NEWS RELEASE

News Bureau . Schofield Hall 201 . Eau Claire, WI 54702
phone: (715) 836-4741
fax: (715) 836-2900

EAU CLAIRE — The ninth annual symposium on Eastern Europe will be held April 2 and 3 at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

The free conference titled “East Europe in the Age of Uncertainty” will feature eight experts on East European politics who will discuss the ongoing debate over the identity of the East European states. Among the questions discussed will be whether or not the countries of East Europe are considered East or Central or even the “New” Europe, and how are these countries rejoining western civilization after years of occupation or domination by the Soviet Union.

The events on April 2 will take place in Room 100 of Schneider Hall and will include:

• 1 p.m., introductory remarks by Dr. Paulis Lazda, professor of history at UW-Eau Claire and chair of the symposium. Welcome by Dr. Ronald Satz, UW-Eau Claire provost and vice chancellor.
• 1:15 p.m., keynote address, “East Europe in the Age of Uncertainty,” presented by Ronald Asmus, former deputy assistant secretary of state in the Clinton Administration and senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund. As a top aide to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Asmus was an early advocate of the NATO expansion to Central and Eastern Europe.
• 2:10 p.m., “Poland: Facing the Benefits and the Challenges of Western Integration” presented by John Micgiel, executive director of the Institute for the Study of Europe at Colombia University. He has written several books on issues of political transition including “Democracy and Integration in an Enlarging Europe.”
• 3:15 p.m., “Latvia’s Sovereignty and Security in the Light of its History and Geography” presented by Ina Druviete, a member of the Latvian Saeima (Parliament) and chair of the Saeima’s Human Rights Commission. She is the author of numerous books including “Language and Ethnicity and The Sociolinguistic Situation” and “Language Policy in the Baltic States.”
• 4 p.m., “Projecting Stability to the East: Lithuania’s Agenda” presented by Renatus Norkus, deputy chief of mission at the Lithuanian embassy to the United States and former deputy head of the Lithuanian Mission to NATO and the Western European Union. Norkus is a scholar-in-residence at the Institute of International Affairs in Rome, researching conflict prevention.
• 7 p.m., plenary address, “Limits of Security: East European Countries in the Post-Communist Security Architecture,” presented by Paul Goble, special advisor of the International Broadcasting Bureau and former senior advisor to the director at Voice of America. Goble has authored more than 150 scholarly articles and edited four books on the subjects of security, nationality and democracy in the former Soviet Union.

Saturday’s Symposium events will take place in Room 101 of the Haas Fine Arts Center:

• 10 a.m., “NATO: The Guarantee of Stability in Europe” presented by Jüri Luik, ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to the United States. Luik was a research fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace from 1995 to 1996 and the head of the Estonian delegation in accession talks with NATO.
• 11 a.m., “New Agenda for Latvia” presented by Aivis Ronis, ambassador of the Republic of Latvia to the United States and Mexico. He is the former ambassador to Turkey and was a Fulbright scholar at Columbia University.
• 11:45 a.m., “Defense Reform Russian Style: Obstacles, Options and Opposition” presented by Zoltan Barany, a Frank E. Erwin centennial professor of government at the University of Texas-Austin. Barany has authored numerous articles and books on ethnicity and race in Eastern Europe. His current book project is “Russia’s Unreformed Army: The Politics of Institutional Decay.”
• 2 to 4 p.m., panel discussion, “Perspectives and Prospects.” Panelists include Barany, Druviete, Goble, Luik, Micgiel, Norkus and Ronis.

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JO/LWG

Judy Berthiaume, Director
UW-Eau Claire News Bureau
Schofield 201
(715) 836-4741
newsbur@uwec.edu

Updated: October 5, 2004