European networks: the Balkans, Scandinavia and the Baltic world in a time of economic and ideological crisis, Targoviste, Romania, May 25-27, 2012‏

The current global economic crisis has generated debate in Europe regarding not only the future expansion of the EU, but the very viability of the European project itself. The discussion regarding the integration of the Balkans in the EU or NATO has been accompanied or even replaced by the question of whether the European project will in fact survive the general economic and social crisis that Europe faces today. While the Balkans still look towards Western European models and standards, Europe itself is suffering a crisis of political deadlock, economic decline, and an increasingly sharp ideological divide. Similarly, whileEstonia has just entered the Euro club and Latvian, Lithuanian, Bulgarian and Romanian leaders talk about joining into the Euro zone, top world economists are at the same time predicting the end of the Euro as a currency sometime in the near future.

The economic crisis in Europe seems to be partially responsible for the adoption over the past few years of anti-immigrant policies, something also being fed by fears of the future role of Islam in Europe. But these policies have also targeted citizens of European Union countries in Central and Eastern Europe (such as the Roma minority in Romania), as well as those of non-EU Balkan states.
 

A common reason stated for exclusionary policies is to safeguard the jobs of domestic workers. However, this crisis has also fostered the development of a new far right bloc around Europe, having as one of its features the exaltation of xenophobia, fear of immigrants and foreigners in general. The debate regarding the Roma has been particularly fierce, with even the Finns and the Swedes opposed to the formers’ presence in their countries. A transformative moment in the evolution of this phenomenon occurred in July of 2011, with the Oslo attacks carried out by Anders Behring Breivik, allegedly done to save Norwegian society from the government’s liberal policies on immigration and multi-culturalism. Disturbingly, this event proved that even advanced and well-organized European states such as Norway are unable to prevent large-scale extremist violence.
 

The aims of the conference:
The conference has two major goals. The first is to foster debate and academic discussion regarding contemporary problems facing the Balkan and Baltic regions during a period of severe global economic instability. These include the rise of extremist political groups with violent aims in the Baltics, the continued activity of Balkan-origin organized crime groups in Scandinavia, and the role that Baltic states may play in helping Western Balkan countries integrate politically and institutionally with the EU. The second aim of the conference is to foster cooperation and the creation of research networks between scholars from two geographical peripheries of Europe.
 

In this respect, the conference will address themes such as:
· The accession of Balkan states to the EU and/or NATO, with particular reference to the experiences of the relatively new EU and/or NATO Member States from South-Eastern Europe and the Eastern Baltic region. What lessons or information-sharing experiences or networks do the latter states have for the Balkan ones?
· Perceived threats to Western Europe (in economic, security or cultural terms) posed by Balkan and/or Eastern European states/non-state actors. Are these threats real or exaggerated? What measures can and are being taken to deal with them?
· The development of the far right in the Balkans and in Northern Europe, past, present and future. What linkages can be observed, and what conclusions can be made?
· Strategies for integrating minorities in the Baltic Sea rim countries and in the Black Sea areas. What is being done, and how can it be done better?
· Past and present networks of cooperation at state or NGO level between the Baltic and Black seas regions. Do these present a useful model for results-oriented cooperation (ie., in sharing experiences for EU membership goals), or otherwise how should they be modified?
· Current economic relations between Baltic and/or Nordic states, on the one hand, and the Balkan countries, on the other: trends and directions of trade between the two regions, labor costs and competitiveness, business perceptions, economic integration etc.
· Current political, cultural and diplomatic relations between Baltic and/or Nordic states, on the one hand, and the Balkan countries;
· Balkan organized crime in the Scandinavian countries
· The Balkan Roma people as threat for Western Europe
 

The second aim of the conference is to foster cooperation and the creation of research networks between scholars from two geographical peripheries of Europe, the Balkans and the Baltic World. This conference aims at putting this people together, at facilitating the contacts among them, at offering them the framework for developing new projects, for finding in cooperation new solutions to old dilemmas. Creating specialized networks is indeed an implicit aim of every international conference, but this would be the first organized event specifically designed to bring together scholars, academics, PhD students from the Balkans and Baltic world or interested in the problems of these two specific areas.
 

ARSBN welcomes papers, panels and roundtable proposals. Contributions are encouraged from disciplines but not limited to: history, cultural studies, economics, ethnic relations, international relations, political science.
Paper, panel or roundtable proposals shall be send to the organizers of the conference at conference2012@arsbn.ro and must include an abstract (motivation, problem statement, approach, results, conclusion) of no more than 300 words and a curriculum vitae.
 

All participants whose papers are accepted for presentation will be offered free conference attendance, meals and an excursion. The accommodation will be provided based on individual applications within the limit of our budget. Please be aware that the travel expenses are not covered except for a few possible travel grants offered by the Nordic and Baltic embassies in Romania (the confirmation of which is still pending). However, the participants arriving from abroad will be commuted from and to Bucharest International Airport “Henri Coanda” (some 75 km east to Targoviste).
 

Selected papers presented at the conference will be published in the journals:
• Revista Româna de Studii Baltice si Nordice / The Romanian Journal for Baltic and Nordic Studies: http://www.arsbn.ro/RRSBN.htm - deadline June 15, 2011
• Valahian Journal of Historical Studies: http://www.valahianjournal.info – deadline September 15, 2012;
In addition, the possibility of publishing a thematic volume at an international printing house is also prospected.
Conference Schedule and Deadlines:
• Proposals for panels and roundtables (approx. 500 words): December 31, 2011
• Abstracts for individual papers (approx. 300 words): February 1, 2012
• Notification of Acceptance: March 1, 2012
• Publication of the Conference program: March 31, 2012
• Conference: May 25-27, 2012
Conference organizers (others still to confirm):
The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies
Balkanalysis.com
Embassy of Finland, Bucharest
Embassy of Lithuania, Bucharest
Embassy of Norway, Bucharest
Consulate of Latvia, Bucharest
Consulate of Estonia, Bucharest
Valahia University of Târgoviste
"Grigore Gafencu" Research Center for the History of International Relations and Cultural Studies
The Târgoviste Municipality
The Royal Court National Museal Complex, Targoviste
Cetatea de Scaun Printing House

The webpage of the conference: http://www.arsbn.ro/conference-2012.htm
Past conferences: http://www.arsbn.ro/conferences.htm and http://www.arsbn.ro/conference-2011.htm

The Balkan Wars 1912/13. Experience, Perception, Remembrance, Center for Balkan and Black Sea Studies / Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, 11-12 October 2012‏

The Balkan Wars 1912/13.
Experience, Perception, Remembrance
International Conference on the Occasion of the 100th Anniversary
11 - 13 October, 2012
at the Center for Balkan and Black Sea Studies / Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul
Organizers: Center for Balkan and Black Sea Studies / Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul
Department of History, University of Regensburg
Institute for the Study of Eastern and Southeastern Europe (IOS), Regensburg
Coordinators: Katrin Boeckh, Mehmet Hacısalihoğlu, Heike Karge, Sabine Rutar

Call for Papers: The conference aims to explore the two Balkan Wars of 1912/13 from the perspective of New Military History. We call for cross-disciplinary proposals approaching the Balkan Wars through a triple lens as experienced , perceived and/or remembered . Proposals should aim at scrutinizing these two wars on the basis of their manifold interconnections. We invite scholars to reflect on Koselleck's Semantics of Historical Time(s) ( Zeitschichten ) in order to approach the two wars as an integral part of the history of European wars in the 20 th century.

We wish to explore the potential entanglements between the wars of 1912/13 and the wars that followed. In so doing, we will draw on recent research that has found connections between the worlds of meaning of the Second World War and the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. The fact that the Balkan Wars knew no fully fledged post war era, for example, has received little attention so far. In addition to scholars of the Balkan Wars, therefore, we encourage scholars of the "other" European wars of the 20 th century - the First and the Second World War as well as the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s - to submit proposals. Their contributions will foster a discussion that integrates the Balkan Wars into the perspectives put forth by the New Military History.

Potential topics include the social history of the military; war technology / modern warfare / war operations; front and homeland; physical violence; population movements; propaganda and censorship; life worlds of peace and war; symbols, imagery, (changing) discourses; illness, death, and health care; gendered perspectives; economy of the wars; diplomacy; remembrance.
The realization of the conference conceptualized by this Call for Papers is subject to the organizers’ attainment of adequate funding.
The conference language is English .
Proposals must be no longer than 300 words . Please include also a short biographic note and your institutional affiliation, as well as your contact details.
Deadline : 31 October, 2011.
Contact : PD Dr. Katrin Boeckh, Osteuropa-Institut, Landshuter Str. 4, 93047 Regensburg, boeckh@osteuropa-institut.de

Conference of the Society for Romanian Studies, Lucian Blaga University, Sibiu, 2-4 July 2012‏

Call for Papers for the Conference of the Society for Romanian Studies (SRS)

Lucian Blaga University, Sibiu, 2-4 July 2012

SRS is an international inter-disciplinary academic organization based in North America. For information about SRS visit www.society4romanianstudies.org.

Europeanization and Globalization: Romanians in Their Region and the World

More than two decades after the fall of communism and several years after Romania’s

accession to the European Union, Romanians, whether at home, in a growing diaspora around  the world, or by virtue of international economic and cultural networks, are continuing to find themselves integrated into increasingly interconnected European and global institutions and practices. This gradual process of integration into international networks and interaction with foreign powers has been underway for centuries. States that occupied the territory of contemporary Romania and Moldova came under the influence of more powerful neighbors, and stood at the crossroads of both warlike and peaceful migrations. At one point most Romanian boyars spoke Greek, and in the 19th century Romanian students often studied abroad as they are again doing today. In the 1920s and 30s, ethnic and religious diversity contributed both to Europeanization and to domestic and international tensions.  Then, the Soviet model played a major role in the imposition of communism. The proposed focus of the 2012 SRS conference encourages historical, cultural and contemporary inquiries into the place of Romanians and Moldovans in European and global structures, while pondering the implications of these trends for the future.

We welcome proposals for papers, panels and round-tables coming from young and

established scholars working in history, sociology, anthropology, political science, philosophy, law, linguistics, economics, business, religious studies, theater, literature, cinema studies, music, and education. Possible topics might include, but are not limited to:

Romania and the European Union

“Europe’s,” Russia’s, and Romania’s roles in the Republic of Moldova

The social, political, and ideological implications of globalization in Romania and

Moldova

Migration and diaspora within Europe, North America, etc.

Consequences of EU accession

Challenges to European and global integration

Romanian writers abroad

Romanian literature in translation

The global reception of Romanian cinema, literature and art 

The Romanian/Jewish avant-garde in Zurich, Paris, Berlin

Multinational enterprises in modern Romania and Moldova

Minority cultures in Romania and Moldova (Roma, German, Hungarian, Jewish, Russian,

Ukrainian, Gagauz et al.)

The construction of a European memory

Romanian and Moldovan culture in the digital age

The Romanian language mass media system in the panoply of world media models

Journalism and political parallelism

New and old forms of censorship and self-censorship

Romanians’ and Moldovans’ historical encounters with “others”

The image of the Roma/Jew/Hungarian/German among Romanians

Paper proposals should include the title of the presentation, a brief abstract of up to 500

words, a short c.v., and the contact information of the presenter. They should be sent in a single attached Word document by December 1, 2011, to Matthew Ciscel at CiscelM@ccsu.edu.

Proposals for 2-hour panels including 3-4 papers, one chair, and 1-2 discussants should provide a description of the panel topic, abstracts of papers, short c.v.’s and contact information for all participants. Panel participants should be drawn from at least two different universities. 2-hour round-tables of 3-5 participants will also be considered. Participants will be notified of the acceptance of their proposal by January 30, 2012.

Twenty Years of Macedonian Independence, CRMP, Skopje, 8-10 September 2011

The Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM) from Skopje, and the School of Public Policy "Mother Theresa" are organizing an international academic conference dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Macedonia titled 'Twenty Years of Macedonian Independence: economic, political and policy developments'. The conference will be held from 8 to 10th September 2011 and will include five panels covering various aspects of the political and social developments in Macedonia in the last twenty years. The
panels will focus around the following themes:

1) Twenty years of democratic development in Macedonia: politics and policies of democratization and consolidation
2) Nation-building / nation branding in Macedonia
3) Multicultural policies in Macedonia implications for the region and beyond
4) Macedonia and the EU: love at second sight
5) Twenty years of economic development in Macedonia: issues and challenges

We welcome paper proposals by academics, researchers, practitioners and doctoral students in the social and economic sciences and humanities. Applicants should submit a completed application package consisting of the following items:

a) 250-300 word abstract

b) short narrative biography [max 300 words] - please do not send long CVs

The abstract and the short narrative CV should be sent via email to
crpm@crpm.org.mk by 1 August 2011. The successful applicants will be notified by mid August. The organizers will provide travel and accommodation grants under special conditions for the international participants.

International Youth Exchange, Kosovo-Montenegro, 8-15 August 2011‏

Environmentally Responsible Action (ERA) group welcomes you to participate in an international youth
exchange, which takes place in the cross-border Accursed Mountains region (Bjeshkët e
Nemuna/Prokletije) between Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania. The youth exchange is organized by ERA
group (Kosovo Contact Point) in cooperation with Interkulturelles Zentrum as part of the EU funded project
"EKOsovo – Development through Biodiversity", with additional support from SALTO SEE Resource
Center.

What? The International Youth Exchange "EKOsovo" will gather youth from Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania,
Montenegro, Austria, France and Greece to explore and discover Kosovo's beautiful nature while learning
about environmental issues and intercultural dialogue through outdoor mountain activities. Project ideas
among the participants will then be further developed during a project writing training at the end of the
experience.

The program begins on 8th August and lasts until 15th August, excluding travel days. The program consists of
a 6-day Youth Exchange, immediately followed by a 2-day training course on project development and
writing for the European Commission's Youth in Action program.

When? from 8th to 15th August 2011 (with travel dates, arrival on 7th and departure on 16th August)

Where? The youth exchange will be held in the cross-border mountain region between Kosovo and
Montenegro. The participants will first arrive in Peja, Kosovo, where we will depart together to Plav,
Montenegro on 8th August. From there we will cross the mountainous border back into Kosovo by hiking.
During the days, we will have sessions of topics such as team-building, environmental values, active
citizenship, eco-tourism and many more, with the chance to develop these ideas into projects at the end of
the exchange. Detailed program will be provided later.

How can I participate? We are looking for participants that:
- are 18-25 years old;
- can communicate in English;
- interested in learning and sharing about environmental issues, and outdoor activities;
- physically able to day-hike, and willing to camp in tents;
- interested to develop further international projects.

Packing Lists will be provided for all participants.

Travel & Accommodation
The organizers will cover 100 % of the travel costs of the participants, and board and lodging while on the
program. Important! Before booking the flights, confirm the travel arrangements and costs with
Interkulturelles Zentrum. The travel costs will be reimbursed after receiving all original tickets.

Please contact Joanna Paw³owska at joanna.pawlowska@iz.or.at with any questions and in order to apply
for participation.

Belgrade Security Forum, The Balkan and Global Security: What do we have in common, what sets us apart? Belgrade, 13-16 September 2011‏

Organizers of the Belgrade Security Forum (Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, Belgrade fund for Political Excellence and the European Movement in Serbia) are pleased to invite young scholars (PhD students and recent PhDs) to submit proposal papers to be delivered at the Belgrade Security Forum (BSF), regional security conference which will gather several hundred top level policy and decision makers, NGO leaders, experts, academics and journalists to be held on September 13-16 2011 in Belgrade. Accepted papers will be presented during the academic sessions (September 13-14) of the Belgrade Security Forum. The aim of the academic sessions is to foster academic discussion about security in South East Europe, connect young scholars interested in the subject and feed scholarly insights into the policy sessions of the Belgrade Security Forum (September 14-16).

The organizers will welcome papers which are offering challenging, innovative and policy oriented ideas on how to better understand and improve Balkan and European security. We are particularly looking for papers dealing with lessons learned in security community building and security sector reform in the Western Balkans and their relevance for other regions on the road to democracy such as the Middle East and the Caucasus.

Other topics that we are interested in are:

1. European Security Architecture

2. Democratization and Securitization

3. Post-conflict security community building

4. Emerging Security Challenges in the Western Balkans

5. State Building in the Western Balkans

The organizers will cover travel and accommodation expenses for all the participants who are expected to present their papers in oral and written form during the academic sessions and take part in the rest of the Belgrade Security Forum according to their interest.

Selected papers will be published in the Western Balkans Security Observer, academic journal of the Belgrade Center for Security Policy, think-tank from Serbia. All submissions are required to contain the applicant's CV attached to his/her paper proposal which should not exceed 500 words. Submissions should be made electronically to Filip Ejdus at filip.ejdus@fpn.bg.ac.rs. The deadline for submissions is 20 July 2011. All successful candidates will be contacted by 1 August at the latest.

Balkan Connection, University of Sussex, 2-3 June 2011

Below is the programme for the conference. Please do not hesitate to circulate it.
All the best,
On behalf of the Organization Committee,
Ali Huseyinoglu
Balkan Connections Conference
June 2-3, 2011
Venue: Global Studies Resource Centre (Arts C)
University of Sussex (Brighton)
Programme
Thursday
Welcome tea and coffee: 12:00-12:30
Opening remarks (12:30-13:00)
Dr. Eugene Michail: Balkan histories: Key themes and alternative paths (University of Sussex)
Session I: Representing the Balkans (13:00-14:30)
Ana Živković Snowley: Splits and changes in discourse on Montenegro in the nineteenth century British writing: From denigration to glorification (University of Brighton)
Dr. Katerina Gachevska: Criminal identities and mafia images: Crime and political reform in post-communist Bulgaria (Birmingham City University)
Andy Anderson: A Map of the Vilayet of the Danube 1869 (Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS))
Tea and Coffee Break: 14:30-15:00
Session II: Echoes of the Ottoman Empire (15:00-16:30)
Dr. Clemens Hoffmann: Debating the Balkanization of Ottoman rule (University of Sussex)
Kerem Nisancioglu: Rethinking Ottoman decline: Uneven and combined development and the modern nation-state (University of Sussex)
Vesselina Ratcheva: Affects of the post-Ottoman: Narrating the present through the past (University of Sussex)
Break: 16:30-17:00
Keynote speaker: 17:00-18:30
Prof. Russell King: Geography-Migration-Albania (University of Sussex)
Dinner with keynote speakers (open to all participants): 19:30 at Ottoman Cuisine (BN2 3HQ)
Friday
Tea and coffee reception: 8:30-9:00
Session III: Trauma and Violence (9:00-10:30)
Marika Djolai: Community cooperation and adaptation strategies: The shaping of post-conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina (University of Sussex)
Andrea Szkil: Forensic specialists’ work in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina (University of Sussex)
Kalina Yordanova: Trauma transmission in the former Yugoslavia (UCL)
Break: 10:30-11:00
Keynote speaker: 11:00-12:00
Prof. Jane Cowan: A critical journey from the Balkans to Geneva (University of Sussex)
Lunch break: 12:00-12:45
Session IV: ‘Minorities’ in the ‘Balkans’ (12:45-14:15)
Emina Demiri: Social inclusion of Croatian ethnic minorities in the context of EU accession (University of Sussex)
Sebahattin Abdurrahman: Homogenization, integration or segregation: Minority rights in education of Western Thrace Turks in Greece (SOAS)
Ali Huseyinoglu: A missing ‘fourth’ actor?: Education of the Turkish minority in Greece through the lens of Brubaker’s Triadic Nexus Theory (University of Sussex)
Deniz Duru: Homogenization and New Diversities in Burgaz, the Princes Islands, Istanbul (University of Sussex)
Tea and coffee break: 14:15-14:45
Session V: NGOs, Nations-states, and EU Integration (14:45-16:15)
Marko Stojic: The changing nature of Serbian political parties’ attitudes towards the EU (University of Sussex)
Piotr Goldstein: Who are the 'NGO People' in Mostar and Novi Sad (University of Manchester)
Closing reception: 16:15-16:30
Closing remarks: 16:30-17:00
Dr. Dimitris Dalakoglou: Balkan (Dis)connections: Re-approaching the Balkan questions in the age of capitalist crisis (University of Sussex)
Dinner with keynote speakers (open to all participants): 18:30 at the Lion and Lobster pub (BN1 2PS)
Balkan Connections: ‘Balkan Connections’ is an initiative by a number of doctoral students at Sussex University. As a continuation of our respective research interests, we decided to create a platform to promote this area of regional studies at our university and to connect with other relevant departments throughout the UK and beyond