The Strauss Center, in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Law and Democracy, Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, and Clements Center for National Security, will host the “Eurasia Policy Forum: Contemporary Political Myth and Reality in Eurasia” on February 12-13, 2026 at the LBJ School of Public Affairs’ Bass Lecture Hall.
Conference Description
Eurasian states face mounting challenges amid growing polarization, gaps between social needs and political responses, and disinformation blurring myth and reality. Further, Eurasian states face additional pressures from a legacy of authoritarian rule, active conflict and irredentism, and political mobilization of social divisions across the region. Yet Eurasian countries also have unique strengths in navigating these challenges, with strong national identities, robust civic engagement, bursts of democratic progress, and deep cultural traditions.
The conference explores the complicated social and political myths and realities shaping the contemporary Eurasian region, as they are poised to either discourage democratic progress or inspire civil society to action. Academic disciplines have each made progress in understanding the complex dynamics in their area of social, political, legal, or cultural study, yet these lessons are often stove-piped. Meanwhile, states—and students training to work in those states—must grapple with the intersection of challenges across all of these areas. This conference tackles this by bridging disciplines, bridging academic and policy spheres, and bridging policy and cultural studies to critically examine these pressing issues in Eurasia. Panels will be designed to foster discussion among experts from cultural studies, history, law, linguistics, policymaking, political science, sociology, and other fields.
The conference will be deeply interdisciplinary, fostering creative engagement on a diverse range of critical topics from state-building and democratic backsliding to construction of national heroes and majority-minority identities to technology’s role in the spread of these narratives. For questions and additional information, please contact eurasiapolicyforum@gmail.com.
Registration: Registration opens in January 2026 and will be available here.
Thank you to our co-sponsors!
Conference co-hosts include the Center for European Studies, the Center for Law and Democracy, the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies, the Clements Center for National Security, the Department of Communication Studies, the Department of Government, the Department of Religious Studies, the Program in Comparative Literature, the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice, and the Strauss Center for International Security and Law.
Agenda
Thursday, February 12
The Carillon, AT&T Hotel and Conference Center
1900 University Ave, Austin, TX 78705
5:00 – 7:00 pm: Cocktail Hour and Poster Session
Introductions: Eliza Fisher, Assistant Director, Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, The University of Texas at Austin
Welcome remarks: Mary Neuberger, Mildred Hajek Vacek and John Roman Vacek Distinguished University Chair in Russian and Slavic Languages, Director of the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, and Chair of the Slavic & Eurasian Studies Department, The University of Texas at Austin
Friday, February 13
Bass Lecture Hall, LBJ School of Public Affairs
2315 Red River St, Austin, TX 78712
8:15 am: Doors open
Coffee and light breakfast available
8:45 am – 9:00 am: Introduction and Welcome Remarks
Marina Alexandrova, Associate Director, Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, The University of Texas at Austin
Ashley Moran, Co-Director, Center for Law and Democracy, and Research Scientist, Department of Government, The University of Texas at Austin
9:00 am – 10:00 am: Keynote Conversation
Michael Kimmage, Director, Kennan Institute
Moderator: Alexandra Sukalo, Director, Clements-Strauss Intelligence Studies Project at The University of Texas at Austin
10:00 am – 10:10 am: Break
10:10 am – 11:00 am: Geopolitical Competition among Major Powers in Eurasia
Chair: Sharyl Cross, Director of the Kozmetsky Center at St. Edward’s University, and Global Policy Scholar at the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Craig Nation, Professor Emeritus and Distinguished Fellow, U.S. Army War College, and Visiting Professor, Department of International Studies, Dickinson College
Elizabeth Prodromou, Professor, International Studies Program, Boston College, and Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center
Michael Reynolds, Associate Professor, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University
Andrei Tsygankov, Professor, Department of International Relations, San Francisco State University
11:00 – 11:50 am: The Political Myth of Holy Rus’ in Russia and America
Chair: Jason Roberts, Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies and Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies, The University of Texas at Austin
Rebecca Echevarria, Masters Student in the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, and the LBJ School of Public Policy, The University of Texas at Austin
Eliza Fisher, Assistant Director, Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, The University of Texas at Austin
Domingos Tavares Campos, PhD Candidate, NOVA University of Lisbon School of Social Sciences and Humanities
11:50 am – 1:00 pm: Lunch
1:00 – 1:50 pm: Myths of Power and Identity During War
Jonathan Brunstedt, Associate Professor, Department of History, Texas A&M University
Nicholas Kupensky, Associate Professor, Department of Foreign Languages, United States Air Force Academy
Anna Romandash, Visiting Fellow, Center for International Governance Innovation
Dmitry Shlapentokh, Associate Professor, Department of History, Indiana University South Bend
1:50 – 2:00 pm: Break
2:00 – 2:50 pm: From Myth to Reality in State Building
Kiril Avramov, Assistant Professor, Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies, The University of Texas at Austin
Alexey Golubev, Associate Professor, Department of History, Rice University
Paul Kubicek, Professor, Department of Political Science, Oakland University
Chechesh Kudachinova, Guest Researcher, Institute of East European Studies, Freie Universität
2:50 – 3:40 pm: Myths Advancing or Eroding Democratic Values
Natalia Cwicinskaja, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law and Administration, Adam Mickiewicz University
Ia Eradze, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, Georgian Institute of Public Affairs, and Visiting Fellow at Harvard University
János Fazekas, Associate Professor, Department of Administrative Law, Eötvös Loránd University and Visiting Professor, School of Law, The University of Texas at Austin
Byeibitgul Khaumyen, Independent Researcher
3:40 – 3:50 pm: Concluding Remarks