Past Events

	Title	Date	Type	Speakers
	Learning From the Prespa Agreement	Wed, 21.10.2020, 14:00	Seminars and Colloquia	Ioannis Armakolas Ivan Vejvoda	Learning From the Prespa Agreement Is There a ‘Southeast European Way’ of Settling Disputes or Should There Be One? Lessons for the European Union Wed, 21.10.2020, 14:00 Speakers: Ioannis Armakolas Ivan Vejvoda Series: Seminars and Colloquia The Macedonia name dispute, one of the very first disputes of the post-Cold War era in Southeast Europe, was finally settled in June 2018 with the signing of the Prespa Agreement. The deal between Greece and North Macedonia was hailed as historic and an important breakthrough for the entire region’s integration to Western institutions. However, because the name dispute was broadly seen internationally as an incomprehensible spat, without fully grasping the high emotional load and the significant political stakes in both countries, not enough attention has been paid to the complex process leading to the settling of the dispute and to the challenges of a demanding implementation process. Read more
Learning From the Prespa Agreement Is There a ‘Southeast European Way’ of Settling Disputes or Should There Be One? Lessons for the European Union Wed, 21.10.2020, 14:00 Speakers: Ioannis Armakolas Ivan Vejvoda Series: Seminars and Colloquia The Macedonia name dispute, one of the very first disputes of the post-Cold War era in Southeast Europe, was finally settled in June 2018 with the signing of the Prespa Agreement. The deal between Greece and North Macedonia was hailed as historic and an important breakthrough for the entire region’s integration to Western institutions. However, because the name dispute was broadly seen internationally as an incomprehensible spat, without fully grasping the high emotional load and the significant political stakes in both countries, not enough attention has been paid to the complex process leading to the settling of the dispute and to the challenges of a demanding implementation process. Read more
	US Elections 2020	Sun, 18.10.2020, 11:00	Panels and Discussions	Ivan VejvodaSteven Erlanger, Eva Nowotny, Raimund Löw	US Elections 2020 A Fateful Decision for the US, Europe and the World? Sun, 18.10.2020, 11:00 Speakers: Ivan VejvodaSteven Erlanger, Eva Nowotny, Raimund Löw Series: Panels and Discussions The election of Donald Trump as 45th president of the US four years ago was a sea change in many ways, but above all a sign of rising populism and a changing world order. His tenure has unsettled the transatlantic relationship, questioned the nature of multilateralism by insisting on transactional relations, doubted the need for NATO. In recent months, not only the fight against the coronavirus, but also the newly inflamed debate on structural racism have dominated the country’s domestic political discourse, which has generated global resonance far beyond the borders of the US. Read more
US Elections 2020 A Fateful Decision for the US, Europe and the World? Sun, 18.10.2020, 11:00 Speakers: Ivan VejvodaSteven Erlanger, Eva Nowotny, Raimund Löw Series: Panels and Discussions The election of Donald Trump as 45th president of the US four years ago was a sea change in many ways, but above all a sign of rising populism and a changing world order. His tenure has unsettled the transatlantic relationship, questioned the nature of multilateralism by insisting on transactional relations, doubted the need for NATO. In recent months, not only the fight against the coronavirus, but also the newly inflamed debate on structural racism have dominated the country’s domestic political discourse, which has generated global resonance far beyond the borders of the US. Read more
	US Elections 2020	Sun, 18.10.2020, 11:00	Panels and Discussions	Ivan Vejvoda	US Elections 2020 A Fateful Decision for the US, Europe and the World? Sun, 18.10.2020, 11:00 Speakers: Ivan Vejvoda Series: Panels and Discussions The election of Donald Trump as 45th president of the US four years ago was a sea change in many ways, but above all a sign of rising populism and a changing world order. His tenure has unsettled the transatlantic relationship, questioned the nature of multilateralism by insisting on transactional relations, doubted the need for NATO. In recent months, not only the fight against the coronavirus, but also the newly inflamed debate on structural racism have dominated the country’s domestic political discourse, which has generated global resonance far beyond the borders of the US. Read more
US Elections 2020 A Fateful Decision for the US, Europe and the World? Sun, 18.10.2020, 11:00 Speakers: Ivan Vejvoda Series: Panels and Discussions The election of Donald Trump as 45th president of the US four years ago was a sea change in many ways, but above all a sign of rising populism and a changing world order. His tenure has unsettled the transatlantic relationship, questioned the nature of multilateralism by insisting on transactional relations, doubted the need for NATO. In recent months, not only the fight against the coronavirus, but also the newly inflamed debate on structural racism have dominated the country’s domestic political discourse, which has generated global resonance far beyond the borders of the US. Read more
	Who is Telling Us What? Why? And How?	Wed, 14.10.2020, 14:00	Seminars and Colloquia	Alison Smale Ivan Vejvoda	Who is Telling Us What? Why? And How? The Media in Central and Eastern Europe in 2020 Wed, 14.10.2020, 14:00 Speakers: Alison Smale Ivan Vejvoda Series: Seminars and Colloquia With technological change so rapid, and global concerns rivaling the traditionally local focus of most human beings, media assume an ever more important role in our societies. That is particularly true in central and eastern Europe, where journalists and their audience mostly have had a mere three decades to establish and mold independent media that suit or reflect their societies. Just in the weeks since Alison Smale was writing to Ivan on her chosen subject, developments in the former Soviet space – in this case, Belarus, and its Baltic and Polish neighbors, and Russia and Germany over Alexei Navalny – have shown their power to surprise most outside observers, and thus to influence the world. Who is telling this tale, and how? Read more
Who is Telling Us What? Why? And How? The Media in Central and Eastern Europe in 2020 Wed, 14.10.2020, 14:00 Speakers: Alison Smale Ivan Vejvoda Series: Seminars and Colloquia With technological change so rapid, and global concerns rivaling the traditionally local focus of most human beings, media assume an ever more important role in our societies. That is particularly true in central and eastern Europe, where journalists and their audience mostly have had a mere three decades to establish and mold independent media that suit or reflect their societies. Just in the weeks since Alison Smale was writing to Ivan on her chosen subject, developments in the former Soviet space – in this case, Belarus, and its Baltic and Polish neighbors, and Russia and Germany over Alexei Navalny – have shown their power to surprise most outside observers, and thus to influence the world. Who is telling this tale, and how? Read more
	The Problem of Religious Art in Modernity	Wed, 14.10.2020, 13:30 - Fri, 16.10.2020, 17:00	Conferences and Workshops	Oleg Tarasov Tatiana LevinaMaria Taroutina, petra carlsson, George Pattison, Lilia Sokolova, Nikita Balagurov, Viktoria Lavriniuk, Thomas Nemeth	The Problem of Religious Art in Modernity Uses and Abuses of the Icon in Russia Wed, 14.10.2020, 13:30 - Fri, 16.10.2020, 17:00 Speakers: Oleg Tarasov Tatiana LevinaMaria Taroutina, petra carlsson, George Pattison, Lilia Sokolova, Nikita Balagurov, Viktoria Lavriniuk, Thomas Nemeth Series: Conferences and Workshops The eighth graduate workshop of the Russian Art and Culture Group considered the deep implications posed by the problem of religious art by examining the various ways in which the icon was adapted in modern Russia to serve different artistic, philosophical, and political agendas. Read more
The Problem of Religious Art in Modernity Uses and Abuses of the Icon in Russia Wed, 14.10.2020, 13:30 - Fri, 16.10.2020, 17:00 Speakers: Oleg Tarasov Tatiana LevinaMaria Taroutina, petra carlsson, George Pattison, Lilia Sokolova, Nikita Balagurov, Viktoria Lavriniuk, Thomas Nemeth Series: Conferences and Workshops The eighth graduate workshop of the Russian Art and Culture Group considered the deep implications posed by the problem of religious art by examining the various ways in which the icon was adapted in modern Russia to serve different artistic, philosophical, and political agendas. Read more
	Beach Encounters	Tue, 13.10.2020, 16:00	Lecture	Amade M'charek Mieke Verloo Shalini Randeria	Beach Encounters Migrant Death, Colonial Currents and the Art of Paying Attention Tue, 13.10.2020, 16:00 Speakers: Amade M'charek Mieke Verloo Shalini Randeria Series: Lecture Her talk told a story about forensics as an art of paying attention. It offered some of the ingredients of the book that Mohsen Lihidheb and Amade M'Charek are currently working on in the context of the Emma Goldman Award. Read more
Beach Encounters Migrant Death, Colonial Currents and the Art of Paying Attention Tue, 13.10.2020, 16:00 Speakers: Amade M'charek Mieke Verloo Shalini Randeria Series: Lecture Her talk told a story about forensics as an art of paying attention. It offered some of the ingredients of the book that Mohsen Lihidheb and Amade M'Charek are currently working on in the context of the Emma Goldman Award. Read more
	Hagia Sophia as Symbol and Hostage of Actual Politics	Mon, 12.10.2020, 16:00	Seminars and Colloquia	Alexey Lidov Ayşe Çağlar Clemena Antonova	Hagia Sophia as Symbol and Hostage of Actual Politics Mon, 12.10.2020, 16:00 Speakers: Alexey Lidov Ayşe Çağlar Clemena Antonova Series: Seminars and Colloquia On 10 July 2020, by a decree of the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the basilica of Hagia Sophia – the central monument of the Byzantine Empire and the entire Orthodox world – was turned from a museum into a mosque. The conversion attracted worldwide attention and the leaders of the US, the EU and Russia, as well as most international institutions, appealed to Erdoğan not to go ahead with the plan. However, all the warnings were ignored and the first festive Muslim service was held on 24 July, with the country’s leadership in attendance. In this talk, various aspects of the conversion of Hagia Sophia, including political, religious, cultural and art-historical issues of this most significant event, were discussed. Read more
Hagia Sophia as Symbol and Hostage of Actual Politics Mon, 12.10.2020, 16:00 Speakers: Alexey Lidov Ayşe Çağlar Clemena Antonova Series: Seminars and Colloquia On 10 July 2020, by a decree of the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the basilica of Hagia Sophia – the central monument of the Byzantine Empire and the entire Orthodox world – was turned from a museum into a mosque. The conversion attracted worldwide attention and the leaders of the US, the EU and Russia, as well as most international institutions, appealed to Erdoğan not to go ahead with the plan. However, all the warnings were ignored and the first festive Muslim service was held on 24 July, with the country’s leadership in attendance. In this talk, various aspects of the conversion of Hagia Sophia, including political, religious, cultural and art-historical issues of this most significant event, were discussed. Read more
	Eroding Trust	Wed, 07.10.2020, 14:00	Seminars and Colloquia	Ivan Vejvoda Srdjan Cvijic	Eroding Trust Serbian Democracy from 5 October 2000 to COVID-19 Wed, 07.10.2020, 14:00 Speakers: Ivan Vejvoda Srdjan Cvijic Series: Seminars and Colloquia Freedom came to Serbia in 2000, with a decade-long delay with respect to the rest of the post-Communist Europe. Ever since, the country has been on a wobbly transition towards an established democracy and EU membership. More than Serbia’s inability to settle firmly on a Westward geopolitical course and its uneasy relationship with its neighbors, it is the lack of trust between the citizens and their government internally that stood in the way of the construction of a lasting democracy. Was there a political conspiracy to murder of Zoran Djindjic, the first democratically elected Prime Minister since WW2? Did a criminal network steal more than three thousand babies from mid-1950s to 2000, and gave them to illegal adoption? Is sustainable democratisation compatible with the unreformed security service and their monopoly on secrets? Is the mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic by the current regime historically unique, or can it be set in the broader historical perspective of state capture and disregard of the independent institutions in Serbia and Yugoslavia? The answer to these questions concerning Serbia can serve as an allegory for all of the post-Communist world’s untold stories that combined, offer an explanation to its shaky democratization in the last three decades. Populists and their outlandish conspiracy theories did not come from thin air. It is the lack of transparency and accountability of the mainstream governments that created reservoirs of disgruntled citizens thus transforming them in an easy prey for the enemies of democracy. Read more
Eroding Trust Serbian Democracy from 5 October 2000 to COVID-19 Wed, 07.10.2020, 14:00 Speakers: Ivan Vejvoda Srdjan Cvijic Series: Seminars and Colloquia Freedom came to Serbia in 2000, with a decade-long delay with respect to the rest of the post-Communist Europe. Ever since, the country has been on a wobbly transition towards an established democracy and EU membership. More than Serbia’s inability to settle firmly on a Westward geopolitical course and its uneasy relationship with its neighbors, it is the lack of trust between the citizens and their government internally that stood in the way of the construction of a lasting democracy. Was there a political conspiracy to murder of Zoran Djindjic, the first democratically elected Prime Minister since WW2? Did a criminal network steal more than three thousand babies from mid-1950s to 2000, and gave them to illegal adoption? Is sustainable democratisation compatible with the unreformed security service and their monopoly on secrets? Is the mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic by the current regime historically unique, or can it be set in the broader historical perspective of state capture and disregard of the independent institutions in Serbia and Yugoslavia? The answer to these questions concerning Serbia can serve as an allegory for all of the post-Communist world’s untold stories that combined, offer an explanation to its shaky democratization in the last three decades. Populists and their outlandish conspiracy theories did not come from thin air. It is the lack of transparency and accountability of the mainstream governments that created reservoirs of disgruntled citizens thus transforming them in an easy prey for the enemies of democracy. Read more
	Cossacks and Enlightenment	Mon, 05.10.2020, 16:00	Seminars and Colloquia	Volodymyr Sklokin	Cossacks and Enlightenment Between Orientalization and Republican Reappropriation Mon, 05.10.2020, 16:00 Speakers: Volodymyr Sklokin Series: Seminars and Colloquia The talk dealt with the impact of Enlightenment ideas on rethinking the image of Cossacks in the Ukrainian peripheries of the Russian Empire in the second half of the eighteenth century. The mechanisms through which eighteenth century West European Enlightenment political and historical thought provided intellectual resources for both orientalizing the Cossack political tradition and empowering it were examined. Orientalist discourse was introduced by Voltaire, used by Saint Petersburg enlightened absolutists to justify the elimination of Cossack autonomies, and accepted by a segment of the local elite. On the other hand, Enlightenment political thought, exemplified in particular by Rousseau and Montesquieu, was used to go beyond traditional estate and regional particularism, to rethink the Cossack political tradition in more universalist categories of republicanism and to set it against Catherine II’s supposed ‘despotism’. Read more
Cossacks and Enlightenment Between Orientalization and Republican Reappropriation Mon, 05.10.2020, 16:00 Speakers: Volodymyr Sklokin Series: Seminars and Colloquia The talk dealt with the impact of Enlightenment ideas on rethinking the image of Cossacks in the Ukrainian peripheries of the Russian Empire in the second half of the eighteenth century. The mechanisms through which eighteenth century West European Enlightenment political and historical thought provided intellectual resources for both orientalizing the Cossack political tradition and empowering it were examined. Orientalist discourse was introduced by Voltaire, used by Saint Petersburg enlightened absolutists to justify the elimination of Cossack autonomies, and accepted by a segment of the local elite. On the other hand, Enlightenment political thought, exemplified in particular by Rousseau and Montesquieu, was used to go beyond traditional estate and regional particularism, to rethink the Cossack political tradition in more universalist categories of republicanism and to set it against Catherine II’s supposed ‘despotism’. Read more
	The Compatriots	Mon, 28.09.2020, 16:00	Seminars and Colloquia	Andrei Soldatov Clemena Antonova Irina Borogan	The Compatriots The Tricky Relationship Between the Kremlin and Russian Exiles Mon, 28.09.2020, 16:00 Speakers: Andrei Soldatov Clemena Antonova Irina Borogan Series: Seminars and Colloquia The Russian diaspora is the third-largest in the world. The Russians fled the country in troves for more than one hundred years. First the Tsar’s crazy politics towards Jews, then the Revolution and Civil War, the Second World War and anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union forced millions to emigrate.In the 90-s, emigration was in the spotlight of society because the borders got opened for the first time in many decades. People started moving in both directions – many of them were leaving the country, but some of the emigrants came back to Russia to capture the new opportunities. Read more
The Compatriots The Tricky Relationship Between the Kremlin and Russian Exiles Mon, 28.09.2020, 16:00 Speakers: Andrei Soldatov Clemena Antonova Irina Borogan Series: Seminars and Colloquia The Russian diaspora is the third-largest in the world. The Russians fled the country in troves for more than one hundred years. First the Tsar’s crazy politics towards Jews, then the Revolution and Civil War, the Second World War and anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union forced millions to emigrate.In the 90-s, emigration was in the spotlight of society because the borders got opened for the first time in many decades. People started moving in both directions – many of them were leaving the country, but some of the emigrants came back to Russia to capture the new opportunities. Read more