Eurasia Policy Forum
The University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Law and Democracy, Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, and Clements Center for National Security collaborate to jointly organize the Eurasia Policy Forum.
The Eurasia Policy Forum is an interdisciplinary conference exploring dynamics shaping the contemporary Eurasian region. Academic disciplines have each made progress in understanding these complex dynamics in their area of social, political, legal, or cultural study, yet these lessons are often stove-piped. Meanwhile, states—and students training to work in those states—must grapple with the intersection of challenges across all of these areas. The Eurasian Policy Forum tackles this by bridging disciplines, bridging academic and policy spheres, and bridging policy and cultural studies to critically examine pressing issues in Eurasia.
The 2026 Eurasia Policy Forum focuses on Contemporary Political Myth and Reality in Eurasia, convening on February 12-13, 2026, at the University of Texas at Austin. The conference explores the complicated social and political myths and realities shaping the Eurasian region, as they are poised to either discourage democratic progress or inspire civil society to action. Eurasian states today face mounting challenges amid growing polarization, gaps between social needs and political responses, and disinformation blurring myth and reality. Eurasian states face additional pressures from a legacy of authoritarian rule, active conflict and irredentism, and political mobilization of social divisions across the region. Yet Eurasian countries also have unique strengths in navigating these challenges, with strong national identities, robust civic engagement, bursts of democratic progress, and deep cultural traditions.
The Eurasia Policy Forum is deeply interdisciplinary, fostering creative engagement on a diverse range of critical topics from state-building and democratic backsliding, to construction of national heroes and majority-minority identities, to the role of technology in spreading these narratives. Panels are designed to foster discussion among experts from cultural studies, history, law, linguistics, policymaking, political science, sociology, and other fields.
The 2026 conference co-hosts include the Center for European Studies, the Center for Law and Democracy, the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies, the Clements Center for National Security, the Department of Communication Studies, the Department of Government, the Department of Religious Studies, the Humanities Institute, the Program in Comparative Literature, the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice, and the Strauss Center for International Security and Law.
The Eurasia Policy Forum is convened by Marina Alexandrova, Eliza Fisher, Ashley Moran, and Alexandra Sukalo. For questions or more information, please contact eurasiapolicyforum@gmail.com.
