Archives par mot-clé : postcommunisme

The crisis of the Left in post-Communist Europe: reasons and consequences

Conference

25-26 April 2024
Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)

Deadline: 01/02/2024 at 00.00 (CET)

In the aftermath of the democratic transition of communist Europe, communist successor parties have emerged as major actors in the respective political scenes. Scholars of party politics have been interested in assessing their adaptation and survival strategies, as well as their ideological rebranding. Along with EU accession, research has later focused on Europeanization of party systems and political parties, measuring the effects of such a process on communist successors

Thirty years after the transition, communist successor parties still play a critical role in most of the region and represent one of the main legacies of the old Communist regimes. Formally defined as « leftists », successor parties represent nonetheless an extremely uneven party family: the Czech communists stick to Marxism-Leninism, while their Hungarian and Polish fellows are close to the political center; in Romania and Bulgaria, communist successors are catch-all parties– swinging between national conservatism and social democracy, while in Russia and Moldova they have embraced pragmatism and nationalism; elsewhere, and for instance in Latvia, they are relegated to represent the Russian ethnic minority. Albeit preponderant, communist successor parties are not the exclusive actors on the Left and are instead sided by restored pre-war social democratic parties – like in Czechia, second-generation successor parties – like in Slovakia, or new grassroots movement parties, mainly in former Yugoslavia

What is even more striking at a first glance is the high variance in the electoral performances of the Left, the main focus of the present call: in some cases, leftists are witnessing a steady and fast decline, such as in the Czech Republic (where no left-wing party is by now represented in Parliament), Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria; in Romania and Slovakia they represent instead the biggest political forces. The aim of this panel is to assess the reasons behind the crisis of the Left in Central and Eastern Europe and in the post-Soviet space. Emphasis on the comparative dimension of the question is encouraged, and in particular on the differences between the successful and the failing cases. Continuer la lecture de The crisis of the Left in post-Communist Europe: reasons and consequences

The Left in Southeast Europe: Identities and Discourses

Call for Papers for a conference to be held on 4th and 5th April 2024, University of Tirana

Deadline: 15/01/2024 (please see  here and below for contact details)

Right after the democratic transition, scholars have pointed at the great diversity of communist successor parties’ identities and discourses. Some of them, in fact, were able to successfully turn into social democratic parties, rejecting the wrongdoings of the previous regime. Others transmuted towards nationalism, revisiting recent history through a patriotic lens. Finally, some groupings resisted the change and kept their Communist banner, assessing the capitalist and democratic transition negatively.

The memory of the past was indeed not the only sphere of divergence between the fellow parties since they came to vary in economic and socio-cultural issues too. The present call wants to explore communist successor parties’ identities and discourses thirty years after the transition. It both welcomes papers enquiring on the causal roots of communist successors’ identity and on left-wing discursive practices.

Continuer la lecture de The Left in Southeast Europe: Identities and Discourses

L’expérience française des Balkans (1989-1999)

Le Centre de recherche Europes Eurasie (INALCO) est heureux de vous convier à la discussion autour du livre d’Anne Madelain, L’expérience française des Balkans (1989-1999), Presses universitaires François Rabelais, 2019
Lundi 9 décembre 2019 à 18h30, salle 5.18 , INALCO, 65 rue des Grands Moulins, 75013 PARIS 
avec
Marie-Elizabeth Ducreux, directrice de recherche au CNRS
Christophe Prochasson, président de l’EHESS, préfacier du livre
Daniel Baric, maitre de conférences à Sorbonne université et co-directeur de la collection Civilisations étrangères aux PUFR
Anne Madelain, maitresse de conférences à l’INALCO
Discussion animée par Etienne Boisserie, co-directeur du CREE
La séance sera suivi d’un pot convivial