Adjusting to Europe: Institutional Legacies of Communism and Ethnocultural Diversity

Conference venue: Kaunas (Lithuania)
Period: Aug. 29 - 30,  2011
Deadline for submitting abstracts: Apr. 4, 2011
Deadline for submitting full papers: Jul. 31, 2011

The impact of the European norms, standards and policies of minority rights protection on the countries of Central Eastern Europe and in the states of the former Soviet Union have been intensely studied. However, the institutional dynamics inhereted from the Soviet nationalities policies have barely been a focus of interest. The conference asks how institutional legacies of the past impact policies supporting minority communities in the new Europe since a range of the formerly communist states have accessed the European Union. Much academic and policy-oriented research has been done on the impact of European norms and institutions on the post-communist democratisation, yet none on the reverse influence.

Now, 20 years after the demise of the Soviet states and its nationalities policies, the conference asks how the European political institutions reflect the experiences of the communist era and whether, and if so how, the institutional dynamics are reflected in the EU relations with its postcommunist neighbours. The issues to be addressed include - but are not limited to - interpretations of social equality, ethnocultural development, ethnic representation and autonomy, all addressing the "systemic hypocrisy" in coping with ethnicity-based claims. We are explicitly interested in contributions assessing the convergence and/or conflict between the communist ethnic policies and the minority protection standards in contemporary Europe.

The conference seeks to bring young and established scholars working on issues pertaining to contemporary ethnic policies in postcommunist states. The conference will feature the following panels:

The conference seeks to raise questions about the role of communist institutional and ideological legacies in contemporary European minority politics. Preference will be given to theory-driven papers that assess norms and policies of minority accomodation, non-discrimination and cultural diversity diachronically. A comparison of communist states' - understood here as republics of the USSR and SFR of Yugoslavia, as well as the European states, members to the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance - "nationalities policies" with the instruments of minority proteciton in contemporary Europe is highly encouraged.

Paper proposal of 500-600 words should be sent as an email (attachements will be discarded) to Timofey Agarin t.agarin@ecmi.de by April 4, 2011. Authors of selected papers will be notified by April 11 and will be receiving further particulars on the conference.

William McKinney
European Centre for Minority Issues
address: Schiffbrücke 12,
24939 Flensburg Germany
tel.:0049.46.11.41.49
e-mail: mckinney@ecmi.de