Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies records

The primary mission of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES, or the Institute) is to promote and support scholarly research on Europe and Eurasia. The principal disciplines involved are political science, economics and history. Cross-disciplinary work is strongly encouraged. Members of the Institute develop and participate in scholarly seminars and colloquia, publish and otherwise communicate their research to peer academics in public settings and to various branches and agencies of the U.S. government.

Scholars draw on the massive holdings of the Library of Congress and National Archives and a number of academic, governmental and private institutional collections. The George Washington University is home to the Slavic, East European and Asian Reading Room, a special collection of reference works and periodicals unequaled in other academic institutions in the area, and to the National Security Archive, the world's largest private repository of declassified government documents.

The Institute's history reflects the changes in the global arena since the early 1960's. In the aftermath of the Second World War, American colleges and universities were sadly deficient in scholars trained to conduct research on the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, China and East Asia generally. Thus, they were also weak in their ability to educate their students and the public at large or to advise government leaders on policy toward these emerging regimes.

The Institute for Sino-Soviet Studies was founded in 1961 to help fill these voids by promoting and supporting scholarly research, policy analysis and undergraduate and graduate-level teaching in Soviet, Central and East European and East Asian affairs. After the Cold War ended, the Institute changed its name to The Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, and the new Sigur Center for Asian Studies was established in the Elliott School for International Affairs. Today, the Institute fosters study of the dynamic regions of Europe and Eurasia, efforts to overcome the Cold War, and the continued legacies of the Cold War divisions in Europe.