Events 2009-10

Tuesday 29 June - Sunday 4 July 2010
3rd INTERNATIONAL BLACK SEA SYMPOSIUM
"The Black Sea Region in Flux"
Hosted by the International Centre for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS)

The International Black Sea Symposium (IBSS) project was launched in 2008, aiming to contribute to understanding and cooperation in the Black Sea region and beyond. Young professionals primarily from the countries of the wider Black Sea area, EU member states, the United States and Central Asia are the Symposium target group. Now in its third year, the IBSS provides them with a much needed forum for study, dialogue and networking in a multicultural and interdisciplinary environment. Participants will have the opportunity to explore issues of importance for the Black Sea region during a four-day intensive course of interactive sessions led by prominent experts. Sessions will be complemented by a series of workshops on conflict resolution methodology guided by expert facilitator Prof. Benjamin Broome of Arizona State University.

The Hellenic Observatory is one of the key sponsors of the 3rd International Black Sea Symposium.
Location: Island of Aegina, Greece

Monday, 28 June 2010
JOINT LSEE-IFRI WORKSHOP: John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation Research Programme for South Eastern Europe, Joint LSEE-IFRI Workshop
Co-organised with the Programme Europe du Sud-Est, L'Institut francais des relations internationales (IFRI)

The Joint Research Workshop aims to provide a forum for the researchers of the all of the ongoing research projects under the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation Research Programme for South Eastern Europe to exchange and share ideas about the current progress and future direction of their respective projects.
The projects are:

• 'The political economy of energy poverty in South Eastern Europe: evaluating past policies, looking for future solutions' Stefan Bouzarowski (University of Birmingham)
• 'Privatisation of the public services sector in Croatia and SEE: assessment of the major gains and pains' Nevenka Čučković (IMO, Zagreb)

Event Info

Thursday, 24 June 2010
BOOK LAUNCH: Serbia's Transition Towards a Better Future
Speaker: Professor Milica Uvalic, Department of Economics, University of Perugia
Chair: Dr Will Bartlett, LSEE
Discussants: Professor Saul Estrin, LSE Management & Laza Kekic, Economis Intelligence Unit

Professor Uvalic's latest book analyses the twenty years of economic transition from socialism to capitalism in Serbia. It offers a comprehensive evaluation of the achievements and failures of the transition, and explains why its course has been more complex and unique than elsewhere in the former socialist world.
Event Info

Friday 18 June 2010
1st Joint PhD Symposium on South Eastern Europe
'Modern and Contemporary South East Europe'

Organisers: Centre for the Study of the Balkans, Goldsmiths, University of London; Centre for South East European Studies, SSEES, UCL; LSEE – Research on South East Europe, European Institute, LSE
For further details please visit our Joint PhD Symposium pages.

Friday 11 & Saturday 12 June 2010
WORKSHOP: Europeanisation and Enlargement
Bucharest, Romania

The Workshop on Europeanisation and Enlargement is organised jointly by LSEE, Research on South Eastern Europe and The Center for European Studies, National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest (SNSPA).

The aim of this two-day workshop was to bring together scholars whose work focuses on the varied experiences of Europeanisation to be found across South Eastern Europe.
Event Info

Monday and Tuesday 24-25 May 2010
LSEE RESEARCH WORKSHOP
Health Reforms in South Eastern Europe
Co-organised with the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and The Andrija Štampar School of Public Health

Most transition countries in South East Europe have attempted to reform their health systems by moving towards an increase application of market mechanisms to allocate health care resources. Many of these reform initiatives have been based on ideology rather than on evidence. Public health is also adversely affected by many aspects of post-communist transition in SEE, as the stresses of rapid social change and lifestyle choices has negatively affected overall levels of health. These issues raise many questions concerning the effects of health reform on efficiency, effectiveness, and equity and were debated and discussed at the LSEE Research Workshop on Health Reform.

Location: Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik
Event Info

Thursday, 20 May 2010
LSEE PUBLIC LECTURE
The Serbian Economy in 2010 and Beyond: back to growth?
Speaker: Professor Boris Begovic, Professor of Economics, School of Law, University of Belgrade
Chair: Dr Will Bartlett, LSEE

After years of high growth rates, the Serbian economy recorded a drop of -2.8% in 2009. Although the drop was smaller than the CEE average and not as harsh as in some of the countries in the Region, many questions are still without answers. Will Serbia recover in 2010 and what will the growth rate be? Will recovery be sustainable and what are the major obstacles for high growth rates. Is the Serbian growth model sustainable and what is its political economy? What are the crucial macroeconomic, structural and institutional vulnerabilities of Serbian economy? How to fix them and can this be acheived by accession to the EU? Is there light at the end of the tunnel or is it the headlight of an oncoming train?

Time: 18:30 - 20:00
Location: Room J116, First Floor, Cowdray House, LSE
Event Info

Monday 10 & Tuesday 11 May 2010
RESEARCH CONFERENCE
Regional Policy and Decentralization in SEE
Co-organised with IMO Zagreb, Freidrich Ebert Stiftung and supported by the National Bank of Greece

The LSEE Research Conference will explore the implementation of regional development and decentralisation policies in South East Europe. It will examine how these policies interact and evaluate their effectiveness in different political and institutional environments. Will these policies strengthen the process of Europeanisation or might they deepen localisation and fragmentation of the political and economic systems? The conference seeks to address these issues with a focus on South East Europe, although contributions covering other European regions are also welcome.

Event Info

Friday, 7 May 2010
CONFERENCE
For better or for worse? Civil Society & Transitions in the Western Balkans
Co-organised with LSE's Global Governance

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, scholars 'rediscovered' civil society and identified grass-roots activism as a key driver of democratisation of illiberal regimes and reconciliation of divided societies after the war. Twenty years on, there is a growing recognition of the limits of civil society and even of its negative impact. Ultimately, the role of civil society cannot be a priori assumed as either beneficial or detrimental to political and social change. Instead, it has to be analysed in view of the complexity of transitional processes and their goals. The conference explores these questions as they relate to Western Balkans.
Conference Info

Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Culture of Corruption: South East Europe, Britain & Germany in a Comparative Perspective
Speakers: Dirk Tanzler, University of Konstanz; Angelos Giannakopoulos, University of Konstanz & Konstandinos Maras, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, Essen

Just how do we understand corruption in Europe? Are there differing typologies of corruption across the continent? Drawing on the results of the EU-project 'Crime and Culture', this presentation reviewed the findings from qualitative research carried out in Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Croatia, Greece, Germany and the UK and argues that 'bottom-up' evidence should be strongly considered when forming anti-corruption strategies.

Thursday, 18 March 2010
PUBLIC DEBATE
EU Enlargement & the Western Balkans: Fast Track or Slow Lane Approach?
Speakers: Ingeborg Grassle, Member of the European Parliament, Germany & Tanja Fajon, Member of the European Parliament, Slovenia

It has long been said that EU enlargement in the Western Balkans is not about enlarging the Union but about completing it. The key question is when and how to do it. With concern growing over Bosnia, and lingering worries over Kosovo, there is a good case to be made for moving forward quickly. However, after the accession of Bulgaria and Romania, many observers feel that the EU must ensure that new entrants have met the required standards for membership. This public debate between two MEPs with extensive experience of the Balkans explored both sides of the argument. It will consider whether regional stability should be given priority, or whether the EU must ensure, for its own future coherence, that the next wave of countries that join be kept waiting as long as it takes to be certain that they can meet all the obligations of membership.

Location: Thai Theatre, New Academic Building
Event Info

Thursday, 11 February 2010
VISIT & LECTURE
Marking a New Beginning-Bosnia & Herzegovina and South East Europe
Speaker: Dr Zlatko Lagumzija, Leader of the Social Democratic Party & Former Prime Minister of Bosnia & Herzegovina
Chair: Professor Mary Kaldor, Co-Director, LSE Global Governance
Event Info

Wednesday, 3 February 2010
PANEL DISCUSSION
Eastern Europe and the Balkans: What Now? 
Speakers: Tim Judah, Balkans correspondent for The Economist & Nick Thorpe, Eastern Europe correspondent for the BBC

After months of renewed celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall, has a new malaise taken over? Are there any indicators of hope in the shadow of the unfinished project?

Location: Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House
Event Gallery

Tuesday, 2 February 2010
PANEL DISCUSSION
The Kosovo Case Unpacked - A Legal and Political Discussion of the Arguments Presented to the ICJ
Speakers: James Irving, Department of Law & James Ker-Lindsay,LSEE-LSE

Chair: Dr Spyros Economides, LSEE-European Institute and Department of International Relations

In December 2009 the International Court of Justice convened to hear the oral arguments for and against Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence. It made for one of the most fascinating legal debates of modern times, not least of all because it was the first time all five permanent members of the Security Council participated in the Court's proceedings. This discussion will explore the arguments presented by the two sides, both in terms of their significance for international law and as regards their possible impact on the international political system.
Event Info

Tuesday, 1 December 2009
ROUNDTABLE
After the Economic Crisis in South East Europe: Back to Business as Usual?
Speakers: Vladimir Gligorov, Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies; Laza Kekic, Economist Intelligence Unit; & Peter Sanfey, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Chair: Professor Sevket Pamuk

With increasing signs that the United States and the European Union are moving out of the economic crisis, the loud demands for major reform of the world's leading economies heard during the height of the turbulence appear to be rapidly fading. Will we see the same in South East Europe, where the crisis has been particularly strongly felt and where many observers believe that it has created an opportunity to introduce significant changes to the economies of the region? Will the crisis in the region have an impact on the speed and terms of the EU association process or the extent and nature of regional cooperation in South East Europe? This panel drew on three leading experts to discuss the effects of the crisis and ask what it is likely to mean in terms of the future economic development of the region.

Location: Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building
Event Info

Wednesday, 25 November 2009
PUBLIC LECTURE
Long Live the Yugosphere
Speaker: Tim Judah, Author and Balkans correspondent for The Economist
Chair: Dr Spyros Economides

In general terms good news is no news. That is as true for the Western Balkans as it is for anywhere else. Since the end of the Balkan wars of the 1990s – but especially in the last few years – there have been huge changes on the ground, which have profoundly affected people's lives for the better, but the problem is that few people outside even know they have happened. What if the single most profound change – the emergence of a Yugosphere across the countries of the former Yugoslavia - is one which many people, for reasons of political correctness perhaps, or because it challenges what they stood for or believed in the 1990s, do not want to talk about or even acknowledge?
Event Info

Friday, 2 October 2009
PUBLIC LECTURE
Why is Bosnia a Failure? Comparing theories of international state-building
Speaker: Professor Susan Woodward, City University of New York
Chair: Professor Kevin Featherstone

The LSE's Centre for the Study of Global Governance and LSEE co-organised a public lecture by Professor Susan Woodward. Professor Woodward examined the fourteen years since the signing of the Dayton Accord and asked whether the "General Framework for Peace" in Bosnia-Herzegovina has failed. Using Bosnia as a case-study Professor Woodward also discussed how the lessons learned there can be applied to other international state-building missions since 1995.
Event Info

Sunday 13 - Friday 18 September 2009
THE 12TH SOUTH-EAST EUROPEAN SUMMER SCHOOL FOR DEMOCRACY
Impact of Global Crisis on Stability and Security in the Balkans
Participants: James Ker-Lindsay & Spyros Economides

The Summer School, co-organised by the Anglo Serbian Society and the LSE's Hellenic Observatory and supported by the British Embassy and the European Fund for the Balkans, was attended by 30 junior faculty members, young political activists and NGO sector employees from Serbia and across South Eastern Europe. The main goal of the Summer School is to develop the skills of young scholars and potential future leaders in modern democratic theory and also to foster academic links between Western and South East European Universities. This year's theme, "The Impact of the Economic Crisis on Stability and Security in the Balkans", also gave the lecturers the opportunity to discuss the global impact of the economic crisis, the level of democratisation in SEE countries and their prospects for Euro-Atlantic integration. Other participants included Professor Christopher Coker, also of the LSE, Dr Slobodan Markovich, of the University of Belgrade and Ivan Vejvoda, of the Balkan Trust for Democracy.
Event Info