International Conference

 

40 Years after Andrei Sakharov’s Reflections on Progress,
Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom:

Russia Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow 

Friday, October 24 - Saturday, October 25, 2008

 

 

Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989)

 

 Andrei Sakharov always called for constructive dialogue, cooperation, and convergence between Russia and the West. Despite the recent conflicts in Russia-West relations, the factors promoting better relations outweigh the negatives. Russia is a source for oil, minerals, timber and commodities needed by the West and developing nations. Russia needs the West as a customer and as a source of technology and consumer goods. Putin and Medvedev both speak of Russia as a European country, and Russia is a member of the Council of Europe, OSCE, the G8, and other multilateral and bilateral institutions.

The Conference’s six panels will discuss reactions to the Sakharov's essays Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom (1968), The Inevitability of Perestroika (1988), and the continued relevance of his humanist vision;  they will also address the nuclear issues he was concerned with, and improving relations between Russia and the West.

Made possible by the Andrei Sakharov Foundation, this conference is a step to encourage and initiate constructive dialogue when the administrations of both countries are in the process of change.

Download detailed  Program

 

Keynote speaker

 Elena Bonner, widow of Andrei Sakharov; chair, The Andrei Sakharov Foundation

Friday, October 24, 2008

9:00 - 10:30 am:

Panel 1 - Andrei  Sakharov’s 1968 Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence
   and Intellectual Freedom:  Reactions and Consequences
11:00 am - 12:30 pm:

Panel 2 - Andrei  Sakharov’s 1988 essay The Inevitability of Perestroika:
   The End of the Soviet Union and the Rise of Russia
2:00 - 3:30 pm: Panel 3 - Sakharov the Physicist
4:00 - 5:15 pm:  Documentary film “My Husband Andrei Sakharov”
6:00 - 7:30 pm:  Panel 4 - Andrei  Sakharov: The Nuclear Legacy

Saturday, October 25, 2008

9:30 - 11:00 am: Panel 5 - Russia Today and Tomorrow
11:30 am - 1:00 pm: Panel 6 - Russia and the West: Improving Relations
2:30 - 4:00 pm: Round Table - Sakharov’s Legacy Today
4:00 pm: Closing Remarks

 

 

NOTED PARTICIPANTS INCLUDE:

 Marshall Goldman, Senior Scholar, Davis Center, Harvard University

David Holloway, Historian of Soviet Nuclear Projects, Stanford University

Mark Kramer, Historian of Cold War, Davis Center, Harvard University

Jack Matlock, Former Ambassador to USSR & Russia

Yuri Orlov, Moscow Helsinki Group Founder, Physicist, Cornell University

Peter Reddaway, Political Scientist and Historian of Soviet Dissent, George Washington University

 

 

Advance registration required   Registration form
 

Lodging:  Booking details provided upon registration

For further information please contact daviscenter@fas.harvard.edu 

 

Venue

 Norton's Woods / 136 Irving Street / Cambridge / Massachusetts

 Main entrance: 200 Beacon Street / Somerville / Massachusetts

 Directions to the Academy

 

Suggested Readings by Andrei Sakharov:

 Reflections on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence, and Intellectual Freedom

 Nobel Lecture

 The Danger of Thermonuclear War

 Nuclear Energy and Freedom of the West

 The Inevitability of Perestroika

 Sakharov Works in Russian

 

Sponsored by Department of Physics, Harvard University, Sakharov Program on Human Rights at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University, and The Andrei Sakharov Foundation.