During the first half of the twentieth century—a period marred by wars, revolutions, and social upheaval—Europe almost destroyed itself twice. Despite the apparent closeness of the events of this period and the copious studies that they have inspired, many questions still remain unanswered, and the causes and interrelationships between the events remain unclear. Laura Pettinaroli, a researcher at the Catholic University of Paris, has been conducting research in the archives of the Vatican, Italy, France, Belgium and Russia for more than ten years in order to shed more light on the relationship between the Vatican and Russia during this period.
Tag "HSE guests"
What constitutes a country’s geographic core and periphery? Can a periphery turn into a core? What is the role of tourism in regional development? These questions were addressed in the presentation made by David Weaver (Dongbei University of Finance & Economics, China) at the Tourism and Hospitality session of the XX April International Conference held in Moscow last week.
On April 15, the IGITI Research Centre for Contemporary Culture hosted a round table on ‘Manga as Literature, Manga as Reading’. The event began with a guest lecture by Jaqueline Berndt (Professor of Japanese Language and Culture, Stockholm University).

On April 2, Zbigniew Wojnowski discussed how late Soviet economic reforms affected East European cultural networks in a talk on pop music from stagnation to perestroika. His talk showed how the history of popular music provides a rich prism for understanding the last decades of state socialism and the advent of capitalism.
Professor Carl Fey from Aalto University has been invited to speak at the 20th Annual April International Academic Conference at HSE Moscow. In his talk, entitled ‘Facilitating Innovation in Companies in Russia: The Role of Organizational Culture’, Professor Fey will present research that he has been conducting with his colleagues on the relationship between organizational culture and innovation.
Today, we have moved from the political concept of panem et circenses (bread and circuses) to keep the masses happy to the dangers of culture driven by spectacle and politics driven by algorithms. Post-war theoreticians of the crowd had personal experience of fascism, and today contemporary artists are attempting to address similar problems. During the XX April International Academic Conference on Economic and Social Development, scheduled this year for April 9-12 at the Higher School of Economics, Sarah Wilson, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, will explore some of these issues in her presentation 'Culture and Emigration, Crowds and Power.'
On April 2, Sonia Arribas, Senior Lecturer at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, will give a talk as part of the seminar ‘West and East: Universalism of Culture’ at the HSE International Laboratory for the Study of Russian and European Intellectual Dialogue. In her talk, Sonia Arribas will map out the various functions of the symbol of ‘bread’ in Piotr Kropotkin’s The Conquest of Bread.
At the upcoming 20th April International Academic Conference, HSE’s new Institute for Agrarian Studies will hold a panel on the drivers of growth in the Russian agrarian sector. Johan Swinnen, Director of LICOS Center for Institutions and Economic Performance at KU Leuven, has been invited to speak at the panel.