From the 1970s to the 1990s, countries with communist political systems faced many similar challenges but responded in remarkably different ways. By the beginning of the 1990s, communist regimes survived only in Cuba and East Asia. Nearly all communist and post-communist countries now confront issues of political legitimacy, economic growth and performance, and national and ethnic identities. The communist and post-communist worlds pose stunning challenges in the redesign of the international system: China is an emerging superpower, North Korea is a persistent threat to peace in East Asia, Russia is seeking a new international role and countries of East Central Europe play the increasingly important role within the EU. Harvard University has numerous faculty associated with various departments, research centers, and institutes, who work on nearly all of these countries and issues. Each year, a faculty seminar on these topics meets three or four times under the sponsorship of the Weatherhead Center and the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian studies. Each session is deliberately comparative, seeking to address themes that cut across at least two countries. Chaired by Professors Timothy Colton, Jorge I. Domínguez, Grzegorz Ekiert, and Elizabeth J. Perry.

Contact Information

For more information, please contact Penny Skalnik.
E-mail: pskalnik@fas.harvard.edu