Russia and Islam: Religion, the State and Modernity during and after the Age of Empire
Harriman Institute Research Theme, 2007-08
Directed by Mark Mazower (History Department), this research project proposes a new historical framework for understanding Russia’s place in the world. It seeks to reconsider the relationship between religion and modernity, by highlighting the role played by religious institutions, policies and ideas in the transformation and modernization of the imperial and post-imperial state. Focusing, in particular, on Russia’s relationship with Islam it seeks to foster a reappraisal of the geopolitical significance of the long-term Russian interaction – through the Tsarist and Soviet eras – with its southern neighbors.
More information about activities, participants, publications and working papers can be found on the webpage of the project.
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Limited Sovereignty and Soft Borders in Southeastern Europe and the Former Soviet States
Directed by Alexander J. Cooley, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Barnard College, and Gordon N. Bardos, Assistant Director of the Harriman Institute, this series is intended to provide leading academic experts with an opportunity to present their original work to the policy community and provide for a fruitful dialogue between the two communities. The seminar series has three main objectives: First, it seeks to identify how the semi-sovereign status of several entities in both areas generates distinct problems, both in terms of security and economics. Second, the series examines how future changes in the legal status of these territories may impact the security and economy of each region. Third, the series seeks will explore what alternatives may exist to “classical sovereignty’ for these regions.
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Eurasian Pipelines
A two year colloquia entitled “Eurasian Pipelines – A Road to Peace, development and Interdependencies” will be hosted by the Harriman Institute through 2008. The colloquia, chaired by Professor Jenik Radon, will consist of 4-5 conferences on different oil and gas pipeline projects in the Eurasian space.
As the world’s demand for energy is steadily growing, it is crucial to examine the supplier, as well as the consumer, nations of natural resources in order to understand the political, economic, environmental and social impact and ramifications of the transnational pipelines by which a number of these nations are linked and tied to each other. These ties create interdependencies, and also challenges, between and among the exporting and importing countries, energy companies, and the people of the respective regions and nations. Accordingly Europe, Russia, Central Asia and East Asia represent one of the most pivotal energy systems in the world.
The goal of the colloquia is to bring experts and public figures from different fields together to examine the challenges, political, economic and environmental, presented by intertwined Eurasian energy space and their implications.
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Networks, Institutions, and Economic Transformation in Postsocialism
Harriman Institute Research Theme, 2006-07
Directed by David Stark (Sociology & SIPA), the year-long project will bring together leading researchers, scholars at Columbia and the New York area, Harriman post-doctoral fellows, and graduate students whose research explores the social, institutional and cultural context of economic transformation in Russia and Eastern Europe. A central aim of the initiative is to understand how political and economic reforms during the first years of post-socialism led to the emergence of powerful economic actors, politicians with close ties to the economy, and fluid and contested institutions. Moreover, scholars connected with the initiative seek to understand the implications of these changes for the polities and political economies of the postsocialist countries.
More information about activities, participants, publications and working papers can be found on the webpage of the project.
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