About Us

At the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES), our primary mission is to promote and support the study of Europe and Eurasia through courses, research, seminars, conferences, and publications. Europe and Eurasia are among the most dynamic regions of the world. Since the end of the cold war, the European Union has deepened its economic and monetary integration and enlarged its membership to include most of the former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. NATO has redefined its purposes and also now includes some former communist countries. Both NATO and the EU have important ties with countries of Eurasia as well.

Russia and other Eurasian countries have embarked on the difficult transition to post-communist political and economic systems, with diverse prospects for the success of democratization and market reforms. At the same time, a web of political, economic and cultural connections increasingly link the various parts of Europe and Eurasia with one another, as well as with the United States, the Islamic world, and other parts of the global community. Thus, we believe it is important to study Europe and Eurasia together.

The principal disciplines at IERES are political science, economics, and history, with important representation also from languages and literature, film studies, anthropology, sociology and public policy. Cross-disciplinary work is strongly encouraged. Members of the Institute develop and participate in scholarly seminars and colloquia, publish, and otherwise communicate their research to peer academics in public settings and to various branches and agencies of the U.S. government.

Scholars draw on the massive holdings of the Library of Congress and National Archives and a number of academic, governmental, and private institutional collections. The George Washington University is home to the Global Resources Center that contains a special collection of reference works and periodicals on Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and Eurasia unequaled in other academic institutions in the area, and to the National Security Archive, the world's largest private repository of declassified government documents.

The Director of IERES is Dr. Henry E. Hale. For more information on Dr. Hale, please visit his biography page.