Please join us for Dr Atsuko Higashino's seminar: Europe's Response to Russia's Invasion against Ukraine--A Japanese Perspective. 

The purpose of this presentation is twofold. The first is to examine how European countries have responded to Russia's invasion of Ukraine since February 2022. In doing so, Dr Higashino puts a particular focus on the responses of the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs), the Western Balkans countries and Turkey. She compares and contrasts how these countries view issues such as support for Ukraine, sanctions against Russia and Ukraine's future membership of the EU and NATO. Second, Dr Higashino provides an overview of how Japan has responded to this full-scale invasion since 2022: the Japanese Government's position has undergone a dramatic shift from its apparent 'soft' approach to Russia following the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the subsequent war in the Donbass. Dr Higashino then introduces sharply competing views within Japan, in particular in terms of the (potential) ceasefire and future support for Ukraine's reconstruction.
 

About the speaker: 

Dr Atsuko Higashino, a visiting fellow at the Centre for European Studies at ANU, is a Professor in the faculty of International Studies at the University of Tsukuba, Japan. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Birmingham, the United Kingdom, and an MA and BA in Political Science from Keio University, Japan. Before working at the University of Tsukuba, she was a Lecturer at the University of Birmingham and an Associate Professor at Hiroshima City University. She also worked as a special assistant for the Japanese Delegation to the OECD in Paris, where she was in charge of research on the outreach activities of the OECD.

Dr. Higashino is currently teaching International Relations, International History, and politics and policies of the European Union. Her research interests include EU enlargement (Turkey and the Western Balkans), European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), Eastern Partnership (EaP), EU-China relationship. She has written extensively on the Ukraine Crisis (since 2014) as well as Russia-Ukraine War (since 2022) and EU's response to it.

Light refreshments will be provided upon arrival. If you have any dietary requests, please get in touch with the organiser via europe@anu.edu.au by COB Monday 25 March. 

Please register via the registration link provided on this page.