The Ukraine Effect: Evolving Perceptions of Russia, China, and the West in Central Asia
Focusing on Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan before and after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, this talk shows collapsing support for Moscow, rising warmth toward China, and surprisingly stable views of the United States.
Staging the Gulag: Professional Theater in Stalin’s Forced-Labor Empire
At the height of World War II, Stalin’s Gulag saw a paradoxical “golden age” of theater. Dr. Jake Robertson explores how art flourished amid brutality, as prisoners and performers created beauty behind barbed wire in the heart of the Stalin’s Empire.
Weaponizing the Watchmen: Security Forces and Democratic Decline in Georgia
Autocratizing Georgia: Julie George traces how Georgia’s security services and state-aligned coercive actors have been retooled to suppress dissent, coup‑proof the regime, and accelerate the country’s rapid democratic backsliding.
