International conference: The Visegrad Countries (V4) in Crisis
International conference: The Visegrad Countries (V4) in Crisis
Opublikowano 23 kwietnia 2016 w: Konferencje
Collegium Civitas (Warsaw) in collaboration with the IFiS PAN (Warsaw), University of Texas (Austin), Charles University (Prague) and Comenius University (Bratislava) organizes an international conference on “The Visegrad Countries (V4) in Crisis.” The conference, supported by an International Visegrad Fund (IVF) grant, will be held in Collegium Civitas, Warsaw, on 15 July 2016. It aims at bringing together the scholars, professionals and politicians involved in V4 research and negotiations, presenting and discussing papers focusing on the main aspects of the crisis in V4 and the EU.
V4 leaders and political elites now face serious problems and challenges to the alliance’s unity. These problems center on the wave of refugees and other migrants flowing into Europe, security issues related to terrorist threats and the consequent surge of anti-immigration and nationalist forceswithin the V4 countries and the EU more generally. Taken together, they amount to a crisis that raises major questions about V4 unity and V4 relations with other EU member states, especially Germany. The conference focuses on four aspects of the crisis: (1) the strategic direction of V4 development, especially the choice between further integration or greater autonomy in the EU; (2) growth of populist-nationalist forces within the V4 countries and wider EU; (3) the Schengen Zone issues of coordinated external border control; and (4) the V4 security threats, both national and collective, as well as military and energy-related threats in the context of Russia’s aggressive policies, as well as NATO’s strengths and weaknesses and Ukraine’s continuing instability.
The current crisis poses a serious threat to V4 unity. Leaders and elites in each of the four countries face challenges that are widely publicized by media and point towards deepening divisions and conflicts. The threats are centrifugal in their political impacts and they tend to reinforce each other. They pose questions about the V4’s future, the directions in which it may evolve or devolve, and its place within the EU’s architecture.
Program: The one-day conference includes the Keynote Address and four sessions on the key themes mentioned above.
Registration: free (PLN 150 for participants in Conference Dinner).
The Organizer: Prof. Jan Pakulski, University of Tasmania, Hobart, and Collegium Civitas, Warsaw
The Keynote Speaker: Prof. John Higley, Emeritus Professor at the University of Texas at Austin
The invited speakers and session Chairs:
Prof. Pavol Frič, Charles University, Prague
Dr Zsolt Gal, Comenius University, Bratislava
Prof. Gabriella Ilonszki, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest
Prof. Krzysztof Jasiecki, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw
Prof. György Lengyel, Corvinus University, Budapest
Prof. Soňa Szomolányi, Comenius University, Bratislava and Hoover Institution, Stanford
Call for Papers
Collegium Civitas (Warsaw) organizes an international conference (in English) on “The Visegrad Countries (V4) in Crisis” in Collegium Civitas, Warsaw, on 15 July 2016. It aims at bringing together the scholars, professionals and politicians involved in V4 research and negotiations, presenting and discussing papers that focus on the main aspects of the crisis in V4 and the EU.V4 leaders and elites now face serious problems and challenges to the alliance’s unity. The problems center on the wave of refugees and other migrants flowing into Europe, security threats posed by terrorist groups and extreme right, the consequent surge of anti-immigration and nationalist forces within the V4 countries and the EU more generally and the centrifugal forces of nationalism and Euro-skepticism within the V4 and EU. Taken together, they amount to a crisis that raises major questions about V4 unity and V4 relations with other EU member states, especially Germany. Theconference will focus on these crisis symptoms and the challenges they pose to the leaders of the V4 countries. Papers are invited on four aspects of the crisis, as well as the strategies developed by the V4 leaders and elites facing the crisis:
The strategic direction of V4 development, especially the choice between further integration or greater autonomy in the EU
Growth of populist-nationalist forces within the V4 countries and wider EU, their ideologies and appeals, cross-border ties, and political ramifications
Schengen Zone issues of coordinated external border control to regulate and process influxes of refugees and economic migrants from outside the EU, maintain security, and sustain passport-free movement within the Zone
V4 security threats, both national and collective, as well as military and energy-related threats in the context of Russia’s aggressive policies, NATO’s strengths and weaknesses, an uncertain US commitment to Eastern Europe, and Ukraine’s continuing instability.
Because of the limited conference time and resources, only a limitednumber of papers (max. 20 min. presentation) will be accepted by the Organizers. The deadline for sending paper proposals (with author’s name and affiliations, full titles and abstracts of max 250 words) is 15 May 2016. The proposals are to be sent by email to Jan Pakulski <Jan.Pakulski@utas.edu.au>