A lecture by Mary Elise Sarotte, Kravis Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Washington DC; Ernest May Visiting Fellow and Visiting Faculty (in academic year 2024-5), Belfer Center Applied History Program and Center for European Studies, Harvard University.
Moderated by Serhii Plokhii, Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History and Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University.
About the Lecture
How could Ukraine join NATO in the relatively near future, given that Russian troops are, tragically, almost certain to occupy portions of its sovereign territory for years to come? History provides answers and precedents as to how to grant membership to a divided state—even one on the frontline. These historical models aren't a perfect, their chances of working are far from certain, and the costs involved would be gut-wrenchingly high. Yet despite the costs, it’s time to consider these models seriously—because if any country deserves a hearing on some kind of creative way to become an ally as soon as possible, it’s Ukraine. Join Professor Serhii Plokhii in a discussion with Professor Mary Elise Sarotte about her proposal, published in Foreign Affairs, to use West German and Norwegian models of NATO membershp as precedents for Ukraine becoming a NATO ally.
About the Speaker
Professor Mary Elise Sarotte holds the Kravis Professorship at Hopkins-SAIS. She is the author, most recently, of Not One Inch: America, Russia, and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate. As well as becoming a Foreign Affairs Book of the Year, Not One Inch was shortlisted for both the Cundill History Prize and Duke of Wellington Medal for Military History, chosen for the Arthur Ross Prize Silver Medal, and awarded the Pushkin House Prize for Best Non-fiction Book on Russia. One of her earlier books, The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall, became an Economist, Financial Times, and BBC History Book of the Year. Its predecessor, 1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe—also a Financial Times Book of the Year—became the only book to win both the Ferrell Prize for best book on the history of US foreign policy and the Shulman Prize for best book on Soviet foreign policy. Sarotte earned her AB in History and Science at Harvard and her PhD in History at Yale. She is a former member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and, in 2024-5, the Ernest May Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.
This event is organized by Harvard's Ukrainian Research Institute (HURI) as part of the Seminar in Ukrainian Studies event series and co-sponsored by the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES) at Harvard University and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
Persons with disabilities who wish to request accommodations or who have questions about access, please contact Hanna Leliv, HURI Events Logistics Coordinator, at hleliv@fas.harvard.edu at least two weeks in advance of the session.
