Events / Ivan Vejvoda

	Title	Date	Type	Speakers
	Eroding Trust	Wed, 07.10.2020	Seminars and Colloquia	Ivan Vejvoda Srdjan Cvijic	Eroding Trust Wed, 07.10.2020 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 Wed, 07.10.2020 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
	The EU Periphery and Revisionist Powers	Wed, 23.09.2020	Seminars and Colloquia	Dimitar Bechev Ivan Vejvoda	The EU Periphery and Revisionist Powers Wed, 23.09.2020 Speakers: Dimitar Bechev Ivan Vejvoda Series: Seminars and Colloquia Starting with the annexation of Crimea in the spring of 2014, scholars and analysts have been debating the standoff between the West and competitors such as Russia, Erdogan’s Turkey, and lately China on Europe’s periphery. “The return of geopolitics” has become a standard phrase to describe the new moment in the international politics of Eastern and Southeast Europe. A contrast is drawn with the 2000s, the highmark of the European Union’s “transformative power” and NATO’s eastward expansion. But the top-down view highlighting the preferences and actions of big players, including core EU member states like Germany and France, Russia, Turkey etc. overlooks the critical role played by peripheral countries and their elites. Rather than being the object of great powers’ decisions, they manipulate rivalries in pursuit of political advantage. Though the domestic arena provides entry points for external actors’ influence it also empowers incumbent elites in the target countries. The talk drew on examples from Southeast Europe (the Western Balkans, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece) but drew parallels to the post-Soviet space. Read more
The EU Periphery and Revisionist Powers Wed, 23.09.2020 Speakers: Dimitar Bechev Ivan Vejvoda Series: Seminars and Colloquia Starting with the annexation of Crimea in the spring of 2014, scholars and analysts have been debating the standoff between the West and competitors such as Russia, Erdogan’s Turkey, and lately China on Europe’s periphery. “The return of geopolitics” has become a standard phrase to describe the new moment in the international politics of Eastern and Southeast Europe. A contrast is drawn with the 2000s, the highmark of the European Union’s “transformative power” and NATO’s eastward expansion. But the top-down view highlighting the preferences and actions of big players, including core EU member states like Germany and France, Russia, Turkey etc. overlooks the critical role played by peripheral countries and their elites. Rather than being the object of great powers’ decisions, they manipulate rivalries in pursuit of political advantage. Though the domestic arena provides entry points for external actors’ influence it also empowers incumbent elites in the target countries. The talk drew on examples from Southeast Europe (the Western Balkans, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece) but drew parallels to the post-Soviet space. Read more
	Europe’s Futures Symposium 2020	Mon, 29.06.2020	Seminars and Colloquia	Alida Vracic Bernd Marin Grigorij Mesežnikov Isabelle Ioannides Ivan Vejvoda Leszek Jazdzewski Niccolo Milanese Nicole Koenig Péter Krekó	Europe’s Futures Symposium 2020 Mon, 29.06.2020 Speakers: Alida Vracic Bernd Marin Grigorij Mesežnikov Isabelle Ioannides Ivan Vejvoda Leszek Jazdzewski Niccolo Milanese Nicole Koenig Péter Krekó Series: Seminars and Colloquia Eight Europe’s Futures Fellows of the 2019/20 cohort led by IWM Permanent Fellow Ivan Vejvoda encapsulated the work done over the year in which the pandemic force opened new futures for Europe. Read more
Europe’s Futures Symposium 2020 Mon, 29.06.2020 Speakers: Alida Vracic Bernd Marin Grigorij Mesežnikov Isabelle Ioannides Ivan Vejvoda Leszek Jazdzewski Niccolo Milanese Nicole Koenig Péter Krekó Series: Seminars and Colloquia Eight Europe’s Futures Fellows of the 2019/20 cohort led by IWM Permanent Fellow Ivan Vejvoda encapsulated the work done over the year in which the pandemic force opened new futures for Europe. Read more
	Junior Visiting Fellows‘ Conference	Tue, 23.06.2020	Conferences and Workshops	Alicja Rybkowska Ayşe Çağlar Biray Kolluoglu Gavin Smith Ivan Vejvoda Mariya Ivancheva Matyáš Křížkovský Stanislas Richard Volha Biziukova Yulia Abibok Adele Blazquez Vlasta Kordová	Junior Visiting Fellows‘ Conference Tue, 23.06.2020 Speakers: Alicja Rybkowska Ayşe Çağlar Biray Kolluoglu Gavin Smith Ivan Vejvoda Mariya Ivancheva Matyáš Křížkovský Stanislas Richard Volha Biziukova Yulia Abibok Adele Blazquez Vlasta Kordová Series: Conferences and Workshops Read more

	Liberalism in Crisis: Between Totalitarian Responses and Progressive Dreams	Tue, 25.02.2020	Panels and Discussions	Adam Ramsay Ivan Krastev Ivan Vejvoda Shalini Randeria Venelin GanevJacques Rupnik, Ana Blazeva, Katerina Kolozova	Liberalism in Crisis: Between Totalitarian Responses and Progressive Dreams Tue, 25.02.2020 Speakers: Adam Ramsay Ivan Krastev Ivan Vejvoda Shalini Randeria Venelin GanevJacques Rupnik, Ana Blazeva, Katerina Kolozova Series: Panels and Discussions In the past decade, many have spoken of the “crisis of democracy” due to the rise of populism in Europe, both in the East and the West, in the Union’s member states and in the aspiring member countries. But is democracy really what is at stake and in crisis nowadays, or is it a whole set of political-ideological values that are termed “liberal”? Can we argue that democracy is not a value system but an empty form of a political organization, a syntax that can be furnished with different semantics, including that of the illiberal world view as Viktor Orban has proposed years ago? Read more
Liberalism in Crisis: Between Totalitarian Responses and Progressive Dreams Tue, 25.02.2020 Speakers: Adam Ramsay Ivan Krastev Ivan Vejvoda Shalini Randeria Venelin GanevJacques Rupnik, Ana Blazeva, Katerina Kolozova Series: Panels and Discussions In the past decade, many have spoken of the “crisis of democracy” due to the rise of populism in Europe, both in the East and the West, in the Union’s member states and in the aspiring member countries. But is democracy really what is at stake and in crisis nowadays, or is it a whole set of political-ideological values that are termed “liberal”? Can we argue that democracy is not a value system but an empty form of a political organization, a syntax that can be furnished with different semantics, including that of the illiberal world view as Viktor Orban has proposed years ago? Read more
	Manufactured Alienation	Mon, 24.02.2020	Seminars and Colloquia	Adam Ramsay Ivan Krastev Ivan Vejvoda	Manufactured Alienation Mon, 24.02.2020 Speakers: Adam Ramsay Ivan Krastev Ivan Vejvoda Series: Seminars and Colloquia Boris Johnson turned the recent UK election into a referendum on the character of politics, and won by making democracy miserable. Based on years of investigating the dark money funded institutions which drove Brexit in the UK, undercover reporting across Europe, and street interviews with voters from Hungary to Spain and Scotland to Italy, openDemocracy’s Adam Ramsay detailed how elite networks of the super-rich and ultra-conservatives are sewing discontent with (neo)liberal democracy, and argued that progressives must embrace radical democracy. Read more
Manufactured Alienation Mon, 24.02.2020 Speakers: Adam Ramsay Ivan Krastev Ivan Vejvoda Series: Seminars and Colloquia Boris Johnson turned the recent UK election into a referendum on the character of politics, and won by making democracy miserable. Based on years of investigating the dark money funded institutions which drove Brexit in the UK, undercover reporting across Europe, and street interviews with voters from Hungary to Spain and Scotland to Italy, openDemocracy’s Adam Ramsay detailed how elite networks of the super-rich and ultra-conservatives are sewing discontent with (neo)liberal democracy, and argued that progressives must embrace radical democracy. Read more
	How Can We Realise a Holistic Concept of Prosperity for the Many, not the Few?	Wed, 27.11.2019	Panels and Discussions	Ivan Vejvoda Shalini RanderiaFelwine Sarr, Christoph Badelt, Sergiu Manea, Sigrid Stagl, Boris Marte	How Can We Realise a Holistic Concept of Prosperity for the Many, not the Few? Wed, 27.11.2019 Speakers: Ivan Vejvoda Shalini RanderiaFelwine Sarr, Christoph Badelt, Sergiu Manea, Sigrid Stagl, Boris Marte Series: Panels and Discussions On 27 November, ERSTE Foundation welcomes you to the 4th Tipping Point Talk with Felwine Sarr, Professor of Economics at Gaston Berger University in Saint-Louis, Senegal. His recent book, Afrotopia, presents a holistic approach to economic and cultural interaction, or rather, the cultural foundations of economic choices. Felwine Sarr’s lecture will be followed by a stage conversation with Christoph Badelt, Sergiu Manea, Shalini Raderia, Felwine Sarr and Sigrid Stagl. Read more
How Can We Realise a Holistic Concept of Prosperity for the Many, not the Few? Wed, 27.11.2019 Speakers: Ivan Vejvoda Shalini RanderiaFelwine Sarr, Christoph Badelt, Sergiu Manea, Sigrid Stagl, Boris Marte Series: Panels and Discussions On 27 November, ERSTE Foundation welcomes you to the 4th Tipping Point Talk with Felwine Sarr, Professor of Economics at Gaston Berger University in Saint-Louis, Senegal. His recent book, Afrotopia, presents a holistic approach to economic and cultural interaction, or rather, the cultural foundations of economic choices. Felwine Sarr’s lecture will be followed by a stage conversation with Christoph Badelt, Sergiu Manea, Shalini Raderia, Felwine Sarr and Sigrid Stagl. Read more
	Europäische Nation vs. Europa der Nationen?	Sun, 10.11.2019	Panels and Discussions	Ivan Krastev Ivan Vejvoda Ruth WodakJacques Rupnik, Constanze Itzel	Europäische Nation vs. Europa der Nationen? Sun, 10.11.2019 Speakers: Ivan Krastev Ivan Vejvoda Ruth WodakJacques Rupnik, Constanze Itzel Series: Panels and Discussions Was hat die Nation zu einem Erfolgsmodell gemacht? Wie umgehen mit dem Wiedererstarken von Nationalismus und Isolationsbestrebungen? Und welche imperialen Vermächtnisse spielen in der aktuellen Identitätssuche Ost- und West-Europas eine Rolle? Read more
Europäische Nation vs. Europa der Nationen? Sun, 10.11.2019 Speakers: Ivan Krastev Ivan Vejvoda Ruth WodakJacques Rupnik, Constanze Itzel Series: Panels and Discussions Was hat die Nation zu einem Erfolgsmodell gemacht? Wie umgehen mit dem Wiedererstarken von Nationalismus und Isolationsbestrebungen? Und welche imperialen Vermächtnisse spielen in der aktuellen Identitätssuche Ost- und West-Europas eine Rolle? Read more
	1989 in a Day	Wed, 06.11.2019	Panels and Discussions	Aleksandra Głos Andrzej Waskiewicz Holly Case Ivan Vejvoda Kateryna Ruban Philipp Ther Volodymyr KulykErhard Busek, Vuk Velebit, Ralf Beste, Dagmar Rychnovská, Georgi Pirinski, Jana Tsoneva, Jennifer Bergerova, Raluca Alexandrescu	1989 in a Day Wed, 06.11.2019 Speakers: Aleksandra Głos Andrzej Waskiewicz Holly Case Ivan Vejvoda Kateryna Ruban Philipp Ther Volodymyr KulykErhard Busek, Vuk Velebit, Ralf Beste, Dagmar Rychnovská, Georgi Pirinski, Jana Tsoneva, Jennifer Bergerova, Raluca Alexandrescu Series: Panels and Discussions This is a series of conversations spanning various Eastern and Central European societies between someone, who was an active participant, or a close observer, of an event on a crucial date in 1989, and a person, who was still very young in 1989. Both speakers will start with personal reflections that will be followed by a debate about the relevance of this date/event today. Read more
1989 in a Day Wed, 06.11.2019 Speakers: Aleksandra Głos Andrzej Waskiewicz Holly Case Ivan Vejvoda Kateryna Ruban Philipp Ther Volodymyr KulykErhard Busek, Vuk Velebit, Ralf Beste, Dagmar Rychnovská, Georgi Pirinski, Jana Tsoneva, Jennifer Bergerova, Raluca Alexandrescu Series: Panels and Discussions This is a series of conversations spanning various Eastern and Central European societies between someone, who was an active participant, or a close observer, of an event on a crucial date in 1989, and a person, who was still very young in 1989. Both speakers will start with personal reflections that will be followed by a debate about the relevance of this date/event today. Read more
	The Challenge of Technocracy	Thu, 27.06.2019	Panels and Discussions	Ivan Vejvoda Stefan AuerHans Kundnani , Nicole Scicluna	The Challenge of Technocracy Thu, 27.06.2019 Speakers: Ivan Vejvoda Stefan AuerHans Kundnani , Nicole Scicluna Series: Panels and Discussions The European Union (EU) is a rules-based order par excellence. Often seen as one of its great strengths, its reliance on rules as a functional equivalent of politics and political contestation is actually deeply problematic. The deficiencies of the EU’s rules-based and technocratic approach to governance have become much more apparent over the last ten years – the EU’s ‘crisis decade’. This panel focused on two trends that have emerged through the eurozone crisis. Firstly, the crisis has led to an increased reliance on non-majoritarian institutions, such as the ECB, at the expense of democratically accountable bodies. Secondly, the crisis has led to a new emphasis on coercive enforcement at the expense of the voluntary cooperation that previously characterised the EU as a community of law. Both of these trends diminish the quality of democracy at the EU-level as well as within its member states. The wider problem aimed to highlight is the EU’s tendency to resort to technocratic governance in the face of challenges that require political contestation. In the absence of opportunities for democratic politics, EU emergency governance oscillates between moments of heightened politicisation, in which ad hoc decisions are justified as necessary, and the (sometimes coercive) appeal to the depoliticised rule of rules. Read more
The Challenge of Technocracy Thu, 27.06.2019 Speakers: Ivan Vejvoda Stefan AuerHans Kundnani , Nicole Scicluna Series: Panels and Discussions The European Union (EU) is a rules-based order par excellence. Often seen as one of its great strengths, its reliance on rules as a functional equivalent of politics and political contestation is actually deeply problematic. The deficiencies of the EU’s rules-based and technocratic approach to governance have become much more apparent over the last ten years – the EU’s ‘crisis decade’. This panel focused on two trends that have emerged through the eurozone crisis. Firstly, the crisis has led to an increased reliance on non-majoritarian institutions, such as the ECB, at the expense of democratically accountable bodies. Secondly, the crisis has led to a new emphasis on coercive enforcement at the expense of the voluntary cooperation that previously characterised the EU as a community of law. Both of these trends diminish the quality of democracy at the EU-level as well as within its member states. The wider problem aimed to highlight is the EU’s tendency to resort to technocratic governance in the face of challenges that require political contestation. In the absence of opportunities for democratic politics, EU emergency governance oscillates between moments of heightened politicisation, in which ad hoc decisions are justified as necessary, and the (sometimes coercive) appeal to the depoliticised rule of rules. Read more