The Harriman Institute at Columbia University, in collaboration with the Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theory and Empirics (INCITE) and Columbia’s Center for Oral History Research, have recently completed an oral history project about the Harriman Institute's role in regional studies, academia, and its influence on shaping U.S. foreign policy toward the post-Soviet region. To celebrate the project, the Harriman Institute and Columbia Global Centers Paris put on a panel discussion about deteriorating Russian-Western relations, and the role of area studies in forming Western policy toward Russia.