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The Kennan Institute was founded as a division of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in December 1974 through the joint initiative of Ambassador George F. Kennan, then Wilson Center Director James Billington, and historian S. Frederick Starr. Named in honor of Ambassador Kennan's relative, George Kennan "the Elder" (1845-1924), a nineteenth-century explorer of Russia and Siberia, the Kennan Institute is committed to improving American expertise and knowledge about Russia, Ukraine, and other states in the region. Through its residential scholarship programs, lecture and workshop series, and publication program, the Institute strives to attract, publicize, and integrate new research into the policy community.
The institute offers residential scholarships in the humanities and social sciences to academic scholars and specialists from government, the media, and the private sectors. Thanks to its location in Washington, D.C., scholars at the Kennan Institute have access to libraries, archives, research facilities, and human resources that are among the finest in the world.
The Institute also administers an active program of public lectures and conferences featuring scholars and public figures from the United States, Russia, and other successor states to the Soviet Union. The Institute makes the results of its activities known through a variety of publications including Meeting Reports, Occasional Papers, Special Reports, and commercially published books.
Through its innovative workshop series, the Kennan Institute serves as a forum where junior scholars can develop and discuss their research pertaining to a variety of topics concerning the region. The workshops bring together scholars with recent field experience from a variety of disciplines.
The Kennan Institute and ISE Center (Information. Scholarship. Education.), Moscow, administer the Centers for Advanced Study and Education (CASE) program. The CASE program has established nine thematic research centers at regional Russian universities in order to foster scholarship in the social sciences and humanities.
In addition to its office in Washington, the Kennan Institute operates centers in Moscow and Kyiv. The Kennan Moscow Project and Kennan Kyiv Project provide on-the-ground assistance to the Washington staff and a communication link with various Russian and Ukrainian organizations. The offices also organize publications, seminars, and conferences on major events of the day featuring Kennan Institute alumni.
During the past year the Kennan Institute has focused on numerous topics including:
- Religion in Post-Soviet Societies
- Migration
Religion in Post-Soviet Societies
Religious affiliations and identities are experiencing a rapid resurgence in the former Soviet Union. In a post-1991 climate of new state formation, local authoritarianism, concerns over the meanings of democracy and the ethics of the new economy, and—in far too many instances—of poverty and war, religion has emerged as an affiliation of growing prominence. An increasing number of people are looking through the framework of religion in order to understand the world around them. Religion touches upon all spheres of social, political, and cultural life, and its resurgence profoundly affects the definition and shaping of broader social movements as well as individual behaviors. In a region in flux, questions of religion also relate to issues of national and international security.
At the Kennan Institute, the subject of religion in the post-Soviet context has emerged as a central theme in conferences, presentations, and State Department Policy Forums. The Institute hosted two conferences, on in Moscow and one in Washington, on the role of Islamic identity and ideology in Russian society. Speakers discussed a number of issues, including the potential for integration of Muslims into Russian society, the existence of a distinctly Russian variety of Islam, and the danger of radical political Islam in Russia. The Institute also co-hosted a workshop on “Orthodoxy and the Construction of Civil Society and Democracy in Russia” organized by Christopher Marsh of Baylor University and Elizabeth Prodromou of Boston University. In addition, Galina Starovoitova Fellow Anatoly Krasikov worked on the theme “Religions Freedom as a Condition for Revival of Russia in the 21st Century” while in residence at the Institute, and presented his work in an April 2004 Noon Discussion.
The Institute is currently conducting a Title VIII-Supported Research Workshop on religion in post-Soviet societies. The workshop, led by Mark Steinberg of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Catherine Wanner of Pennsylvania State University, will bring together nine scholars in Anthropology, History, and Political Science. The workshop participants will discuss the diverse and complex ways in which religion affects culture, society, economics, and politics in the post-Soviet states and will each contribute a chapter to an edited volume on the topic.
Migration
According to the United Nations, there are currently 185 million people living in countries other than their country of birth, up from 80 million three decades ago. This a particularly prescient issue in the countries of the former Soviet Union, where large scale migration is a relatively new phenomenon. The collapse of the Soviet state brought with it expanded freedom of movement, and many citizens have chosen to relocate away from ethnic conflict, political ambiguity, and economic chaos. In addition, the loosening of border controls has made the region a desirable corridor for migration from Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
In 2004, the Kennan Institute hosted two meetings of a Title VIII-Supported Research Workshop on “Immigration, Forced Migrants, and Refugees in Central Eurasia.” The results of the workshop will be published as a volume tentatively titled Going Home? Diasporas and Migration in the Former Soviet Union, edited by Cynthia Buckley of the University of Texas at Austin and Kennan Institute Director Blair A. Ruble. In addition, the Kennan Moscow Project sponsored an alumni seminar in September 2004 on the possibility of an immigration amnesty in Russia, and the Kennan Institute hosted public lectures with Fiona Hill and Galina Starovoitova Fellow Davlat Khudonazarov, who discussed the issue of labor migration from Central Asia to Russia.
Finally, the Institute has completed a research project looking at the impact of nontraditional migrants—migrants from countries not historically found in the USSR—in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. A 2001-02 survey conducted by the Kennan Kyiv Project focused on immigrants from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The survey consisted of three interrelated parts: a questionnaire for immigrants, a survey of Kyiv city residents, and an experts’ survey of officials from various government levels and specialists who have regular contact or work directly with nontraditional immigrants. Survey questions focused on the main characteristics of immigrants in Kyiv, their living conditions, inter-ethnic relations, and the attitude of Kyiv city residents and the municipal government toward them. The study demonstrated that Ukraine is becoming a country that is increasingly attractive to foreigners and persons without citizenship, providing immigrants with opportunities for peaceful and productive lives. Results of the project were published in Ukrainian by the Kennan Kyiv Project and Stylos in 2003, and an abridged English translation was published in 2004 by the Kennan Institute and the Comparative Urban Studies Project of the Woodrow Wilson Center.
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