British Association for Slavonic & East European Studies

The British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies (BASEES) is a learned society in the United Kingdom dedicated to promoting the study of Russia, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. It is a member of the Academy of Social Sciences.^[1]

It was formed in 1988 or 1989 through a merger of the British Universities Association of Slavists (BUAS; created 1956^[2]) and the National Association for Soviet and East European Studies (NASEES; created 1967,^[3][4] funded by the Ford Foundation and Shell^[5]),^[6][7] two founding members of the International Council for Central and East European Studies.^[8] Its first president until 1991 was the economist and foreign policy adviser Michael Kaser, who had also initially chaired the NASEES from 1967 to 1973.^[9] Until 1992, it was called the British Association for Soviet, Slavonic and East European Studies (BASSEES).^[10][7]