks to assure improvements was high within both groups. Second, the paper emphasizes that the Hungarian minority has been more successful in integrating within the Romanian society. This will be exemplified by comparing the integration within the political arena, educational system and cultural dimension. The third part emphasizes why certain minority groups have been more successful than others. Does the size of the minority group matter? Is the Hungarian government supportive of its diasporas? Is the Romanian tolerance towards Hungarians higher than the Roma?

Filtzer, Donald
The Impact of Food Shortages on Russia’s Public Health, 1942-1948: Evidence from the Medical Literature
We already have a great deal of qualitative evidence of how food shortages impacted on the Soviet home front during World War II and upon the whole of the USSR during the 1946-1947 famine.  What is probably the standard work on food supply during World War II, William Moskoff’s Bread of Affliction, gives a harrowing picture of how hunger affected the civilian population and makes some reasoned guesses as to its medium- and long-term effects.  Moskoff was working without access to Soviet archives, but he did make extensive use of interviews and eyewitness accounts of US government officials and other observers.  Regarding the early postwar period, V. F. Zima’s Golod v SSSR and works by the present author have recreated a similar picture of how the 1946-1947 famine reverberated far beyond its epicentre to cause hunger and deprivation right across the USSR. The present paper revisits these accounts making use of materials compiled by Soviet doctors and public health officials.  Regarding World War II, it shows that Moskoff vastly underestimated the extent of wartime starvation in the non-occupied areas.  Early postwar anthropometric studies, despite the serious methodological flaws of most of them, nevertheless allow us to trace the medium-term impact that wartime malnutrition had on children and teenagers.  Other medical accounts provide further insights into the 1946-1948 food crisis, in particular its differential impact on workers and peasants and on different industrial regions.

Foulds, Rachel
Galina Ustvolskaya, the ‘Znamenny Raspev’ and the ‘Greek Connection’
Ustvolskaya’s indignant protestations that she was ‘in isolation by choice and by geopolitical circumstance’ were reinforced by her vigorous rejection of conventional genres and traditions, significantly distinguishing her music from many of her contemporaries. This paper will review the conspicuous retention of archetypal ‘Russian’ values that are palpable in Ustvolskaya’s work with a particular emphasis on her inclusion of aspects of the Znamenny Raspev, an approach that provided a route through which music could progress amidst the restrictions imposed in 20^th-century Russia. However, it is as the historic journey of the chant is traced back to Byzantine liturgical chant that its use in contemporary thought becomes increasingly relevant. Indeed, although the music of Iannis Xenakis seems initially aesthetically contrasting to Ustvolskaya’s, his reversion to Greek Orthodoxy (of which Znamenny Raspev is derived), provides considerable correspondences between these two composers.  Xenakis’ vision that the inclusion of out-of
time elements ‘could unify the expression of fundamental structures of all Asian, African and European music’¹ unravels the motives behind such practice. Using the Ustvolskaya/Xenakis connection as an example, this paper proposes to demonstrate that within the limits of the Western Art Music, certain historical or geographical boundaries can be successfully surpassed.  
¹ Iannis Xenakis, Formalized Music, (Bloomington, London: Indiana University Press, 1971), p. 200.

Futak-Campbell, Beatrix
Europe’s neighbours vs European neighbours: EU institutional rhetoric on the Eastern neighbours
The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) has been the main policy instrument for the EU to manage its relations with its new Eastern neighbours ever since the last enlargement. Some of these Eastern neighbours, however, have clear ambitions of joining the EU. These ambitions are neither supported nor promoted by the ENP. Despite the customary collective referral to countries in the ENP, there are seems to be some distinction made by EU officials between those neighbours fitting the category European and those who are not. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: First, it demonstrates the ways in which officials from the European Commission, Council and Parliament (co)(de)construct the notion of the European and a European country during research interviews. Membership category analysis is employed as the analytical framework to identify these discursive practices. Second, it explains the wider implication of such discursive strategies and argues that effectively they all work to fragment a common European identity. Furthermore, these discursive strategies also work to create ambiguity for the countries on the Eastern borders currently participating in the ENP.