Newsletter - Social Science in Eastern Europe 2002 - 4
CONFERENCES
Announcement
Western Perception of East-European Identities 24th Annual
Conference
Date: February 12th-15th, 2003
Conference site: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Organiser: Southwest-Texas Popular Culture/ American Culture
Associations
More detailed information can be obtained directly from the organiser
Philip Heldrich, Program Director
Tel.: +1-620-341 55 56
Fax: +1-620-341 55 47
E-mail: Pheldrich@emporia.edu
Internet: http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~swpca/
Announcement
History, National Identity and Political Order in the New Eastern Europe
and Eurasia
Date: April 3rd-5th, 2003
Conference site: The Harriman Institute at Columbia University, New
York City, USA
Organiser: The Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN)
Topics: The central theme of the 2003 Convention addresses the complex
interaction of history, national identity, and political order in both the past
and the present.
Conference fee: US$30 - US$60
More detailed information can be obtained directly from the organiser
Troy McGrath, ASN Convention Program Chair
Political Science Department, Arnold Hall, Box 76, Hartwick College
Oneonta, NY 13820, USA
Tel.: +1-607-431 45 86
Fax: +1-607-431 43 51
E-mail: asn@hartwick.edu
Internet: http://www.nationalities.org/asn-convention03-cfp.html
Announcement
ESA Research Network "Biographical Perspectives on European Societies".
6th European Sociological Association Conference of Sociology
Date: September 25th-28th, 2003
Conference site: Murcia, Spain
Organiser: ESA Research Network 'Biographical Perspectives'
Topics: Among other things a panel to 'Identity Forms in Late
Modernity - Borderlines, Bridges and Transitions'
More detailed information can be obtained directly from the organiser
Robert Miller
School of Sociology & Social Policy, The Queen's University of Belfast
Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland
United Kingdom
Tel.: +44-28-902 732 75
Fax: +44-28-902 739 43
E-mail: r.miller@qub.ac.uk
Internet:http://biograf.institut.cz/nastenka/texty/ESA2.html
Retrospective
Gender, Identity and Nationalism in Europe: From the 19th to
the 21st Century
Date: October 12th-14th, 2001
Conference site: Faraday House, University of Salford, UK
Organiser: Centre for Contemporary History and Politics, European
Studies Research Institute, University of Salford, UK
Topics: To what extent do current differences in perceptions of
national identity impact upon debates about gender in different 'Europes'? The
conference seeks an answer to this question by exploring the relationship
between gender images and national identities in different European countries.
Bringing together academics from nine European countries, the USA, Canada and
Israel, the conference will compare and contrast debates surrounding the
historical construction of national and gender identities in Western and Eastern
Europe. It will explore the implications of the differences in this area between
the West and the East for the political processes in Europe post-1989.
More detailed information can be obtained directly from the organiser
Louise Graham, European Studies Research Institute, University of Salford
Salford M5 4WT
Greater Manchester, UK
Tel.: +44-161-295 56 14
Fax: +44-161-295 52 23
E-mail: l.j.graham@salford.ac.uk
Internet: http://www.esri.salford.ac.uk/gender-identity-nationalism/home.htm
Retrospective
Inaugural Conference of the Southeast European Studies Association:
Date: April 20th-21st, 2002
Conference site: University of North Carolina atFehler! Unbekanntes
Schalterargument.Chapel Hill, USA
Organiser: Southeast European Studies Association (SEESA)
Topics: All disciplines related to the Southeast European region,
including the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania,
Albania, Greece, and Turkey, and national and disciplinary boundaries.
The Panel "The Politics of Identity" included:
Perceptions of 'Otherness' and Identity Construction in Eastern Europe
Some Paradoxes of Balkan Identity
Politics of Identity and Enduring Conflicts: Turkey and Greece in Cyprus
More detailed information can be obtained directly from the organiser
Prof. Robert Greenberg, SEESA President, Department of Slavic Languages and
Literatures
CB#3165, 425 Dey Hall, University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3165, USA
Tel.: +1-919-962 75 50
E-mail: greenberg@unc.edu
Internet: http://www.seesa.org/seesa1_program.html
Retrospective
Redefining Cultural Identities: Cultural Industries and Technological
Convergence
Date: May 13th-18th, 2002
Conference site: Inter University Centre, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Organiser: Institute for International Relations, Zagreb, Croatia
Topics: The course was concentrated on cultural industries, aspects of
technological convergence and their influence on cultural consumption and
cultural identities in the South-Eastern European and Central European countries
in transition.
More detailed information can be obtained directly from the organiser
Dr. Nada [Sinvcircumflex]vob-[Dhatch]okiæ, Institute for International
Relations
Lj.F. Vukotinoviæa 2/II
10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Tel.: +385-1-482 65 22
Fax: +385-1-482 83 61
E-mail: nada@irmo.hr
Retrospective
Identity - History and Continuance
Date: May 24th-25th, 2002
Conference site: Gdansk, Poland
Organiser: Gdansk municipality
More detailed information can be obtained directly from the organiser
Gdansk municipality
Nowe Ogrody 8/12
80-803 Gdañsk, Poland
Tel.: +48-58-323 60 00
Fax: +48-58-302 39 41
E-mail: umg@gdansk.gda.pl
Retrospective
Gender, Identity and Conflict in the Post-War Societies of the Former
Yugoslavia
Date: June 27th-30th, 2002
Conference site: Ljubljana, Slovenia
Organiser: East-East Co-operation Centre of the Peace Institute along
with Prof. R. Seifert (project: War Experience, gender and Identity" of the
Austrian Ministry of Science and the University of Applied Sciences in
Regensburg)
Topics: The goals of this conference are
* to contribute to the sociological analysis of armed conflicts
* to highlight the gender dimensions of violent conflicts
* to establish a context of social scientists and field workers in the area
of "identity work" in post-war reconstruction and to promote
communication between practitioners of peace-building and social scientists
* to establish networks between people doing theoretical and practical
peace-building work including the German speaking countries
More detailed information can be obtained directly from the organiser
Peace Institute
Metelkova 6
1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Tel.: +386-1-234 77 20
Fax: +386-1-234 77 22
E-mail: info@mirovni-institut.si
Retrospective
Workshops - Meeting the "Other"
Date: September 12th-14th, 2002
Conference site: Prague, Czech Republic
Organiser: Association of Universities Europaeum and Charles
University
More detailed information can be obtained directly from the organiser
E-mail: Lucïa Klusakova (lklusakova@seznam.cz,
vmkl@volny.cz), Marketa Krízova (krizova_ibero@seznam.cz).
Internet: http://usd.ff.cuni.cz/kompar/en/meetingo.html
Retrospective
Identity vs. Globalisation:
Problems, Examples, Contexts
Date: September 27th-28th, 2002
Conference site: Warsaw, Poland
Organiser: Graduate School of Economics, Higher School of Commerce and
International Finance and Centre for Studies on Non-European Countries of the
Polish Academy of Sciences
More detailed information can be obtained directly from the organiser
ul. Nowogrodzka 56
00-695 Warszawa, Poland
Tel.: +48-22-622 01 09, 621 43 87
Fax: +48-22-629 44 13
Internet: http://www.wshifm.edu.pl
Retrospective
New Europe - the Quest for Identity and Legitimacy
Date: October 1st-6th, 2002
Conference site: Bucharest, Romania
Organiser: International Association of Political Science Students
(IAPSS)
More detailed information can be obtained directly from the organiser
Doina Tanase, International Association of Political Science Students
E-mail: doina@iapss.org
Internet: http://conference.iapss.org
Report
Berlin's Competence for Central and Eastern Europe - Prospects and
Challenges
October 25, 2002
The conference that took place in the premises of the Hungarian Embassy was
organized by the Berlin Initiative Competence for Central and Eastern Europe (Berliner
Initiative Mittel- und Osteuropakompetenz). This platform was initiated in
Summer 2002 and understands itself as an association of networks and umbrella
organizations from the economy, science and politics. It consists of the German
Society for East European Studies (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Osteuropakunde
e.V. - DGO); the JOE-fixe, a network of 585 mainly young scientists from Berlin
and Brandenburg, who are specialized on Eastern Europe and represent over 250
institutions in the Berlin/Brandenburg region; the Berlin branch of the German
Social Science Infrastructure Services (Gesellschaft Sozialwissenschaftlicher
Infrastruktureinrichtun-gen e.V. - GESIS); and the international business
adviser BAO BERLIN International GmbH.
The conference brought together about 300 participants. Thus it can be
considered the biggest event on a battery of questions which, in all the years
since the fall of the Berlin Wall, officers from politics, economy and science
have pinpointed as one area of activities most important for the future of
Berlin.
The majority of participants were students from Berlin and other
universities, course participants from Central and Eastern European countries
attending the training center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, members of
scientific research institutions and associations with interests in Central and
Eastern Europe. Another group of participants comprised members of federal
ministries, administrations of the Berlin Senate, embassies, etc. Apart from a
few representatives from banks, consulting agencies and law firms, the industry
was hardly present.
Berlin's competence for Central and Eastern Europe was illuminated from three
perspectives: (1) economy; (2) science; and (3) politics.
(1) Economic panel
The panel was attended by three representatives from Berlin industrial
enterprises, who reported about their experiences "with daily business on
the spot," and by two representatives from public economic institutions.
The speaker of the BAO management, Jörg Schlegel, recalled the dramatic
decline in jobs in Berlin's industry since 1990. Despite, the industry managed
to partly attain two-digit growth rates in the export to countries of Central
and Eastern Europe. But the export of services, especially important for Berlin,
is not included in statistical data collection. For him, Berlin's East-West
competence lies in the plethora of institutions situated in the city. He does
not think that a "total networking" among Berlin's Central and Eastern
European actors is feasible. Each of the approximately 250 Central and Eastern
European actors in Berlin would contribute his "mite" to the lot.
Therefore, Berlin could "proudly carry its East-West competence like a
monstrance."
Figures about Berlin's exchange of goods with countries in Central and
Eastern Europe since the fall of the Wall were not given. While German export to
countries in Central and Eastern Europe and to CIS countries more than
quintupled from 12.15 billion Euro in 1992 to 71.1 billion Euro by the end of
2001, Berlin's eastern export in the same period hardly more than doubled: from
0.528 billion Euro to 1.239 billion Euro. Berlin's share in the German eastern
export amounted to 4.34 percent in 1992 but was only 1.74 percent in 2001. If
one looks at the markets of the ten EU candidates in Central and Eastern Europe,
which are particularly important to Berlin's economy, one can see that German
export to this group of countries declined from 3.06 percent in 1992 to 1.82
percent in 2001 (1st half of 2002: 1.37 percent).
In their brief presentations, the representatives from three Berlin-based
industrial enterprises which are active in very different businesses and have
strong exports to Central and Eastern Europe, Dr. Reinhard Uppenkamp
(Berlin Chemie AG), Peter Kurth (Alba AG) and Horst Schmidt (GERB
Schwingungsisolierungen GmbH & Co. KG) - also head of the foreign trade
commission of the IHK of Berlin (Chamber of Industry and Commerce) - arrived at
similar assessments regarding Berlin's East-West competence:
* For Dr. Uppenkamp the Russian staff in the Russian branch of his enterprise
are his "best experts for Russia" and the Polish staff of his Polish
branch his "best experts for Poland" etc.
As to Peter Kurth, Berlin's proximity to the markets of Central and Eastern
Europe does not account for a "competence for Central and Eastern
Europe." Contrariwise, he frequently notices that cities of Eastern Europe
assume that Berlin has a special "Eastern competence." For him, the
great advantage of Berlin and its vicinity (Viadrina) in the East-West business
is the diversified supply of well-educated university graduates.
For Horst Schmidt the focus is not on Berlin's Eastern competence but on his
enterprise's professional and technical competence regarding products and
processes. Export to the markets in Central and Eastern Europe does not differ
anymore from exports to other regions of the world, e.g., Latin America. After
the Eastern Enlargement of the EU, expected to happen in May 2004 at the latest,
business with these countries will be "a normal affair as all other foreign
commercial transactions."
Dr. Reinhard Klein (Deutsch-Polnische
Wirtschaftsförderunggesellschaft - TWG / Society for the Advancement of Economy
between Germany and Poland) introduced his binational institution whose activity
is unique in this form. Its specific strength is not only the language
competence of its staff, but the binational background of experiences in
particular. In this sense, for him the TWG is also a contribution to Berlin's
competence for Central and Eastern Europe.
(2) Scientific panel
Professors from two universities with special relationships to Central and
Eastern Europe (Freie Universität/FU Berlin and Europa-Universität Viadrina in
Frankfurt/Oder) and representatives from two independent scientific institutions
(Informationszentrum Sozialwissenschaften und Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin)
took part in the panel discussion.
Prof. Dr. Klaus Segbers, chairman of the Institute Council of the
Institute for Eastern Europe at the FU Berlin (OEI), presented the three focal
points of his Institute which is the only university institute in Germany for
Eastern European researches and studies:
* Education: the focus is on the present-day oriented multi-disciplined
graduate course "East European Studies."
* Research: focal points are the transformation processes in the countries of
Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe.
* Consulting service to the economy, the media and politics: as to the
counseling of politics, he annotated that the consulting competences of the OEI
are first of all used by federal agencies and not so much by the Berlin Senate.
Prof. Dr. Gesine Schwan, President of the Europa-Universität Viadrina
in Frankfurt/Oder, spoke about her experiences gained in many years at
universities in Berlin and now Brandenburg. Taking the Viadrina and the OEI as
examples, she illustrated that such an intense and "concentrated competence
for Central and Eastern Europe" cannot be found anywhere else but in this
region. However, the national radiation of the specific competence "has not
yet come to its own." She emphasized the necessity of specific
transnational co-operation to overcome the striking prejudices that prevail
towards Poland ("psychological fear from the EU enlargement"). For
her, competence for Central and Eastern Europe also includes the competence to
speak the language of the relevant partner country.
The head of the GESIS Branch Office Ulrike Becker, introduced her
institution and suggested that Berlin shall make better use of the existent
"East-West network social sciences." She underlined that there were
about 130 institutions in Berlin, which have relations with Central and Eastern
Europe in the one or other form. From her experience Eastern European research
in Berlin is by far more intense than in other parts of Germany, but hitherto it
has not been uncovered how much expertise is in stock.
Dr. Biegger presented the Wissenschaftskolleg (WK) zu Berlin as a
"temporary guest house" for approximately 40 researchers at a time.
Prerequisite for the efficiency of the fellows' advanced studies was a kind of
"cloister atmosphere." Therefore, it is intended that the work of the
WK fellows remains unnoticed in many cases. But it would be important to mention
that since the foundation of the Wissenschaftskolleg approximately 900 to 1,000
former fellows are active in one-of-a-kind Berlin-relevant network. About 100
scientists from countries in Central and Eastern Europe are part of this
network.
(3) Policy panel
The discussion forum was attended by two high-ranking representatives of the
Berlin Senate and the Brandenburg State Government as well as by two
representatives of institutions of scientific policy counseling.
In his written welcome address, the Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit
emphasized, "... There is no doubt that Berlin's competence for Central and
Eastern Europe is immense. Many consider Berlin the "Gate to the
East."
The Commissioner for Europe of the Land Berlin and Appointee of the Land
Berlin to the Federal Government, Under-Secretary of State Monika Helbig,
underlined the great importance the present Senate attaches to Berlin's role in
the relationship with countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Under her
direction, a working commission on Central and Eastern Europe was set up with
the primary aim to create a possibly area-wide databank of all East-West actors
in Berlin. She admitted that the creation of a databank alone is no politics,
but this stocktaking could form the quantitative basis of politics. Setting up
focal points for co-operation with Central and Eastern European countries would
be the next on Berlin's agenda. Here, she particularly mentioned Poland, the
Czech Republic and the Baltic countries.
For known reasons, a specific financial support on the part of the Senate
could not be expected. But the Senate would be prepared to give assistance in
removing obstacles.
As to the division of labor with the Governing Mayor's Coordinator for
Central and Eastern Europe, Dr.-Ing. Wolfram O. Martinsen, the
Under-Secretary of State said that his specific responsibility would be the
coordination of the economy's activities in Berlin.
Ministerial Secretary Dr. Jochen Bethkenhagen, head of the unit
"International Affairs and European Affairs" with the Brandenburg
Ministry for Justice and European Affairs, also touched on the necessity of
reducing mental barriers as a precondition for a closer co-operation with
countries in Central and Eastern Europe. In addition, he stressed the importance
to improve cross-border infrastructures. He specified the Brandenburg Future
Agency, Zukunftsagentur Brandenburg (ZAB), the consultation programs of the
Brandenburg Chamber of Industry and Commerce and, as a concrete successful
example, the Guben EURO TECH as instruments for implementing economy-related
activities.
For him, the creation of the European Commission-aided "Euro
regions" is a particular chance.
Dr. Heinz Timmermann from the German Institute for International and
Security Affairs, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), underlined the
announcement effect of the move to Berlin of both federal-related scientific
institutions for policy counseling - the SWP in Ebenhausen and the former
Federal Institute for Eastern and International Studies in Cologne - for
strengthening the East-West competence that exists in Berlin. At the same time,
he said that people have to consider that the work of the SWP, financed from the
budget of the Federal Chancellor's Office, must be necessarily restricted to
direct counseling of the Government.
Alexander Rahr, head and program director of the Körber Office
Russia/CIS at the Research Institute of the German Council on Foreign Relations
(Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik - DGAP), diagnosed "a
meanwhile fewer interest in information about the East," on the one hand.
On the other hand, he stated that, compared with his former DGAP experiences in
Bonn, there is a "hard competition" in Berlin in the field of
information about Central and Eastern Europe due to innumerable information and
discussion meetings organized by Berlin-based banks; journals and other media;
institutions of various kinds, including party-bound political foundations;
embassies, etc. In this sense, Berlin had become more "American",
i.e., the competition for interesting speakers was of another intensity than in
the years before.
Concluding remarks
It is the merit of the organizer to have undertaken the attempt to pick out
as a topic Berlin's East-West competence talked about for a decade. In addition,
it is deserving to have gathered in a room a circle of people, which obviously
has not only reduced the average age of participants compared to similar
discussion forums but has also attracted interested persons of highly different
professional provenience.
However, the question must be posed: have new conclusions been attained or
discussed?
"If science is good then more science is better," or "if
East-West competence is good then more East-West competence is even
better." Certainly, such a statement would be too trivial.
Obviously, the organizers have deliberately abstained from taking a numerical
stock of Berlin's East-West competence in the three areas under discussion right
from the beginning. Instead, they have shed light on the situation in Berlin as
it was a decade ago, it is today and they discussed what will be the prospects
for Berlin after the EU enlargement in the coming decade.
In their entirety, the thirteen, partly instructive individual presentations
have by no means given an overall picture of the complex situation.
Though, compared to other regions in Germany, Berlin's East-West competence
is diffuse, but, without doubt, in its aggregation it is higher than anywhere
else (the "monstrance of Berlin's East-West competence"). But that was
already known before the conference. The question on how it shall be
strategically and - to use a buzzword - "synergetically" implemented
was not highlighted, not even rudimentary:
1. Shall Berlin's competence headstart concerning the "Central and
Eastern European market know how" lead to bigger shares in the market and
thus to more jobs? At the moment, the contrary is the case. Compared with many
other federal states, including the export-weak East Germany, Berlin's share in
German export to Central and Eastern Europe is in decline altogether, despite
occasional "two-digit" growth rates.
2. Compared with other German science centers, shall Berlin's Central and
Eastern European competence in the field of science lead to a more intensive
networking (e.g., by partnerships between universities, joint participation in
bilateral or EU projects, by deliberate mobility sponsorships of professors,
research staff and students)? Deliberate or unintentional, the absence of
representatives from the fields of natural sciences and engineering technology,
which are particular important for the creation of the planned "European
space research," in the discussion about the scientific East-West
competence of Berlin as a location factor cannot be understood ("Berlin.
Global City of Knowledge").
3. The question raised in the program, whether a new environment would bring
about a new policy, was not answered. For the Berlin Senate, the conclusion of
partnership contracts with the capitals of major EU accession countries, for
instance, would offer a quite different quality of activity. A visible signal
for the demanded new Berlin policy on Central and Eastern Europe, for example,
could be a recognizable preparedness on the part of the Senate to implement the
proposition of the Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski for a initiative to
create a "River Oder Community for Science and Technology" for which
he explicitly encouraged an involvement of Berlin's research potentials. Last
but not least, ceterum censeo: To quote the former longtime president and now
honorary president of the Association Eastern and Central Europe (OMV), Prof.
Dr. Manfred Busche, "Resolutions, announcements, discussion forums,
initiatives - and afterwards for the most part only individual actions and
withering expectations ... Berlin - even twelve years after the reunification of
Germany - lacks an integrated `East-West strategy' of politics, science and
economy."
If the "Berlin Initiative Competence for Central and Eastern
Europe" wants to make its verve sustainable, the innovative composition of
its supporters could provide a stage, which Berlin's Central and Eastern
European actors from the economy, science and politics should use in order to
present the long-awaited concept of an integrated Central and Eastern European
strategy for Berlin - hopefully in the not so far future.
(Klaus-Heinrich Standke)
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