International Conference

Call for Participatiion

 

THE BALKANS AND EUROPE BETWEEN INTEGRATION AND PARTICULARISM: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

Sofia, UNWE / October 25-26, 2018

 

The conference is topical for many reasons, one being the European prospects of the Western Balkans as a focus of the shortly concluded Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council. Historically Europe represents an arena of collision and intertwining of particularistic and integrative tendencies swinging between assertion of the part (be it a group, region or state), on the one hand, and the search for the unity and interconnection among the different parts, on the other. And over the last decades the manifestations of this dichotomy have become increasingly visible. Hence, issues pertaining to the European integration of the Western Balkans countries are bound to be seen in the more general context of opposing trends of integration and particularism running simultaneously on at least three levels.

First are the problems of integration within the countries themselves. The Catalonian crisis, the Scottish referendum, and the inter-communal problems in Belgium are examples of how problems in the integration of individual countries have become problems within the broader context of EU integration. Similar problems in Western Balkan countries are seen as an obstacle to their full European integration. Another manifestation of integration-particularism dichotomy is the increasingly visible opposition between "euro integrators" and euro sceptics in both the member states and the applicant countries.

Second are the relations between states and the resolution of all bilateral issues as a pre-condition for full membership. Under the conditions of the Western Balkans, this creates new lines of division and hence the breeding ground for particularism and opposition, such as for instance the asymmetric relations between full-fledged EU Member States and Candidate Countries. On the other hand, with the acquisition of full membership, contradictions between the involved countries are becoming internalized in the EU (as in the Slovenian-Croatian dispute over the Gulf of Piran). Indisputably Brexit represents the ultimate form of particularism.

Thirdly, integration and particularism can also be seen in a regional context. Over the last decades, there have been examples of enhancing and enriching forms of regional cooperation in the context and as a consequence of the European integration process (the revived regionalism of the Visegrad group, the new regional configuration of the Baltic republics + Poland, the Scandinavian group). Simultaneously, in the Balkans a number of regional cooperation initiatives and projects (such as SEECP, RCCs) have been launched, but they are not developing and remain fruitless while manifestations of regional particularism have been gaining ground (from geometric configurations involving some countries and excluding others, to the "Bulgaria-Romania tandem" on the road to EU membership, to the establishment of the "Western Balkans" at the 2003 Thessaloniki EU Summit).

We invite contributions (presentation of research, position papers or poster presentation) to the conference from researchers, analysts, political practitioners and doctoral students in the following thematic areas:

• The integration potential of the EU (28-1) and the "enlargement fatigue"
• Ethno-politics and integration: dimensions, patterns and results in the EU and Western Balkans
• Particularism in the EU: between Brexit, Catalonia and Orban
• The Bulgaria’s Presidency and the  EU prospects of the Western Balkans
• "Fatigued from waiting": the countries of the Western Balkans
• From "Turkey into the EU" to "Turkey and the EU"
• Bilateral relations in the Balkans: between historical mythology and pragmatism
• Economic rationale of integration vs. political particularism: do the Balkans differ from the rest of Europe?
• Connectivity and cooperation in the Balkans: projects and realities
• Democratic deficit and rule of law: Balkan and European dimensions
• Lines that unite, lines that divide: corruption and trafficking as Balkan/EU problems

Please, send the filled-in application form to [email protected] by Sept. 10, 2018 at latest.

 

ORGANIZATIONAL TIMETABLE: IMPORTANT DATES  AND  DEADLINES

Send a filled-in application form                     by September 10, 2018 (at latest)

Notification of acceptance                               within 2 weeks from receiving the application

Send the full paper                                          by September 30, 2018

Preliminary program with paper summaries     sent to participants by October 10, 2018

 

CONFERENCE LANGUAGE is English. However, for a limited number of presentations a consecutive Bulgarian-English translation will be provided (to be noted in the application form).

 

PUBLICATION OPTIONS

All papers presented at the conference together with the scripts of plenary discussions will be published in an edited conference proceedings volume (indexing in world scientific databases pending).

Selected conference papers will be published in the UNWE scientific journals Research Papers and Economic Alternatives (abstracting and indexing in EBSCO, RePec, CEEOL and other).

Selected conference papers will be published also in a special issue of the journal of the Bulgarian Political Science Association ‘Politicheski izsledvania’ (Political Studies).

 

CONFERENCE COST

There is no conference fee. The conference organizers are able to cover accommodation and per diems (in the form of meals) for authors of selected papers (to be noted in the application form).

The conference organizers cannot cover costs of international travel.

 

PROGRAM COMMITTEE:	Assoc. prof. Igor Damyanov, UNWE
Assoc. prof. Rumyana Kolarova, SU, BAPS	Assoc. prof. Milanka Slavova, UNWE
Prof. Dinko Dinkov, UNWE, Centre for Balkan Studies	Assoc. prof. Theodora Kaleinska, UVT, BAPS
Assoc. prof. Dobrin Kanev, NBU, BAPS	Assoc. prof. Maria Bakalova, UNWE, BAPS
Assoc. prof. Blaga Blagoeva, UNWE, BAPS	Assoc. prof. Emilia Zankina, AUBG, BAPS
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: Assoc. prof. Elisabeth Joneva, UNWE, BAPS Assist. prof. Alexandar Dimitrov, UNWE, BAPS	Assoc. prof. Maria Bakalova, UNWE, BAPS Assist. prof. Antonina Habova, UNWE, BAPS Assist. prof. Ivan Vinarov, UNWE, BAPS