In this week's episode Ivan Vejvoda is joined by Balázs Jarábik to consider the future of Ukraine and its neighbours in a Europe forever changed by the full-scale Russian invasion of February 24th, 2022. How will extending the embrace of the EU and NATO as signaled by Western European leaders impact the global situation? What will be the on-the-ground effects of the war for Moldova, the territory of Transnistria, for the neighbourhood and for Ukraine itself? What kind of Ukraine will emerge when the war finally ends and life returns to something approaching 'normal'?

Recently a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and now an IWM Europe's Futures fellow, Balázs Jarábik worked with Pact, Inc. in Kyiv, Ukraine to build its presence as one of the largest international nongovernmental organizations in Eastern Europe, and later served as project director for Pact in Vilnius, Lithuania. Jarábik was an associate fellow at FRIDE in Madrid and senior fellow at the Central European Policy Institute in Bratislava. He was a civic activist in Slovakia in the 1990s, and he later co-founded the Bratislava-based Pontis Foundation’s international development projects in the Balkans and the Commonwealth of Independent States. He has also worked as a consultant for political parties and civil society organizations in the Balkans and CIS countries, as well as an adviser with a wide range of international, governmental, and parliamentary institutions.

Find him on twitter @BalazsJarabik

Ivan Vejvoda  is Head of the Europe's Futures program at IWM where, in cooperation with leading European organisations and think tanks IWM and ERSTE Foundation have joined forces to tackle some of the most crucial topics: nexus of borders and migration, deterioration in rule of law and democracy and European Union’s enlargement prospects.

The Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) is an independent institute for advanced study in the humanities and social sciences. Since its foundation in 1982, it has promoted intellectual exchange between East and West, between academia and society, and between a variety of disciplines and schools of thought. In this way, the IWM has become a vibrant center of intellectual life in Vienna.

The IWM is a community of scholars pursuing advanced research in the humanities and social sciences. For nearly four decades, the Institute has promoted intellectual exchange across disciplines, between academia and society, and among regions of the world. It hosts more than a hundred fellows each year, organizes public exchanges, and publishes books, articles, and digital fora. 

you can find IWM's website at:

https://www.iwm.at/

Ivan Vejvoda  is Head of the Europe's Futures program at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM Vienna) implemented in partnership with ERSTE Foundation. The program is dedicated to the cultivation of knowledge and the generation of ideas addressing pivotal challenges confronting Europe and the European Union: nexus of borders and migration, deterioration in rule of law and democracy and European Union’s enlargement prospects.

The Institute for Human Sciences (IWM Vienna) is an institute of advanced studies in the humanities and social sciences. Founded as a place of encounter in 1982 by a young Polish philosopher, Krzysztof Michalski, and two German colleagues in neutral Austria, its initial mission was to create a meeting place for dissenting thinkers of Eastern Europe and prominent scholars from the West.

Since then it has promoted intellectual exchange across disciplines, between academia and society, and among regions that now embrace the Global South and North. The IWM is an independent and non-partisan institution, and proudly so. All of our fellows, visiting and permanent, pursue their own research in an environment designed to enrich their work and to render it more accessible within and beyond academia.

For further information about the Institute:

https://www.iwm.at/