Video: ZOiS Conference 2022

5+ Years of ZOiS Research: Looking Back and Looking Ahead

06/09/2022

Five years have passed since the ceremonial opening of ZOiS in March 2017. To mark this anniversary, at our 2022 Annual Conference we want to provide insights into the wide range of social science research undertaken at ZOiS. In different presentation formats, the ZOiS research clusters will present results and methods from their own work and discuss them with international scholars. Among other topics, we will focus on Russia’s war in Ukraine, the relationship between everyday life and geopolitics, the role of China in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, youth and forced migration and migrant activism. With a panel discussion, the conference will also anticipate the questions, issues and challenges that are likely to shape future research on Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

Programme

Welcome with ZOiS Director Gwendolyn Sasse

Panel: Researching Young People in Eastern Europe from the Outside: Different Approaches and Stages

  • Veronika Pfeilschifter (Friedrich Schiller University): New Horizons of Expectation: Researching Left-Wing Youth in the South Caucasus
  • Marnie Howlett (University of Oxford): The Ukrainian Political Landscape Seen Through the Eyes of Young People
  • Nina Frieß (ZOiS): Second thoughts: Youth, Historical Narratives and Their Perceptions
  • Chair: Félix Krawatzek (ZOiS)

Roundtable: The Everyday of Geopolitics

  • Regina Elsner (ZOiS): "Just Orthodox"? How Geopolitical Strategies Shape the Religious Identity of Believers
  • John O’Loughlin (University of Colorado): How Much Does Regime Legitimacy in Eurasian De Facto States Depend on Kremlin Support? Evidence from Public Opinion Surveys 2010–2022
  • Claudia Eggart (ZOiS): Waiting. Lived Geopolitics at Border Crossings in Bessarabia
  • Tatiana Zhurzhenko (ZOiS): Russia’s Rule on the Newly Occupied Territories of Ukraine: Terror, Collaboration, Resistance
  • Discussant: Gerard Toal (Virginia Tech) 
  • Chair: Sabine von Löwis (ZOiS)

Panel: Beyond the ‚China Threat‘: How China Shapes Development in Eastern Europe and Eurasia

  • Valentin Krüsmann (ZOiS): Colliding Scripts? Comparing the BRI and the EU Approach to Development Cooperation
  • Samuel Rogers (Open University): Moving Beyond Project 'Success' and 'Failure' and Towards the Infrastructure Consensus
  • Beril Ocaklı (ZOiS): Whom the Roads Bypass. East-West Connections in a Disconnected Georgia
  • Discussant: Sarah Eaton (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) 
  • Chair: Beril Ocaklı (ZOiS)

Panel: East European Migration and Migrants' Activism

  • Tatiana Golova and Tsypylma Darieva (ZOiS): Recent Political Migration from Russia to Germany and Georgia
  • Karolina Łukaciewisz (University of Warsaw) (via Zoom): Forced Migration Governance in Central and Eastern European Cities in a Crisis Context
  • Piotr Goldstein (ZOiS): Researching Everyday Migrant Activism: Between Grasping the Opportunity and Long-Time Engagement with the Field

  • Discussant: Sabrina Zajak (DeZIM)

  • Chair: Tsypylma Darieva (ZOiS)

How to study Ukraine and Eastern Europe During/After War

  • Tatiana Zhurzhenko (ZOiS), Tanya Richardson (Wilfrid Laurier University) and Guzel Yusupova (Contestations of the Liberal Script (SCRIPTS))
  • Chair: Beril Ocaklı (ZOiS)