28 of June at 11:00 a.m., in the auditorium of the Old Library of the University of Warsaw the 15th Warsaw East European Conference has started. This year`s edition title is “Independence”. The opening ceremony of the conference was initiated by the speech of Jan Malicki (director, Centre for East European Studies director), John Micgiel (conference director) and Maciej Duszczyk (Vice-rector, University of Warsaw).

Guests included: Jacek Czaputowicz, Andrius Kubilius, Amb. Bogusław Winid, Amb. Ilia Darchiashvili, Gordon Bardos, Piotr Święcicki, Dr. hab. Krzysztof Kalicki, Stefan Kawalec, Sławomir S. Sikora, Hubert A. Janiszewski, Zbigniew Kruszewski,
Col. Ray Wojcik, Ralf Roloff, Matthew Rhodes, Igor Zevelev, Julie A. George, Alexander John Motyl, Yana Gorokhovskaia

Report: day 1, day 2, day 3

This year our guests focused on contemporary issues such as: EU policy toward the Black Sea Region; Security, borders and regional conflicts in East Central Europe; Hybrid Aggression and Cyber Security; regional security; transformation in East Central Europe; Central Europe and China. We also organize a Georgian Evening with a screening of a famous “Pirosmani” film followed by Georgian wine reception sponsored by The Embassy of Georgia in Poland.

Guests included: ambasador Matthew Bryza, Hubert Królikowski, Pal Dunay, Matthew Rhodes, Graeme Herd, John S. Micgiel, Vitaly Portnikov, Ihor Tsependa, Paweł Kowal, Piotr Puchta, Agnieszka Magdziak-Miszewska, Bogdan Grzelioński, Laurence Weinbaum, prof. Jane Curry, ambassador Daniel Fried, Wang Yizhou, Richard Turcsányi.

This year’s conference celebrated the 25th anniversary of Belavezha meeting, when the dissolution of USSR was signed. Discussions and panels covered issues such as: Russian policy in the South Caucasus; fall of the USSR, economics in transition.

Guests included: professor Zbigniew Kruszewski, Alvydas Nikžentaitis, Tomasz Knothe, Teimuraz Papaskiri, Gulshan Pashayeva, Kakhaber Kalichava, Micheil Saakaszwili, Marcin Kacperek, Paweł Purski, Bartosz Rydliński, Łukasz Jasina, Paweł Kowal, Theodore Weeks, Włodzimierz Marciniak, Gennadij Burbulis, Leonid Krawczuk, Stanislaw Szuszkiewicz, Vladislav Inozemtsev, Wiktor Juszczenko, Leonid Zlotnikov, Tomasz Żylicz.

An important part of this year’s edition of WEEC were discussion panels closely related to the theme of the conference, in which experts from around the world took part. Every day, several panels were held simultaneously. The following panels were discussed: Consequences of the war for Ukraine; On the history of the nations of East – Central Europe;

The Role of Civil Society in Public Activities in Russia and Georgia; Belarusian National Confrontation to „Russkiy Mir”; Inside the Media War. Russian Propaganda Machine.

Guests included: Jacek Saryusz – Wolski, Anna Maria Dyner – Śmigielska, Aliaksandr Bialatski, Witold Jurasz, Andrei Vardomatski, Andrei Kazakiewicz, Alexander Smoljanski, Piotr Andrusieczko, Adam Balcer, Roman Bäcker, Andrew Nagorski, Pawel Kowal, Nikołaj Iwanow, prof. Jan Kubik.

During this year’s conference, as in previous years, there were numerous lectures and panel discussions about the problems of our region thematically related to the conference. During the whole 4-day event, we had the opportunity to participate in dozens of lectures conducted by about one hundred panelists from around the world, including from countries such as Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and Taiwan. Covered topic included: Ukraine today and tomorrow; Poland on the global chessboard and others.

Special guests of 2014 edition included: Leonid Krawczyk, former president of Belarus, professor Rudolf Pikhoja, ambassador Wiktor Ross, Adam Eberhardm, Paweł Kowal, Mykola Riabchuk, Markian Malskyy, Aleksander Bialacki and others.

This year our guests discussed various issues including topics such as: Central and Eastern Europe in U.S. Security Policy; schemes of socio-economic transformation in Central and Eastern Europe; higher education in Ukraine, Eastern Partnership, South Caucasus in transition; Belarus today; political realities in post-communist world and many more

Special guests of 2013 edition included: prof. Andrew Michta, Stanisław Szuszkiewicz, Borys Niemstov, prof. John Micgiel, Paweł Kowal, Aleksander Milinkiewicz, Andriej Sannikau, Mykoła Riabchuk, Renata Cytacka, Ruben Mehrabian

This edition of WEEC focused around panel discussions and roundtable sessions including topics such as: Ukraine and the European Union (moderator Wiesław Wacławczyk, Nicolaus Copernicus University), energy security in Central and Eastern Europe (moderated by Alexander Rondeli, Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies), post-communist realities (Paweł Kowal, MEP),” Democracy. Trends and perspectives „(moderator Antonia Kamiński, PAN) or presenting problems related to the issue of human rights, which was presented by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights; sociocultural changes in post-communist countries (moderator Rigels Halili, University of Warsaw), interpretations of historical memory (moderator Kazimierz Wóycicki, University of Warsaw).

Invited guests included: professor Richard Pipes, professor Hélène Carrère d’Encausse, prof. Stanisław Szuszkiewicz, prof. Egidijus Aleksandravicius, Barbara Zochowska Despiney, (Economic Centre of Sorbonne), ambassador David Hovhannisyan, prof. Roman Baecker (UMK), prof. Krzysztor Gawlikowski (ISPPAN), prof. Mykola Ryabchuk (writer, poet, critic)

The main focus of the 8th session of the Warsaw Eastern European Conference (WEEC) was the scientific analysis and discussion of the last two decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. We continued the debates on transformation in the fields of politics, economics, international relations and culture in the republics of the former communist bloc. The transformations that have been introduced since then constitute the basis of the post-Soviet division. We focused on post-Soviet reality and attempted to answer the question: whether the declared goal of creating a democratic system in post-communist countries has contributed to the transformation of the way politicians and society operate in the region.

Among the invited guests and speakers were: Valdas Adamkus (former president of the Republic of Lithuania), Artiom Malgin (vice-rector of MGIMO, Russia), Allan C. Lynch (University of Virginia, USA), Asim Mollazde (Azerbaijan), Maksym Strikha (Ukraine), Stepan Grigoryan (Armenia), Włodzimierz Marciniak (Polish Academy of Science), Andriy Portonv (Ukraina Moderna), Aleander Rondeli (Georgia), Klaus Zimer (UKSW, Poland), Aleksander Milinkiewicz (Belarus), Oxana Borta (Moldavia).

The conference focused on the issue of the ongoing changes in the post-communist societies. Round table sessions and panel discussions included topics such as: historical memory in relation to current politics; Polish Eastern Policy – the vision of Jerzy Giedroyć; the aftermath of colour revolutions in Serbia, Ukraine, Georgia and Kirgizstan.

Among the invited guests and speakers were: prof. Antoni Dudek, Kazimierz Wóycicki, prof. Leonid Zaszkilniak, prof. Jerzy Eisler, former ambassadors Jerzy Marek Nowakowski and Stanisław Ciosek, prof. Bogumiła Berdychowska, Krzysztof Strachota, Maria Przełomiec, prof. Jan Piekło, Bartosz Cichocki

The main topic of the conference was the path of the 20th century Central and Eastern Europe from the liberation after the First World War, through totalitarian regimes until the liberation that came with the fall of communism. The conference focused on four basic dates from history and the contemporary situation in Europe: 1919-1939-1989-2009. The changes in Central and Eastern Europe were discussed particularly in terms of political, social, economic and cultural aspects. The conference consisted of over 30 discussion panels attended by about 120 speakers from around the world. The substantive part of the conference was enriched with a film review, thematically referring to the title issues of this year’s session.

Among the invited guests and speakers were: prof. Zbigniew Kruszewski (Univeristy of Texas), prof. Zaza Tsotniashvili (Rector of Gori University), prof. Stanisław Szuszkiewicz (chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus in 1991-94), prof. Stefano Bianchini (University of Bologna), prof. Theodore Weeks (Southern Illinois University), prof. Gregory Gleason (G.C.Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Garmisch-Partenkirchen), prof. Dmitriy Polyvyannyy (State University of Ivanovo) and others.