Andrássy University Budapest / AUB

Project

Understanding Identities and Regions

Perspectives on V4 and WB

The project "Understanding Identities and Regions - Perspectives on V4 and WB" looks at the concepts of identity in the countries of the Western Balkan (WB) and Visegrad (V4) regions. Research into the identity of states and societies provides a basis for a better understanding of political and social development in the Western Balkans (i.e. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia) and the Visegrad countries (Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia). Identity is constructed and undergoes changes over time. It shapes states and societies and influences political behaviour. Research on identity in the regions is important as countries either want to join the European Union or strengthen their position as active members within the Union. One focus lays on the national and regional identity of the respective countries in the region.

The project interprets identity aspects as well as identity constructions in a regional context. In the frame of the project, the research field should be widened by the regional perspectives of the experts from the V4 and the WB, which might answer some of the many questions related to identity.

Project objectives

The project tries to raise awareness on issues related to identity in the WB and the V4-countries. Hence, the project aims to support an academic discourse on the issue of identity in both regions, which is based on a comparative approach. Academics, researchers, and experts from the V4 and WB countries working on identity aspects in the WB- or V4-region will be able to discuss their research, to network, and to exchange research ideas. This will be facilitated by three workshops. These discussions should result in academic papers, which will be collated and published in an edited volume in July 2020.

Activities

The project will include a series of workshops. In addition, an edited volume on topic is compiled in cooperation with the other project partners.

Project meeting and workshop on 30 November 2018 at the Jagiellonian University of Krakow
Workshop on the 10 May 2019 at the University of Sarajevo (Press Release, Programme)
Book presentation and panel discussion to the book "The Visegrad Four and the Western Balkans.
Framing Regional Identities" on 16 October 2020 at the Andrássy University Budapest

Another goal of the project is the networking of researchers and experts who are conducting research in this field.

The project team participated in the Annual Conference of the Central European Political Sciences Association (CEPSA) on the topic of Central Eastern Europe as a region in-between, which took place at the University in Pécs in September 2019.

The project duration is 24 months from 1st November 2018 to October 2020.

Partners

The project is funded by the International Visegrad Fund (Grant No.: 21820078). Project partner are:

Center for European Neighborhood Studies (CENS), Central European University (CEU)
Metropolitan University Prague (MUP)
University of Wroclaw
Institute of European Study, Faculty of International and Political Studies, Jagiellonian University Krakow
Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Sarajevo

Project leader(s): Dr. Christina GRIESSLER

Scientific field(s): Political Sciences

Research focus(es): Forschungsschwerpunkt 3: Identitätsbildung: Nationalitäten, Kulturen und Minderheiten

Status: Befejeződött

Starting date: November 1, 2018

Termination date: October 30, 2020

Documents - Andrássy University Budapest

Publications - Andrássy University Budapest

The Visegrad Four and the Western Balkans.

Partner universities

Metropolitan University Prague (MUP)

The Metropolitan University Prague ranks among the oldest and largest private universities in the Czech Republic. The steady influx of applicants interested in studying at Metropolitan University Prague attests to its reputation of a first-rate educational institution. As of the 2018/2019 academic year, MUP provides education to approximately 5000 students. Since its establishment in 2001, the University offers study programmes in the area of international territorial relations, legal specialisations, international economic relations, political science and security studies in both full-time and part-time forms of study in Czech as well as English. Next to Bachelor and Master programmes MUP offers also four Ph.D. programmes. MUP operates in Prague and in three regional centres in Pilsen, Liberec and Hradec Králové.

University of Wrocław
Excerpt from https://international.uni.wroc.pl/en/s3.php

The University of Wrocław is the largest university in the region and teaches over 26,000 students and around 1300 doctoral students at 10 Faculties. 9000 students graduate from the University every year. The university has a rich history of more than three centuries. Founded by Leopold I Habsburg the university evolved from a modest school run by Jesuits into one of the biggest academic institutions in Poland. At the beginning of the 19th century the university had five Faculties: philosophy, catholic theology, evangelical theology, law and medicine. Later it was expanded by numerous sections, laboratories and a natural museum, which exists until today. Today, the first and foremost focus of The University of Wrocław is scientific research. Our scholars have numerous links with their fellow researchers from other higher education institutions in Poland and throughout the world. The success of our researchers has been recently recognized by Polish authorities, who significantly increased funding for both equipment and research at our University by 80% compared to previous years.

Center for European Neighborhood Studies (CENS) at Central European University (CEU)

The Center for European Neighborhood Studies is an independent research center of the Central European University located in Budapest, Hungary. Its main goal is to contribute to an informed international dialogue about the future of the European Union in the world, while capitalizing on its Central European perspective and regional embeddedness.

The strategic focus of the center is academic and policy-oriented research on the place and role of the European Union in its rapidly changing and increasingly volatile neighbourhood. Through its research, CENS seeks to contribute to the understanding of the environment where the EU, its member states and partners need to (co)operate, and it aims at supporting the constructive development of these relations by providing opportunities for discussion and exchange. The center’s geographic focus areas are Central and Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans and Turkey, Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Russia.

Institute of European Studies of the Jagiellonian University

The history of the Institute of European Studies of the Jagiellonian University is associated with the establishment of the Inter-Faculty Department of European Studies at the Jagiellonian University in 1993. In 1999, the Inter-faculty Department was transformed into the Department of European Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy. In 2001, the Department of European Studies was incorporated into the structure of the Institute of Regional Studies - a newly established unit at the JU Faculty of International and Political Studies. In 2004, the Department was transformed into the Institute of European Studies and became part of the Faculty of International and Political Studies at the Jagiellonian University.

The purpose of establishing the Department of European Studies and the present Institute of European Studies has been to conduct teaching and research in the field of European studies. Such a formulation of objectives determines the interdisciplinary nature of the unit, which approaches the European issues from the perspective of several sciences: anthropology, economics, cultural studies, political studies, sociology, and law.

Faculty of Political Science, University of Sarajevo

Faculty of Political Science, University of Sarajevo, is the oldest such institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Faculty is in essence a faculty of social sciences, incorporating five departments: Political Science, Security and Peace Studies, Communication, Sociology and Social Work. It is also the largest student body among the comparable departments in the country and brings together fairly large faculty of some 70 full time academics. As part of the generation change in the past decade, the faculty is now much younger on average. Also, several new programs and projects have been initiated during this period, among which is introduction of English language instruction in the Department of Political Science, revisions of curriculums, expanded international cooperation and cooperation with many European universities on a range of project across all departments.

Partner - Andrássy University Budapest