Russian, Eurasian and Eastern European Studies

The Aleksanteri Institute, Finnish Centre for Russian, Eurasian and Eastern European Studies, is a multidisciplinary research community that advances rigorous scholarship, high-quality teaching, and impactful dialogue with the larger public and policymakers.

Our research on Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia focuses on five broad themes:

  • the environment and climate change
  • security and war
  • politics, ideas, ideologies, institutions
  • societal changes: identities, migration, integration
  • knowledge production and information society.

Research at the Aleksanteri Institute includes multi- and inter-disciplinary approaches to examine the present and historical developments of contemporary societies within its geographical scope. Our research covers Russia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the eastern member states of the European Union, Southeastern Europe, and the states neighbouring the European Union in the East (Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova).

We look at societies within these regions in the context of wider global phenomena, often requiring cross-national, cross-sectional, and cross-temporal comparisons within the region or with other regions. We also explore features common to all five themes, particularly those linked to societal resilience. For example, we examine responses to increasing insecurity, complexity, and vulnerability vis-à-vis major challenges, and societies’ capacity to reduce vulnerability to various types of shocks.