The brutal war in Ukraine has lasted nearly two years with no end in sight. The costs of the war are extraordinarily high. Tragically, many hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian troops and civilians have died in this war and over ten million civilians have been internally and externally displaced. Russian casualties are also great, estimated to be as high as 300,000. However, Kyiv and Moscow’s resolve to continue fighting remains strong, even as supplies and support from outside countries have dwindled. More importantly, neither side in this war wants to surrender or settle for a negotiated peace that includes a loss of territory. Wars end and this one must eventually end as well, even though there is no prospect of this on the horizon. This panel brings together three scholars with deep expertise on Russia and Ukraine to consider the possible endgame scenarios for the Russia-Ukraine war.
Dr. Mikhail Alexseev is the Bruce E. Porteous Professor of Political Science at San Diego State University. Dr. Alexseev is a native of Kyiv and has been working at SDSU since 2000. His publications focus on threat assessment in interstate and internal wars, ethnic relations, nationalism, and immigration in Russia/Eurasia, with a special focus on the sociopolitical effects of the war in Ukraine. Dr. Alexseev is the author of award-winning books and dozens of articles appearing in journals like Political Science Quarterly, Journal of Peace Research, Political Behavior, Political Communication, Europe-Asia Studies, Nationalities Papers, Post-Soviet Geography and Economics, among others. His research has been funded by John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research. Dr. Alexeev’s editorial opinion articles on Russian and Post-Soviet affairs have appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Toronto Globe and Mail, USA Today, and The Seattle Times.
Dr. Mitchell A. Orenstein is the Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has taught courses on globalization, socialism, and Russian and Eastern European politics. He is also Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Dr. Orenstein’s award-winning books have covered modern hybrid warfare, neoliberal economics, fiscal reform, political transitions, and minority socioeconomics in Eastern Europe. His research articles have been featured in Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, and SCID, and his essays and op-eds in the Journal of Democracy, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, and The Financial Times.
Dr. Hilary Appel is the Podlich Family Professor of Government and George R. Roberts Fellow at Claremont McKenna College. She is the Director of the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies. Her research examines the politics behind post-Communist economic reforms, the role of EU and NATO in Eastern Europe, and Russian foreign policy. In addition to publishing multiple books, including From Triumph to Crisis: Neoliberal Economic Reform in Postcommunist Countries, co-authored with Mitchell Orenstein (Cambridge University Press), she has authored numerous academic articles in Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, World Politics, Review of International Political Economy, Post-Soviet Affairs, East European Politics and Societies, and others. She has been awarded national fellowships from the Social Science Research Council, American Council of Learned Societies, Fulbright Foundation, National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Harriman Institute, and the Institute for the Study of World Politics. She is an active contributor to the media coverage of the war in Ukraine.