Newsletter - Social Science in Eastern Europe 2001- 2
WESTERN EUROPE
Nikolai Genov; Ulrike Becker (Eds.), 2001. Social Sciences in Southeastern
Europe. International Social Science Council, Paris/Social Science
Information Centre Bonn/Berlin. ISBN 3-8206-0133-3
Preface
Social sciences are becoming increasingly international in the age of
globalization. Major theoretical paradigms are no longer localized in national
traditions, but attract followers from all over the world. Research methods and
techniques move easily from one country to another along with mobile scholars.
There are no barriers to the dissemination of explanatory hypotheses and
empirical findings. Thanks to the Internet, communication in the invisible
international community of social scientists has become part of their everyday
routine. The community is therefore both virtual and quite real at the same
time. It unites scholars from various countries sharing the same knowledge,
skills, moral values and human hopes. Its members have closer links with each
other than with their countrymen specializing in other professions.
In the light of this marked trend towards the internationalization of social
sciences, is it necessary to pay attention to their national or regional
specifics? The answer is a categorical "yes". It is motivated by the
nature of social sciences which move steadily between historical events and
theoretical generalizations. This is the reason why their achievements can only
be understood by taking account of the dual reference to their national and
international environments.
A closer look at recent developments in social sciences in Southeastern
Europe exemplifies this point perfectly. Well-educated and trained social
scientists in the region use generalized concepts acquired from the cognitive
core of international social science. They use these concepts in order to
properly describe and explain a rather specific type of social reality. It is
marked by a unique mixture of languages, ethnic and religious groups, legends
glorifying the past and rather sobering present-day realities. The scholars have
the vocation to study this mixture bringing about the synthesis of universalized
analytical concepts and of knowledge about the local historical experience. It
is precisely this synthesis which makes the information about social science
theorizing and empirical research in specific national and regional contexts so
valuable. Unfortunately, social scientists in Western Europe or North America
have very little information about social sciences in Southeastern Europe. This
is the reason why we believe that the present volume will attract their
attention. Surprisingly enough, however, social scientists in Southeastern
Europe are only well-informed in exceptional cases about social science studies
in neighboring countries. This is all the more remarkable since they are usually
well-informed about publications and trends in the social sciences in Western
Europe and the U.S.A. The volume could therefore be quite informative for them,
too.
The main idea behind the book is not just the need to exchange information.
Preparatory work on the collection started at a time when the international
community was taking a great interest in events in Southeastern Europe. The
international community was and is very much interested in the economic,
political and cultural stabilization of the region. Consequently, our intention
is to foster dialogue and mutual understanding both in the region and in a wider
international context.
The project was promoted by the Berlin-Brandenburg Initiative on Support for
Science in Southeastern Europe. The collection is dedicated to the 50th
anniversary of the ISSC. We were able to count on the assistance of
well-informed and responsible authors from the region. We would therefore like
to express our sincere thanks to them for their help.
Nikolai Genov, Vice-President, International Social Science Council, Paris
Ulrike Becker, Social Science Information Centre, Bonn/Berlin
Social Science Connections between WZB and Southeastern Europe
Under the general research theme of "developmental trends, problems of
adaptation, and possibilities for innovation in modern democratic
societies", the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (Social Science Research Centre
- WZB) has, in the past decade, increasingly redirected its comparative studies
towards the transformation processes in post-socialist societies. Research
contacts and cooperative projects with colleagues and institutions of social and
economic research in Central and Eastern European countries have intensified
considerably; with the "Balkan"-countries, however, working relations
have remained restricted to a few projects with Bulgaria, hardly any with
Romania and Albania, and with the countries of former Yugoslavia, too, joint
projects have developed only in some exceptional cases, particularly the large
international comparative studies on value changes and on the founding elections
in the new democracies, undertaken by the WZB research unit "Institutions
and Social Change" directed by Hans-Dieter Klingemann.
This obvious deficit in research relations with Southeastern Europe has, by
and large, been true for other research institutes and the universities in
Germany in general. When finally the Kosovo war focused the attention on the
structural preconditions for higher education and for scientific research in
Southeastern Europe, it was in the framework of the "Balkan
Initiative" started by the scientific institutions in Berlin and
Brandenburg that the President of WZB began to more systematically utilize and
intensify existing international research and research policy networks in order
to explore the possibilities for developing and strengthening exchange relations
and research cooperations in the social sciences.
The modest "Balkan programme" with which WZB went ahead in
1999/2000 has been aiming at establishing and strengthening the cooperation with
Southeastern European social scientists who, under the very limited conditions
of scientific infrastructure, mobility, and international exchange, have been
struggling to build up demanding academic programmes at the existing
universities and institutes or, in the case of restrictions, outside of the
given institutional structures. In doing so, the engagement of WZB has
concentrated on social and economic science networks that show some relations to
the major research areas of WZB and that, in their composition or in their
comparative agenda, have an international orientation.
Cooperations are mainly directed towards the bilateral (or multilateral)
organization of and the participation in
* workshops or conferences for the advancement and intensification of
research interests and competences as well as on
* "summer schools" and research seminars aiming at research
training and providing (cross-nationally comparative) research experiences;
and generally, towards the opening up of
* research contacts and cooperation opportunities through exchange programs
and coordinated "internships" at research units.
Particular emphasis is put on developing competencies and supporting
infrastructures "in the region". The initiatives have been
concentrated on the countries most affected by the Kosovo conflict, namely
Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and Makedonia; furthermore, of the countries of
former Yugoslavia, also to Bosnia-Hercegovina and Croatia; finally to Bulgaria
and Romania. The underlying expectation has been that the recognition of the
larger context of the Southeastern European countries - and of connections with
social scientists in Hungary and in Slovenia as well as in other Central-Eastern
European countries - will serve to strengthen transnational links, to relate to
international networks with Western and Eastern European countries, to
facilitate approaches to research funding and support institutions, and to
increase the chances for project development and networking in the framework of
European Union research programmes.
The activities in the past twenty months have included:
* a conference on the "Development of Democracy in Albania"
(organized by Hans-Dieter Klingemann in connection with the Aspen Institute,
Berlin) with nine social scientists, politicians and journalists from Tirana
participating;
* contacts with Serbian economic and social science professors, operating at
critical distance to the regime in Belgrade, leading to agreements for project
cooperation and curriculum development with the "Group 17" and the
"Alternative Academic Educational Network (AAEN)";
* support for and participation in four summer schools conducted in
Montenegro by Serbian professors focusing on dimensions of social change, theory
of transformation, social policy, labour market and employment (August 1999 and
August 2000) with participants from fifteen countries;
* the reconfirmation of the WZB membership in the Inter-University Centre
(IUC) Dubrovnik and the outline of a programme of seminars and exchanges between
Western, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe;
* support for a workshop on problems of nationalism and ethnic relations
(Belgrade, May 2000) organized by Mladen Lazic (AAEN);
* collaboration with Mihail Arandarenko (Belgrade/Budapest) - in cooperation
with Pal Tamas, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and the Central European
University - to organize workshops (August 2000 in HerzegNovi, June 2001 in
Budapest) on problems of labour policy and labour market policy, aiming at the
build-up of international networks and the outline of the research projects in
connection with the "Labour Market Policy and Employment" research
unit at WZB (Günter Schmid, Klaus Schoemann);
* close cooperation with Nikolai Genov (Sofia) - and thus indirectly with the
UNESCO project "Management of Social Transformation" -, developing a
research network and a book publication (in December 2000) on "Labour
Markets and Unemployment in Southeastern Europe" (with reports on seven
countries), aiming at joint proposals for research funding by foundations and
the European Union;
* invitations to researchers, particularly doctoral students and post-docs,
to work for a few months at WZB, thus gaining research experiences from the
direct contact with WZB research units and, in turn, providing fresh impulses
and new perspectives for existing comparative projects.
WZB will continue to work along the lines of these initiatives. Being a
research centre with institutionalized research programs - and not a funding
organization -, WZB has to concentrate its limited resources on activities
directly related to the agendas of its research units. With this in mind,
research directors and project leaders from Southeastern European countries who
are interested in potential cooperation, and particularly younger scholars and
research fellows, are encouraged to contact the director of the relevant WZB
unit and/or, in case of doubt, address themselves to Dr. Georg Thurn and Nicola
Fielk (WZB, Research Policy and Coordination Office, Reichpietschufer 50,
D-10785 Berlin; Fax: 49-30-25491 582; email: thurn@
medea.wz-berlin.de or nico@medea.wz-berlin.de).
Georg Thurn (May 2001)
Scholarship for Post Graduates
(Demography/ Population Studies)
The Berlin Institute for World Population Studies and Global Development, a
newly founded Center of Excellence in the field of population studies, is
looking for two post-graduates.
Candidates are expected to hold an excellent degree (M.A. or Ph.D) in
demography or population studies (alternatively social sciences with a strong
demographic focus). They are supposed to carry out independent research (Ph.D.
or post-doc level) and actively contribute to the writing of an online textbook
on international demographic developments at the Berlin-Institute for World
Population and Global Development. Applicants should be familiar with html
processing or be willing to acquire expertise in this field. The development of
the textbook will be supervised by Professor Dr. Rainer Muenz (Humboldt
University Berlin, Demography).
The scholarship can be granted for up to two years. It is available
immediately. Applicants are expected to take residence in Berlin. Scholars will
receive a stipend of DM 2,500 (tax free, health insurance not yet included).
Contact:
Ilsabe Blome
Berlin-Institute for World Population and Global Development /
Wissenschaftsforum Berlin
Markgrafenstr. 37
10117 Berlin
E-mail: ilsabe.blome@berlin-institut.org
Network Eastern Europe founded
Almost 20 scientific institutions from Germany, Austria and Switzerland that
offer information on Eastern Europe via the Internet have agreed to found a
network Eastern Europe following the initiative of the Social Science
Information Centre of GESIS (German Social Science Infrastructure Services), the
East-West-Science Centre of the University of Kassel (OWWZ) and the German
Society for East European Studies (DGO). After two workshops in Berlin (December
2000 and March 2001) the representatives of these institutions decided to set up
a joint online information portal on Eastern Europe till July 2001 at http://www.Osteuropa-Netzwerk.de.
The joint information service will offer commented link collections and
database overviews which will be structured by countries, type of information as
well as by science fields. The regional spectrum will cover
* Central Europe
* Southeastern Europe
* Baltic States
* Community of Independent States
* Transcaucasian States The specialised information will be structured by *
Institutions
* Facts
* Media, press, information on literature
* Practice and service information The main emphasis will be laid on information
on science, completed by sources on politics, economy, culture and country
information. The portal will offer structured and standardized search options
that enable easy, fast and comprehensive access to current relevant Internet
resources to and from Eastern Europe.
The initiators intend to critically check their available Internet
information with reference to user-friendliness, prevention of overlapping and
supply of missing information.
The network is an informal association, which is open to all providers of
link collections on Eastern Europe interested in cooperation.
Contact:
Ulrike Becker Social Science Information Centre
Department Information Transfer Eastern Europe at the GESIS Branch Office
Schiffbauerdamm 19
D-10117 Berlin
Tel.: +4930 308 74 246/ 267/ 260
Fax: +4930 282 36 92
E-mail: becker@berlin.iz-soz.de
Internet: http://www.gesis.org/Gesis_Aussenstelle/index.htm
Dr. Gabriele Gorzka
East-West-Science Centre University of Kassel Holländische Str. 36-38
D-34109 Kassel
Tel.: +49561 804 36 09 8
Fax: +49561 804 37 92/3793
E-mail: gorzka@uni-kassel.de
Internet: http://www.owwz.de
Dr. Heike Dörrenbächer Deutsche Gesellschaft für Osteuropakunde e.V.
Schaperstr. 30
D-10719 Berlin
Tel.: +4930 21 47 84 12
Fax: +4930 21 47 84 14
E-mail: dgo@zedat.fu-berlin.de
Internet: http://www.dgo-online.org
|
Issue