UPTAKE lecture on Swedish foreign and defence policy

Professor Stefan Hedlund from the University of Uppsala, Sweden, will give a public lecture entitled: “The Putin Blowback: How Russia Drove Sweden into the Arms of NATO” on Monday, 1 October 2018, from 16:15 to 17:45 at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, Lossi 36, room 214.

Prof Hedlund will discuss recent developments in the Swedish foreign and defence policy. Russian aggression against Ukraine has shocked Sweden into realizing that war remains a possibility, and that disarmament has been a costly mistake. The country is presently involved in fervent signaling that it intends to rebuild its military. The question is if such signaling is credible.

Stefan Hedlund is Professor of Russian Studies at Uppsala University, Sweden. A long-standing specialist on Russia, and on the Former Soviet Union more broadly, his current research interest lies in economic theories of institutional change. He also has a devouring interest in Russian history, which he has sought to blend with more standard theories of economic change. He has been a frequent contributor to the media, and has published extensively on matters relating to Russian economic reform and to the attempted transition to democracy and market economy more generally. His most recent publications include Invisible Hands, Russian Experience, and Social Science: Approaches to Understanding Systemic Failure (Cambridge University Press, 2011), and Putin’s Energy Agenda: The Contradictions of Russia’s Resource Wealth (Lynne Rienner, 2014).

The lecture series is jointly organised by the Centre for EU-Russia Studies (CEURUS) (University of Tartu), Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies (IRES) (University of Uppsala) and the Global Europe Centre (University of Kent) in the framework of the UPTAKE project funded by the EU.

For more information, please contact Piret Ehin, PhD, Senior researcher and UPTAKE Coordinator, piret.ehin@ut.ee

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Forwarded by:
Maili Vilson
Research Communication Specialist
Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies
University of Tartu
maili.vilson@ut.ee
737 6584