The Aleksanteri Institute (University of Helsinki) and the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Russian Studies, "Choices of Russian Modernisation" will hold the 14th Annual International Aleksanteri Conference on 22-24 October 2014 in Helsinki, Finland. This year the conference, entitled "Restructuring State and Society in Russia" aims to examine the intersections of and interrelationships between state and society in Russia and other post-Soviet and post-Communist countries in diverse theoretical and comparative perspectives - with the focus on critical issues of political, economic, and societal developments and in-between macro and micro levels of analysis.

The keynote speakers of the conference are:

*Professor Alexander Etkind, European University Institute, Florence (Italy);
*Professor Steven Hanson, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg (USA);
*Professor Oleg Kharkhordin, European University at St.Petersburg (Russia);
*Professor Alena Ledeneva, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College, London (UK)
*Editor-in-chief Maria Lipman, Pro et Contra, Moscow Carnegie Center (Russia)

The call for the panels and papers for the conference is now open: for further information, please consult the conference webpage: http://www.helsinki.fi/aleksanteri/conference2014/.

To stimulate topics for debates and the formation of panels, the programme committee suggests, for instance, the following sub-themes for consideration: the dead line for the proposals is May 15, 2014.

*Political regimes and patterns of governance
*Public administration and the (un)rule of law
*Social policy, welfare and human development
*Religion, nationalism and migration
*Civil society, collective action and the state
*Media, communication, and the public sphere
*National developments and international experience