'Challenges to Democratic Governance in New Democracies in CEE and the Balkans' Conference, October 10 - 11, 2008, Budapest, Hungary
Application deadline: May 15, 2008
Organized by Center for the Study of Imperfections in Democracy (DISC) at Central European University (www.ceu.hu/ disc), Freedom House Europe (www.freedomhouse. hu), and Junior Chamber International (www.jci.cc) .
Although in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Balkans transitions away from authoritarian rule began more than fifteen years ago, many of the recently (re)emerged regimes still face significant challenges regarding the consolidation and quality of democracy. The current problems that must be addressed related to democratic governance may (or may not) be different than the problems that were confronted in early transition and in different world regions. Therefore there is a need for a thorough and comparative assessment of the current state of democracy in these countries, which can form a basis for future policy decisions to improve the quality of democracy. By evaluating the state of democracy in the countries of CEE and the Balkans, this conference aims to generate theoretically- founded yardsticks for the evaluation and empirical evidence of the quality of democratic governance in the region that will be used for a future Democracy Forum.
The purpose of this conference is to generate a theoretical framework for a Democracy Forum to be held in 2009 with young leaders from the 23 countries in CEE and the Balkans, organized by the Junior Chamber International, Freedom House Europe, and the Center for the Study of Imperfections in Democracy (DISC) at Central European University. Significant findings from this conference will be published as an e-book that will form the academic basis for the Democracy Forum.
The body of fresh and targeted analysis would serve as the starting point for the 2009 Democracy Forum, to be held in Budapest, Hungary. The forum's program would be comprised of both lectures and presentations as well as training modules on a variety of topics relevant to the demographic group partaking in the forum and their interest in engaging in the political life of their countries in a more effective way as agents of positive change.
The following countries are included: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine.
To apply, please submit a 500 word paper proposal and 1-page CV by e-mail.
More information
Website: http://www.disc- ceu.org/events/ october-conferen ce/
E-mail: disc@ceu.hu
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