At the height of the Cold War, a retreat center located in Big Sur, California, made a difference in Soviet-US relations. The Esalen Institute emerged as a counterculture aiming to develop human potential through the early psychedelic movement, religion, spirituality, travels, and seminars. In many respects, the Esalen Institute built a reputation among the privileged spheres of Western societies and used its know-how to forge links across the Iron Curtain.

PIR Center expert seminar will be concentrated on the questions how some US-Soviet relations were initiated and maintained in times of crisis through Esalen Track 2 and Track 1.5 Diplomacy and the lessons that can be learned from this experience.

Within the seminar “US- Soviet/Russian Relations in times of crises: Lessons learned from the Esalen 1.5 Diplomacy” the same name report of PIR Center consultant Océane van Geluwe will be launched. Océane van Geluwe is a threat analyst, graduate of the International Dual Degree MA Program “Global Security, Nuclear Policy, and WMD Nonproliferation” (developed by MGIMO University, PIR Center and Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey), IAEA Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, and CTBTO mentee. Her report was published within the PIR Center "Security Index Occasional Paper Series Global Edition". To prepare the report the exclusive interviews with the Academic Director of the Russian International Affairs Council Andrey Kortunov and Executive Director of the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Elena Sokova were held.

PIR Center expert seminar on the topic “US- Soviet/Russian Relations in times of crises: Lessons learned from the Esalen 1.5 Diplomacy” will take place on September 27, 2023, (Wednesday) from 5:00 to 6:30 pm (Moscow Time Zone, GMT+3) via platform Teams (online format) in English. In order to take part please register at TimePad.

In case of any questions please contact Anna Lashina, PIR Center Deputy Director Personal Assistant at  lashina@pircenter.org.