The Balkans In, on the Road, or out of the European Union | Event Report
Lazarski University
15th-16th APRIL 2019
Conference by The Club of Political Science, the Government Studies Department, Lazarski University, Warsaw & UACES Research Network The Limits of EUrope: Challenging the Crisis of EUropean Integration
Conference delegates, Lazarski University
The Balkans is continuously challenged by the internal divisions, country peculiarities, its past, identity, memories, borders, space, resemblances and by attempts to redefine the dominant narratives about it. Moreover, the Balkan countries are running a marathon in the hope of becoming EU member states while confronted with the processes of Europeanisation, the limits of Europeanisation, and their own priorities and (in)stabilities.
The conference was held at Lazarski University, Warsaw and brought together scholars, students and non-academic experts. During the two-day conference the participants presented their papers at chaired panels and roundtables. During the first day, a group of renowned scholars, practitioners, think-tank specialists and students participated in a plenary session and two roundtable discussions on the internal political situation in various Balkan states, and applicability of these situations to the political processes in the European Union, on their role in the Balkans.
The second day consisted of two roundtable sessions where selected graduate students presented their research projects and discussed them with leading scholars in the field of International Relations, history and European Studies, thus bridging youth enthusiasm and scholarly experience. Students were encouraged to publish their research findings.
Conference delegates, Lazarski University
The conference delivered valuable and analytical discussions, empowering interdisciplinary engagement and comparing various points of view on the challenges and opportunities of the Balkan region.
Conference delegates, Lazarski University
The contributors are most grateful for the general financial support of Lazarski University Warsaw, the Honours Programme Funding at Lazarski University Warsaw, UACES, and the Polish Association of European Studies.
The conference formed part of a programme of activities for the UACES Research Network ‘The Limits of EUrope: Challenging the Crisis of EUropean Integration’, jointly held until 2022 between Lazarski University Warsaw and King’s College London. Five members of the Network contributed to the conference.
Research Network Members
Nadia Boyadjieva, Institute of Balkan Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Science, Sofia, Bulgaria
Professor Nadia Boyadjieva obtained an M.A. in History from the Faculty of History, Sofia University, an M.A. in Law from New Bulgarian University, and a Ph.D. from the Faculty of History at Sofia University in 1999 with a dissertation on U.S. policy toward the conflict in Bosnia and Hercegovina, 1989-1995, which was published in revised form as an award-winning book. She has taught in the Faculty of Law at Plovdiv University since 2000 and is a Full Professor of International Law and International Relations.
Since 2016 she has been a Full Professor in the Department of Postwar Balkan Studies at the Institute for Balkan Studies of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, in Sofia.In addition, since September 2015, she has been a long-term Visiting scholar at Harvard University, with an office at Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and Cold War Studies Center.
Spasimir Domaradzki, Lazarski University, Warsaw, Poland
Spasimir Domaradzki is the head of the Department of Government Studies and a lecturer of international relations at the Lazarski University in Warsaw, Poland. Spasimir Domaradzki earned his MA and PhD at the Faculty of International Relations at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. Domaradzki has published a number of scholarly articles on the contemporary notion of human rights, American foreign policy, Polish foreign policy, and historical policy in international relations. He was a Wilbur Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center and a fellow at the Dialogue Europe Center for Excellence of the St. Kliment Ohridski at Sofia University in Bulgaria.
Peter Vermeersch, Catholic University of Leuven (KU Lueven), Belgium
Peter Vermeersch is a writer and scholar in the social sciences, Professor affiliated with LINES (Leuven Institute for International and European Studies) at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Leuven, Belgium. In 2007 and 2008, he was a visiting scholar at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University. His research focuses on minority politics, nationalism in East Central Europe and the Balkans, democratization, and, most recently, restorative justice.
Jan Grzymski, Lazarski University, Warsaw, Poland
Jan Grzymski holds a PhD in Political Science (Warsaw University, Poland, 2013). He is a co-coordinator of the UACES Research Network ‘The Limits of EUrope: Challenging the Crisis of EUropean Integration’. During his career Jan has been a Visiting Fellow at King’s College London, UK (July-September 2018); the University of Amsterdam (UvA), Netherlands (April 2016); Royal Holloway, University of London (July-September 2015); KU Leuven University, Belgium (April 2014). His research focuses on EU crisis, EU identity, and EU borders. He has thrice been awarded a Corbridge Trust Scholarship by Robinson College, Cambridge University, UK (2020, 2018, 2015). In 2016 he was awarded the Best Book Prize 2016 by the Polish Association of European Studies for his book ‘The Return to Europe – The Polish Discourse. Critical Perspective’ (in Polish).
Tihana Tokić, Lazarski University, Warsaw, Poland
Tihana Tokić is a third-year BA International Relations and European Studies student and the Club of Political Science president at Lazarski University. Tihana Tokić is also an Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI) and Olympia Summer Academy alumna. The foci of her research are Croatia, political violence, institutionalisation and organised crime.