Kennan Conversations
Kennan Conversations is a series of discussions and debates about Russia and the former Soviet Union.
The reigning geopolitical challenges tend to be grim, edged with worry and fear. This they often were during the Cold War. The feats of learning that go into resolving these challenges need not be grim at all. They can be exciting.
Artwork from Untitled (1916) by Wassily Kandinsky
They are meant to honor the varied legacy of George F. Kennan, one of the founders of the Kennan Institute. Kennan’s legacy breaks down along three lines: the study of history; the vigorous effort to understand the contemporary political and geopolitical landscape; and the guidance of U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union (during the Cold War) and toward the post-Soviet space after 1991. George Kennan was simultaneously a diplomat, a historian and a public intellectual. His ideas were of his time and place and cannot simply be resurrected or replicated. His method - sustained research, vivid writing and clear public communication - is timeless. It can and must be applied to today’s world.
Kennan Conversations has one core thematic concern. It is Russia’s possible political futures, an open-ended question. To speculate about the future is not to ignore the past. It is to incorporate historical analysis, which Kennan Conversations will do at every turn - the history of the Soviet Union, of imperial Russia and the history of Russia shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union. All policymaking relies on intelligent predictions about the future, and Kennan Conversations will generate such predictions, by picturing the moment when President Vladimir Putin is no longer at the helm and the moment when Russia’s war against Ukraine has come to an end.
Kennan Conversations does not examine only Russia and its future course. It addresses all the countries and populations that once inhabited the Soviet Union. It takes long looks at Ukraine and Belarus, at the South Caucasus and at Central Asia. Concentric circles of scrutiny also factor in: Europe writ large; China; the Middle East; Latin America; Africa; climate change, nuclear nonproliferation, the geopolitics of energy and public health. U.S. policy - toward Russia, toward the region - is another area of inquiry. Goerge Kennan’s best writing about the Soviet Union, from the “X Article” to his many books, typically incorporated critical commentary on American politics, American culture and American diplomacy.
Kennan Conversations is not intended to be an inside-the-beltway affair. Its purpose is to amalgamate as many possible audiences and to do so in multiple formats - in-person events, virtual events, podcasts, lectures, discussions, debates, interviews. Everyone who is interested in this region is welcome, especially students of all ages. George Kennan’s truest vocation may have been not as a diplomat but as an educator, a vocation he pursued across the media of his day, reaching different generations of students and adding to their enthusiasm for study and learning.