REECAS Northwest 2026

The 32nd Annual Conference for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies

April 16-18, 2026

University of Washington

Seattle, WA USA

Online conference pre-registration will open in 2026.

Please note that all presenters and attendees must register for the REECAS Northwest Conference.

 

• • About the Conference

  • Call for Proposals Closed

  • Key Dates and Deadlines

  • Conference Registration Now open

  • Keynote Address: Russia, the Soviet Union, and Imperial Continuity in International Law

  • Conference Plenary: The Future of Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe 

  • Conference Highlights 

  • Conference Program Panels announced

  • Guidelines, Definitions, and Best Practices Please read

  • Graduate Student Essay Prize

  • Conference Hotel

  • Venue, Campus Maps, Parking, and Transportation

  • Seattle Restaurants and Activities

  • Invitation Letter Request Form (accepted presenters only)

  • COVID-19 Prevention and UW

  • Conference Sponsors

 

Free wi-fi is available for conference attendees. To access wi-fi, please log into the University of Washington network with:

UW Net ID: event0212

Password: 6s8z/4v4f/6n7g

 

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About the Conference

The Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES), a nonprofit, non-political, scholarly society established in 1948, is the leading international organization dedicated to the advancement of knowledge about Central Asia, the Caucasus, Russia, and Eastern Europe in regional and global contexts.   

The annual REECAS-Northwest conference is the official ASEEES northwest regional conference, welcoming students, faculty, independent scholars, and language educators from the United States and abroad. Established in 1994, REECAS Northwest is an important annual event for scholars and students in the Pacific Northwest and beyond, with participant and partner universities from across the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. The interdisciplinary conference is organized by the University of Washington’s Ellison Center for Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies.  

The conference hosts panels on a variety of topics from a wide diversity of disciplines including political science, sociology, anthropology, migration studies, gender and LGBTQ+ studies, history, literature and culture, linguistics and language pedagogy, film studies, musicology and more. 

Papers on Russia or the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia are welcome, including the Uyghur region in China (Xinxiang and elsewhere). 

We additionally welcome papers and panels on the European Union and how the processes of EU enlargement and integration have affected the countries of the REECAS region. 

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Call for Proposals | Closed

The REECAS Northwest Conference welcomes both individual paper proposals and also panel/roundtable proposals. Individual proposal submissions will be grouped into panels with a common theme.

• Panel Proposals: Panel chairs should gather their individual panelist information (name, email, affiliation, presentation title) and submit that on behalf of all panelists using the Call for Proposals Form. Upon acceptance, individual presenters and chairs will be required to register separately for the conference using a distinct Conference Registration Form, which will become live after the proposal acceptance announcement date.
• Individual Paper Proposals: Individuals who are not part of a pre-formed panel should submit their proposal using the Call for Proposals Form. Upon acceptance, individual presenters and chairs will be required to register separately for the conference using a distinct Conference Registration Form, which will become live after the proposal acceptance announcement date.

Please note that the REECAS Northwest Annual Conference is in-person only.

For further details and definitions, please see the conference paper and presentation Guidelines, Definitions, and Best Practices webpage.

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Key Dates and Deadlines

• Call for Proposals Deadline (abstract and C.V.): February 17, 2025 (11:59 pm)
• Notification of Acceptance: February 21, 2025
• Panels Announced: February 28, 2025
• Final Papers to Chair: March 31, 2025
• Presenter Registration Deadline: April 1, 2025

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Conference Registration Now open

Registration is required for the REECAS Northwest Conference. ALL participants (accepted presenters and audience members) must register using the below online form.

• Faculty/Independent Scholar Presenters: $40
• Student Presenters: $25
• General Public Attendees (non-presenters): $25
• Seattle Tashkent Sister City Association Members: $15
• University of Washington Faculty/Students/Staff: Complementary

Conference Registration

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Keynote Address | Lauri Mälksoo –  Russia, the Soviet Union, and Imperial Continuity in International Law

About the talk:

Russia, the Soviet Union, and Imperial Continuity in International Law is the title of Professor Mälksoo’s forthcoming monograph, a sequel to his Russian Approaches to International Law (Oxford University Press, 2015), which received Honorable Mention in the 2016 ASEEES Marshall Shulman Book Prize for outstanding monograph dealing with the international relations.  He is co-editor and author of two entries in The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Europe which was published in early 2025.

The talk examines continuities between Tsarist Russian and Soviet approaches to international law. It is often understood that the Soviet Union was an anti-imperialist power, at least it wanted to be. However, the key message of the talk is that in several aspects, the Soviet Union continued Tsarist Russia’s imperial tradition in international law. The talk illustrates this with the discussion of questions of international treaty law, state identity and continuity as well as various great power doctrines of international law such as balance of power. It will be discussed how these continuities are relevant for understanding Russia’s war against Ukraine.

About the speaker: 

Lauri Mälksoo is Professor of International Law at the University of Tartu in Estonia and member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. During the academic year 2023-2024, he was fellow at the Institut d’études avancées (IEA) in Paris. He earned his law degree at the University of Tartu in 1998, his LL.M. at Georgetown University in 1999 and doctorate at Humboldt University Berlin in 2002. He has subsequently had fellowships at NYU School of Law, at the University of Tokyo and at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars (in Washington, DC). He is member of the Institut de Droit International and since 2021, of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe. He is an editor-in-chief of the Baltic Yearbook of International Law (at Brill) and is member of the editorial board of the Review of Central and East European Law. Among his publications are monographs Illegal Annexation and State Continuity: The Incorporation of the Baltic States by the USSR'(^2nd ed., 2022, Brill) and Russian Approaches to International Law (OUP, 2015). He has published widely on the history of international law related to Russia and the Soviet Union, as well as on current developments and cases in international law.

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Conference Plenary | The Future of Democracy and Free Markets in Central and Eastern Europe

featuring

The Honorable Mark Gitenstein | The Honorable Audra Plepytė

Ambassador Mark Gitenstein

• US Ambassador to the European Union, 2021-2025

• US  Ambassador to Romania, 2009-2012 

About the talk:

How is the EU accession process proceeding with Moldova, Ukraine and other aspiring entrants in the region? Ambassador Gitenstein will offer an assessment of the European Commission’s application of its various enforcement tools to ensure compliance by member states of their treaty obligations. He will additionally discuss the role of the United States in supporting those processes and the role played by hostile powers like Russia in undermining them. Furthermore, Ambassador Gitenstein will consider the disturbing deterioration of independent media in the region as the essential bulwark for democracy, free markets and against corruption and backsliding.

About the speaker:

Mark Gitenstein was the US Ambassador to the European Union from 2021-2025. He is a lawyer who recently retired from Mayer Brown LLP, where he had served over most of the last 30 years as partner and counsel. Gitenstein served as U.S. Ambassador to Romania (2009- 2012) and began his career with 17 years of service in the U.S. Senate on the Judiciary and Intelligence committees. He worked for then-Senator Biden for 13 of those 17 years, co-chairing the then-Senator’s transition to the vice presidency in 2008 and helping set up his transition to the presidency in 2020. Over the last two decades, he has worked extensively in Central and Eastern Europe, focused on preserving and fortifying democracy by ensuring transparency in equity markets, fighting corruption, strengthening the rule of law, defending free and independent media, and protecting journalists.

As US Ambassador to the EU he focused primarily on supporting the allied response to the  Russian invasion of Ukraine including extensive work on export controls, sanctions and developing innovative ways in which the US/EU could finance the war.  He resolved vexing trade disputes on privacy and climate tech and worked in three successful summits to develop common approaches not only on the war and trade but on countering the People’s Republic of China and forging a common US/EU approach to the Gaza war.

Of particular note, Ambassador Gitenstein has worked tirelessly to raise awareness on both sides of the Atlantic of the importance of free media as a bulwark against democratic backsliding, along with a call for action and funding in this field. He forged new pathways to convene civil society leaders, financial experts, philanthropists, and successful media outlets to recommend policy actions to the EU Commission to leverage blended-finance equity investments in innovative ways to invigorate independent and pluralist media landscapes in the region. Recognizing international capital and EU policy support are not enough to fund sustainable financing of pluralistic media markets in Central and Eastern Europe, he brought media investor forums in local markets to galvanize local buy-in to ensure scale of financing and increase trust and accountability of media locally.

Ambassador Audra Plepytė

• Ambassador of Lithuania to the United States and Mexico, 2021-Present

• Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the United Nations, 2017-2021

 

About the Talk:

How can we effectively strengthen democratic institutions, safeguard freedom of speech, and foster resilient societies? Ambassador Audra Plepytė will delve into these issues, drawing on Lithuania’s experience during the EU integration process. Ambassador Plepytė will share key lessons learned and Lithuania’s approach in supporting other countries aspiring to join the EU, including Moldova and Georgia.

In addition, Ms. Plepytė will discuss the role of energy independence, both in Lithuania and Europe, in promoting regional stability and security.

About the Speaker:
Ambassador Audra Plepytė was appointed as Lithuania’s Ambassador to the United States of America and to the United Mexican States in 2021. Before this she was a Lithuanian Permanent Representative to the United Nations where she facilitated several negotiations, led the Group of Friends, and was elected to executive bodies of UN instruments and institutions, including being elected as the President of the Executive Board of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in 2021. As a career diplomat for over 30 years, she has held numerous positions within the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dealing with bilateral and multilateral issues, heading the European Union Department (2014–2017), the Personnel Department, and International Missions and Conflict Prevention Division. She was also Lithuania’s ambassador to Spain, World Tourism Organization from 2010 till 2014. Ambassador Plepytė has BA and MA in Philosophy at Vilnius University. She also has a diploma from the Institute of International Relations at Vilnius University, as well as a certificate of Diplomatic studies at Oxford University in UK.

 

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Conference Highlights

New Book Roundtable | Marina Sapritsky-Nahum – Jewish Odesa: Negotiating Identities and Traditions in Contemporary Ukraine

 

Film | Prisoners – A film by Evgeniya Chirikova about Ukrainian civilian prisoners captured by Russian security forces in occupied Ukrainian territories

Ms. Chirikova will present her film and take questions from the audience.

This film is about Ukrainian civilian prisoners who were captured by Russian security forces in occupied territories. The reasons for detention can be anything – from a photo of Russian equipment or a Ukrainian flag on a phone to speaking the Ukrainian language. According to Ukrainian human rights organizations, at least 7,000 Ukrainian civilian prisoners are currently held in Russian prisons, five times more than the number of recognized political prisoners in Russia. The number of civilian Ukrainian prisoners left in torture prisons in the occupied territories remains unknown.

Typically, such people disappear after their arrest, and even close relatives may not know their fate for years. Sometimes, they appear in Russian propaganda stories – broken, showing signs of torture, and forced to confess to absurd accusations. But over time, the truth comes to light, and it is shocking.

The first episode of the film is based on three stories told by the relatives of Ukrainian civilian prisoners: a mother whose son was taken by the FSB, a wife whose husband was taken away, and a young woman left without both parents due to the Russian occupation.

About the Filmmaker

Evgeniya Chirikova first rose to prominence as the organizer of one of the first grassroots environmental groups dedicated to protecting the Khimki Forest near Moscow. She is one of the leaders of the Russian opposition, having served on the Coordinating Council of the opposition alongside Alexei Navalny and Boris Nemtsov in the fight for fair elections and democratic change in Russia. Chirikova is also the founder of the media project Activatica, which spreads information about civic activism. After Russia’s aggressive invasion of Ukraine, Chirikova became actively involved in human rights work, assisting Ukrainian refugees. Currently, she is investigating terror in the occupied territories of Ukraine and what is happening to Ukrainian prisoners in Russian concentration camps. In Russia, Putin’s regime has fabricated five criminal cases against Chirikova on terrorism charges, arrested her in absentia, and added her to the list of terrorists and extremists.

 

EXHIBIT | Unissued Diplomas: Honoring the Student Victims of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

As Ukraine approaches 3 years of full-scale war after an unprovoked invasion, “Unissued Diplomas” honors the memory of Ukrainian students who will never graduate because their lives were taken by the Russian invasion. The “Unissued Diplomas” exhibition uncovers the stories of 40 Ukrainian students killed in the war.

Location: Allen Library North Lobby (across the lawn from the Husky Union Building)

Hours: Thursday 8:00 am – 8:00 pm, and Friday 8:00 am – 5:00 pm. Closed on Saturday.