"Lessons learned from post-Soviet countries with frozen conflicts on their territories" – closed discussion

VoxUkraine, with the support of the Kyiv School of Economics, organizes a discussion on the  topic “Lessons learned from post-Soviet countries with frozen conflicts on their territories” with participation of Edward W. Walker, Associate Adjunct Professor in the Department of Political Science and Executive Director of the Berkeley Program in Eurasian and East European Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and Tom Coupé, Associate Professor, Senior Economist at Kyiv School of Economics. During the discussion, we would like to cover the following issues for Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and model scenarios for Ukraine:

• The impact of frozen conflicts on national identity, democratization and civil society, international standing and orientation
• Handling frozen conflicts: the economic angle

The list of invitees includes representatives of VoxUkraine, KSE, representatives of expert groups and think tanks and analytical centers, academics, journalists, Government (State Agency for the restoration of Donbass, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade), international organizations (OSCE, US Embassy), representatives of business community (Dragon Capital, ICU, Raiffeisen).

• The expected balance of political forces and alliances after the Rada elections
• Expected relations between the Rada and the president after the elections
• Prospects for constitutional changes
• The lustration law and its implementation
• The role of the far right politically and its social roots

• The extent of support expected from the IMF and the challenges of servicing Ukraine’s debt
• The extent of financial support likely to be needed from the EU, the US, and the West
• Budgetary pressures, including military spending
• How the economic crisis is actually affecting people’s everyday lives

• The coming winter gas war – how prepared is Ukraine, how vulnerable
• How will Ukraine play its hand as a transport route as well as a consumer of Russia gas over the winter

We would greatly appreciate your input. If you can contribute, please send information to [email protected]. We will aggregate the materials to prepare the publication for Edward Walker` Blog and VoxUkraine.

Organizers: Kyiv School of Economics, VoxUkraine.

Format: Closed event

Place: 1, Ivana Mazepy Str. Kyiv School of Economics. Room 106

Date: October, 23rd.