Call for Papers: Russia Seminar 2025

The Finnish National Defence University (FNDU) will organise the 7th annual Russia Seminar on 12–13 February 2025 in Helsinki (Santahamina), Finland. The purpose of the Russia Seminar is to increase discussion on the Russian war against Ukraine and produce new knowledge related to the war and warfare.

The title of the seminar is: “Russia’s War Against Ukraine – Trends and Lessons”. The basic idea is to focus on the protracted war from the framework of three key concepts: “State, Armed Forces, and War”. 

The number of audience expected to attend is roughly 70 and that of online spectators over 100. The seminar will be streamed online in real time. The working language of the seminar will be English. All presentation material should be unclassified.

The FNDU is now launching a Call for Papers on the following themes:

Russia’s status in the contemporary world. The aim of this theme is to look into the Russian interests, possibilities and objectives in the contemporary world.  Theories and methods in forecasting the trajectories of tomorrow’s Russian role in the world are welcomed.

Russia’s relations and resources. The aim of this theme is to look into Russia’s relations with different actors, possibilities and internal and external resources in contemporary and tomorrow’s world as well as methods of impact in pursuing its objectives.

Russian military thought. The aim of this theme is to look into the Russian military thought and theory on the concepts of war and peace as well as the role of military power in Russia’s security policy tomorrow. Methods for analysing the trajectories of Russian perceptions on military security are welcomed.

Military strategy and operational art. The aim of this theme is to look into the Russian way of fighting the war, its capabilities, the art of war in strategic and operational spheres and the examination of possible lessons learned in the context of war.  Methods and resources in analysing the changes of tomorrow’s Russian use of force are also welcomed.

Civil-military relations. The aim of this theme is to look into the civil-military relations in Russia. That is, the intangible aspects affecting military performance and development. Focus is on the state’s human resources, on the intricate balance of the civil and the military, and on the very fundaments of the institutions and instruments Russia is utilising in its war. The concept “civil” can be understood from the citizen’s, society’s or from an institution’s point of view.

Speaker candidates are invited to write a 1-2 -page abstract that should contain the following: (Please use the template attached.)

• Descriptive title of the presentation
• Questions studied
• Methodology used
• Literature or articles in which the topic is discussed
• Short biography and current affiliation of the speaker candidate
• Agreement for on-line streaming (yes or no)
• Willingness to extend the abstract into an article (yes or no).

If the speakers are willing to extend their abstracts into articles, it is encouraged to do so in the FNDU series of research reports, as a part of conference proceedings if further agreed by both parties. Please indicate your possible willingness for this when sending your abstract. The speakers who contribute both an article to the publication and present the results of research in the seminar will be provided with travel expenses and accommodation (max 2 nights in Helsinki). The final versions of the article are to be submitted no later than the end of March 2025. Detailed information on the format of articles will be sent later.

Please send your abstract not later than 15 November 2024 to:

Senior researcher, D.Mil.Sci, LtCol (ret.) Pentti Forsström [email protected] and Seminar coordinator, B.Soc.Sc, Jenny Lindfors [email protected].