[Discussion] Europe & the Balkans International Newsletter - N°1 - February 2005

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

*EUROPE AND THE BALKANS INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER
N°1 - February 2005
*

*Special Event February 18 2005
Prof . BRONISLAW GEREMEK at MIREES!
*On 18^th of February 2005, prof. Bronislaw Geremek, member of European
Parliament and former Foreign Minister of Poland, co-founder of the
Union of Freedom and author of many publications translated into many
languages, has honoured the Mirees Programme with his presence.
He has held a lecture entitled “Security of Europe: between European
Policy and Euro-Atlantic Solidarity”. Here below you can read an extract:

“The transformation of 1989, which began with Poland’s “Round Table”
talks and Solidarity’s parliamentary election victory, brought an end to
the cold war and the division of Europe. It gave rise to the belief that
in the new situation, security would be guaranteed by a new world order,
which – as President George Bush told the UN General Assembly in 1990 –
would ensure democracy, prosperity and peace; or by, to quote President
Bill Clinton’s remarks to the same audience in 1993 – the community of
democracies based on a market economy. Once again we see the optimistic
climate of „the end of history”, also in intellectual analysis: Francis
Fukuyama, the American writer and political economist, perceives the
situation of the modern world after the cold war and the collapse of the
communist system in terms of a Hegelian victory of reason. But the war
in the Balkans contradicted that belief and showed us that the present
was not free from history, that it remained entangled in conflict and
paroxysms of violence. Although the end of the 20 century brought the
collapse of totalitarian regimes and created perspectives for political
and economic freedom on a scale perhaps unmatched anywhere in the world
throughout history, it also became clear that the instruments and
methods that had for the past 200 years served to maintain balance and
international order were no longer effective. The events of September
11, 2001, put the world situation in a new light: chaos and a structural
imbalance seem to be putting the world at the mercy of unpredictable
processes of privatised violence; instead of a victory of reason – the
triumph of freedom, democracy and tolerance – we are witnessing a
resurgence of ethnic hatreds, ethnic or religious fanaticism, which are
precisely what Karl Popper saw as the antithesis of an open society and
termed “the tribal society”.
Alberto Busi
alberto.busi@poloforli.unibo.it
*
MIREES’ SERIES of CONFERENCES
2004-2005 Forlì, Palaretti Palace
*The MIREES’ series of conferences is a specific programme involving
special guest lecturers and key-note speakers that constitute a golden
opportunity offered to the MA students at the Forlì Campus of the
University of Bologna during the MIREES academic year. The aim is to
broaden their knowledge of current analysis in politics and economics,
as well as to deepen some crucial aspects in the history, sociology and
anthropology of East-Central Europe underlying the issues discussed
during lectures and seminars. In this framework, prominent speakers –
from the political and diplomatic area, from public administrations and
relevant international NGOs, or from the most stimulating, vivid
academic world – are invited to contribute, with their presentations, to
fulfil the aims of the MIREES programme.
*February 18, h. 11a.m.- 01 p.m*.
*/Being and Belonging – Diaspora, Identity and Citizenship in the
Expanding Europe
/*Speaker: professor George Kolankiewicz, School of Slavonic and East
European Studies, UCL
*March* *3, 4, 5, 2005
*Country presentation: */Slovakia in the Enlarged Europe and its Neighbours
/*Speaker: Mr Csaki, Deputy Prime Minister of Slovakia
Chiara Liverani
chiara.liverani@poloforli.unibo.it
*
MIREES LIBRARY: THE NEW HEADQUARTERS
*The Library of the “Istituto per l’Europa centro-orientale e balcanica”
has gradually become a burgeoning research scene in the field of
Central, Eastern and Balkan European issues. It possesses over 2,000
books and magazines written in English, Italian, Russian, Bulgarian,
Rumanian, Slovak, Czech, Albanian, Polish, Hungarian, German, and other
languages. During the last three months, the library was granted over
500 books from personal collections of several people in Slovakia and
will soon be receiving about 1000 more books from the Spolok Svateho
Vojtecha publishing house in Trnava, Slovakia. The Department of
European Studies at Constantine, the Philosopher University in Nitra,
Slovakia has promised to donate as soon as possible a number of
publications focused on Eastern, Central European, and Balkan studies.
The catalogue of the books is on-line among Ruffilli’s Library books.
And there will be another one soon. It is also important to point out
that the library has been moved to Via Laziosi, into the Palaretti
palace, headquarters of the MIREES and of other MA programmes of the
University of Bologna.
MIREES Library
c/o Palaretti Palace
Via San Pellegrino Laziosi, 15
Ph: + 39 0543 374141
Edita Klapicova
edita.klapicova@poloforli.unibo.it

*ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT –
A REGIONAL TRAINING PROJECT SCHEME FOR THE ADRIATIC-IONIAN BASIN
*On 28 and 29 January 2005 the first steering committee of the project
“Environmental Education for Sustainable Development – A Regional
Training Project Scheme for the Adriatic-Ionian Basin” was held in
Sarajevo. Representatives of the University of Bologna, IECOB, UNESCO
ROSTE, the University of Sarajevo and the Italian Embassy attended the
meeting. The aims of the steering committee were to officially present
the project and to discuss the work plan of the activities involved.
During the first phase of the project, a research on the state of the
environment in the SEECs and the identification of the most important
issues affecting the environment will be developed so that the whole
work programme to be implemented during the two-year duration of the
project will be defined.
Federica Gorni
federica.gorni@poloforli.unibo.it <mailto:federica.gorni@poloforli.unibo.it>
*
FROM NOVOSIBIRSK
*In the framework of the Tempus project “Social work: better government”
a delegation from the University of Novosibirsk came to Forlì from 31
January to 5 February. The delegation consisted of Prof. Kononov, Prof.
Marija Kuvshinova and Andrey Kuvshinov. They attended numerous meetings
with professors and the people responsible for the Foreign Relations of
the University of Bologna in order to get information about:
· distance and e-learning experiences of the Forlì Campus of the
University of Bologna;
· Master of Business Administration programmes (they are trying to
organise one in Novosibirsk);
· accreditation of courses and curricula with the EU accreditation bodies;
· possible mechanisms of joint certification of courses and other
mechanisms of co-operation in the field of education and research.
Federica Gorni
federica.gorni@poloforli.unibo.it <mailto:federica.gorni@poloforli.unibo.it>

*CULTURAL TOURISM IN BULGARIA: /TRAINING CULTURAL OPERATORS AND
DEVELOPING MUSEUM FACILITIES. INTEGRATED RESEARCH/ACTION PROJECT FOR
CULTURAL TOURISM IN MULTICULTURAL AREAS
/** *The project “Cultural Tourism in Bulgaria: Training Cultural
Operators and Developing Museum Facilities. Integrated Research/Action
Project for Cultural Tourism in Multicultural Areas”, began on 1 January
2005. The project is coordinated by the University of Bologna through
its Institute for Central-Eastern Europe and the Balkans (IECOB) and
with the partnership of University of Plovdiv “/Paisiy Hilendarski”./
The/ /Italian-Bulgarian/ /Scientific Board of the project is composed
by: for the Italian part, *Stefano Bianchini* (University of Bologna,
Forlì campus), *Francesco Privitera* (University of Bologna, Forlì
campus), *Matilde Callari Galli* (University of Bologna), and *Giovanna
Guerzoni* (University of Bologna); for the Bulgarian part,* Irena
Bokova* (University of Plovdiv and Institute of Folklore of the
Bulgarian Academy of Science), *Anna Krasteva* (New Bulgarian
University), *Plamen Bochkov* (New Bulgarian University), *Teodora
Stoikova* (Institute of Ancient Plovdiv), and *Angel Iankov*
(Ethnographic Museum of Plovdiv).
The project concerns topics of interest affecting the political
transition as well as the need for reinventing new forms of social
coexistence among Bulgarian communities, identities and histories. A
first phase of collaboration between the cultural anthropology team of
the University of Bologna, the Institute for Central-Eastern Europe and
the Balkans (IECOB) and other cultural and university institutions
pointed out some cultural aspects of the process of social and political
transformation in Bulgaria. Those aspects are now the object of the
current project on cultural tourism. Cultural and sustainable tourism
supports economic cooperation, international relations, and the
promotion of training activities and intercultural exchanges, while
having great impact also on the local public administrations. In this
context the present project aims at achieving a double objective: the
training of cultural operators, who will eventually become trainers, and
the development of the instruments for the subsequent realisation of the
Multi-cultural Museum of Bulgaria and the Balkans (MuBa). The project
intends therefore to organise a School of Tourism, whose contents will
be discussed and defined by the Italian-Bulgarian team during a first
meeting that will be held in Italy. A second meeting will be held in the
city of Plovdiv, before the end of the project, in order to finalise the
realisation plan of the MuBa.

Dessislava Krasteva
dessislava.krasteva@poloforli.unibo.it
<mailto:dessislava.krasteva@poloforli.unibo.it>

*EUROPEAN REGIONAL MASTER DEGREE IN DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOUTH
EASTERN EUROPE, 2004/2005

*Shortly after the start of the academic year 2004/2005, the ERMA in
Democracy and Human Rights in South Eastern Europe relocated to new
premises, donated by the Rectorate of the University of Sarajevo, in the
University Campus (the ‘Marsala Tita’ army barracks). The University
oversees a large investment project, which is currently underway, aiming
to renovate the area of the Campus with a new library and other
educational facilities and the Programme premises have become part of
it. Like in previous years, the ERMA has admitted more than 30 students
coming from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Italy,
Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Spain and the UN-administered Kosovo.
The educational programme is structured into five clusters and
incorporates a seven-week long internship period in South Eastern Europe
and a period at the University of Bologna Residential Centre in
Bertinoro, Italy, for the writing of the dissertation.
Among other new features, noteworthy is a more dynamic examination
structure, whereby Cluster Leaders are required to determine the
evaluation method for their respective thematic areas. In addition,
there is a consistent effort to involve policy-makers from the region as
lecturers within the teaching programme. Alexander Arabadjiev (Member of
the Bulgarian Parliament and Representative of Bulgaria on the
Convention on the Future of Europe and Human Rights expert) lectured
within Cluster II ‘Democracy and Human Rights’. Professor George
Schöpflin, Member of the European Parliament, and Dr. Aristotle
Tziampiris, from the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign
Policy, Athens, are scheduled to lecture within Cluster III ‘Nationalism
and Ethnicity’. There have also been efforts to invite as lecturers
academics that are prominent in their field of study – e.g. Professor
Will Kymlicka’s lectures are included in Cluster III as well.
In terms of staff development, Dr. Taida Begi has returned to the Centre
for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies (CIPS) after successfully
completing her PhD course at the University of Vienna and has been
appointed as CIPS’s Deputy Director. Work on organising a PhD course
together with our Partners, the Universities of Malta and Pretoria,
within the already established Consortium of Regional Human Rights
Master Degrees has further advanced through the setting up of a task
group composed by members of the Faculty from each of the Programmes,
chaired by Professor Gvozden Flego from the University of Zagreb.
Victor Bojkov
v_bojkov@hotmail.com <mailto:v_bojkov@hotmail.com>

*THE EUROMED PROGRAMME
VISITS TO ALEXANDRIA AND ISTANBUL
*New activities within the framework of the European programme EuroMed
II Mediterranean Voices are being carried out by the EuroMed team of
researchers.
On December 16, 2004, Ms M. Federica Baroncini and Mr Fabio Zuccheri
visited the “Bibliotheca Alexandrina” (Alexandria, Egypt) to attend the
launch of the regional exhibition "/Shared Spaces in Times of Crisis:
Memories of Ancona, Alexandria, Bethlehem, Beirut and Split/", organised
in the main entrance hall of the Bibliotheca by the Alex- Med Research
Centre of Alexandria (see http://www.bibalex.org/English/index.aspx ).
The exhibition focuses on the memories of tragic events lived by the
cities quoted above. The main contributions refer to the war in Lebanon,
to the stories of displacement in Palestine, to the end of cosmopolitism
in Alexandria and to the bombardments of Ancona by the Allies during the
Second World War.
The touring exhibition will then move to Beirut (in March), to Bethlehem
(in April) and to Ancona (in May 2005).
M. Federica Baroncini
/baroncin@spbo.unibo.it <mailto:baroncin@spbo.unibo.it>
/
*NEW PUBLICATIONS FROM IECOB
/Facing the Past, Facing the Future: Tackling Ethnicity and Conflict in
Ex-Yugoslavia
/**by Florian Bieber and Carsten Wieland (eds)
N° 23, A Series of Balkan and East European Studies, Longo Editore Ravenna
*
Bosnia-Herzegovina has seen a decade of post-war reconstruction. As
Bosnia has seen substantial advances in comparison to the immediate
post-war period, Croatia and Serbia have democratized and the wars of
the region have come to an end. Nevertheless, none of the societies has
yet come to terms with the recent past. The political system in Bosnia
furthermore consolidated some of the divisions over which the war was
thought.
This book brings together political scientists, sociologists, and
historians in a multi-disciplinary study of post-war Bosnia. The
articles in this book examine ways in which the past in Bosnia and in
the region is being addressed, the post-war system of government and the
challenges it poses for self-sustainability. Other contributions focus
on the perception of Bosnia and the conflict in the West, in particular
in North America. The contributions challenge the notion of rigid
national belonging constituting a natural cause of confrontation.
Instead, the articles demonstrate how Western perceptions and the legacy
of the conflict have contributed to reconstruction without reconciliation.
*/
The Borders of the Polity. Migration and security across the EU and the
Balkans
/*
*by Stefano Bianchini and Luisa Chiodi (eds)
N° 24, A Series of Balkan and East European Studies, Longo Editore Ravenna
*This volume is published with financial support from V Framework
Program of the European Commission of the European Union
*Publishing House: Longo Editore Ravenna
Books and Occasional Papers can be ordered directly from the Web page:
www.longo-editore.it

<http://www.longo-editore.it/>**NEW PUBLICATIONS
/Conflits, Confiance, Democratie
/*By Anna Krasteva and Antony Todorov (eds)
Edited by Nouvelle Université Bulgare

Pathologie, facteur de désintégration des rapports sociaux ou phénomène
social normal au même titre que la transgression des règles? La théorie
oscille encore entre ces deux pôles.
Le présent ouvrage continue cette réflexion dans plusieurs dimensions :
la nature des enjeux ; la distinction entre antagonismes,
contradictions, antinomies, incompatibilités, lutte et combat, violence
directe et violence non directe, conflit symétrique et conflit
asymétrique; l’institutionnalisation et la régulation des conflits ; la
prévention.

*Newsletter Coordinator:
*Marina Mantini, Communication Office
Istituto per l'Europa Centro-Orientale e Balcanica
via Sigismondo Marchesi, 12 - 47100 Forlì
Tel. +39 0543 21995 Fax. +39 0543 23351
marina.mantini@unibo.it
www.eurobalk.net

<http://www.eurobalk.net/>

Marina Mantini
Università di Bologna
Dip. di Economia e Ingegneria Agrarie,
via Fanin, 50 - 40127 Bologna
Tel. +39 051 2096144 Fax. +39 051 2096162

Istituto per l'Europa Centro-Orientale e Balcanica
Via Sigismondo Marchesi, 12 - 47100 Forlì
Tel. +39 0543 21995 Fax. +39 0543 23351
www.eurobalk.net
<http://www.eurobalk.net/>marina.mantini@unibo.it