IIRPS VU together with Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania and NATO Energy security centre of excellence are organizing the expert level workshop “Hybrid threats: overcoming ambiguity, building resilience ”. The workshop will take place September 10th - 11^th at IIRPS VU, conference hall 402.  The workshop will take place September 10th - 11th at IIRPS VU, conference hall 402.

The program of the workshop can be found here. 

IIRPS VU invites to the lecture by dr. Peter Plenta about “Kyrgyzstan: The Island of Democracy, Instability and Unpredictability in Central Asia”. Kyrgyzstan, the small and underdeveloped state in the heart of Asia, received the attention of academicians due to its “different story.” The country once called “Switzerland of Central Asia,” is now better known because of two revolutions and ethnic clashes. However, the country develops democratic/pluralistic political system with small but active non-governmental sector since 2010. We will focus on three aspects of the “different story”:

1. Openness to foreign ideas (with the focus on ideas coming from Russia)

2. Why authoritarianism in Kyrgyzstan failed (both soft and hard version)

3. Recent development and future of the country

Lecture will take place October 5 (Wednesday), 3 p.m., room 401. It there will be a discussion moderated by lecturer of IIRPS VU assoc. dr. Konstantinas Andrijauskas.

IIRPS VU invites you to a lecture by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden Margot Wallström on topic European cooperation – Why we must stay united in times of internal and external challenges

Lecture will take place 8th of October, 15:00 room 402

In her lecture minister will speak about the challenges reaching beyond borders and unstable period we are facing today in international arena. She will underline the need for European countries to regain a firm forward course with cohesion, solidarity and a new dynamics. Margot Wallström stresses the need to stay united for a gender-equal and social Europe that also garners respect for its ambitious environment, energy and climate policy.

Joint committee which is related with Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis awarded article “Ex post control and steering of government agencies in Lithuania and Romania” as the best comparative politics research study. Scientific article was prepared by the joint team of researchers from IIRPS VU and Babeş Bolyai University (Romania).

We are inviting to propose a paper for the International Conference “Disclosing Invisible Society:  Informal and Concealed Social Networks under Communism” which will take place December 5-6, 2014 at Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University. The deadline for applications is extended to 29 September 2014. Accepted applicants will be notified by 10 October 2014.