Centre for European Politics, Security and Integration (CEPSI)

• Monday 6 February 2012
  Dr Eric Gordy (UCL-SSEES)
  The Past in Post-Milošević Serbia: From Confrontation to Trivialisation.

  Dr Gordy discusses ongoing research on the changing ways in which the Milošević era has been remembered in contemporary Serbia, with a particular focus on war crimes trials at the International Criminal Tribunal.

  
  
  

• Wednesday 8 February 2012, 4.30pm, Room 346 (Rescheduled from 23 January)
  Dr Dan Hough (University of Sussex)
  Corruption, Anti-Corruption and Politics: The Case of Poland.

  Dr Hough will discuss some of his current research in progress for a book project on corruption and democratic governance, focusing on the case of Poland.

  Podcast of this event

  
  
  

• Monday 5 March 2012 NB. 6.00pm, Room 508, Roberts Engineering Building, UCL, Malet Place
  Roundtable Event: Russia after the Presidential Elections - What Future for Putin's Sistema?

  Speakers:
  Dr Pete Duncan (UCL-SSEES)
  Prof Alena Ledeneva (UCL-SSEES)
  Dr Andrew Wilson (UCL-SSEES)
  Oksana Antonenko (EBRD)
  Dr Roy Allison (University of Oxford)

  Chair: James Nixey (Chatham House)

  
  
  

• Monday 12 March 2012
  Dr Richard Mole (UCL-SSEES)
  Gay East European Migrants in Berlin: Between Ethno-National and Gay Diasporas

  Attitudes towards homosexuality in Eastern Europe are largely negative. Migration thus offers gays a means of escape and self-realisation as well as a brighter economic future. However, there has so far been little research on the relationship between migration and sexuality or the experience of gay migrants from the former communist countries.

  When migrants arrive in a destination country, it is often taken for granted that they can plug into diaspora networks. However, ethno-national identity is often used to justify anti-gay rhetoric and violence. For gay migrants, traditional diaspora networks are thus often unavailable. To avoid alienation, gay migrants therefore either have to hide their sexuality or establish parallel, quasi-diasporic (often virtual) networks of their own.

  
  
  

• Monday 19 March 2012
  Dr Kasia Wolczuk (University of Birmingham)
  Customs Union or Association Agreement? Ukraine's Dilemmas and Responses

  Both the EU and Russia have proposed advanced new forms of economic integration for the post-Soviet states, namely the EU Association Agreements, including a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, and the Russian-led Customs Union. What does this mean for Ukraine? Does it need to choose between Russia and the EU? Or can Ukraine continue to play off one side against one another to gain concessions from both? Dr Wolzuk analyses Ukraine's responses examining key domestic actors and their preferences and decision-making process against the backdrop of Russian and EU strategies towards Ukraine.

  
  
  

• Tuesday 3 April 2012, NB. 2pm room 432
  Prof Milada Anna Vachudova (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
  Domestic Reform in the Balkans: What can be accomplished?

  Professor Vachudova will discuss the success of democratic and economic reforms across the EU-eligible post-communist region over the last twenty years. After a survey of the theoretical literature on what domestic and international factors propel or hinder reform, she will take a closer look at the states in the Balkans and explore their development in the context of EU enlargement and leverage. She is especially interested in the role of political parties in determining the direction of political change, and in the challenge that corruption and organized crime present for democratic quality.

  
  
  

• Thursday 10 May, NB. 2pm, room 431
  Roundtable Event: Poland and the EU: Pre-Accession Ideals versus Post-Accession Realities
  (organised jointly with the Sussex European Institute)

  Speakers:
  Prof Alan Mayhew (Sussex European Institute)
  Dr Agnieszka Lada (Institute of Public Affairs, Poland)
  Dr Przemysław Bikup (Warsaw University)
  Prof Aleks Szczerbiak (Sussex European Institute)

  Chair: Dr Seán Hanley (UCL SSEES)

  During its eight years as an EU member, Poland has made its mark as the largest of the post-communist states to join the EU. At one point, it was characterised as the EU's 'new awkward partner', particularly when parties that were highly critical of European integration were in government in 2005-7. In recent years, however, the Civic Platform-led government has tried to build closer relations with Poland's EU allies in what some commentators have dubbed Poland's 'second return to Europe'. This includes holding the EU's rotating presidency in the second half of last year, widely praised by many in the European institutions, and signing up to the European fiscal treaty even though Poland is not yet part of the euro zone.

  Poland has also made much of the fact that it is only EU economy not to fall into recession during the global financial crisis. However, there are many critics of the government's European policy including the Law and Justice party, Poland's largest opposition party, which in the European Parliament has aligned itself with the British Conservatives in an anti-federalist party federation. Presentations at this round table will discuss the recent Polish EU presidency, the activity of the Polish government on European issues, the effectiveness of Polish MEPs, continued Euroscepticism in Poland, and Poland's economic prospects in the light of the ongoing Euro zone crisis and fiscal treaty.

  
  
  

Autumn Term 2011

• Friday 30 September 2011, 4.00pm, Room 431/3
  Prof Kathryn Hendley (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
  Explaining the Use of Russian Courts: Why Go to Courts if they are Not Trusted?

  Prof Kathryn Hendley focuses on the role of law in contemporary Russia, with a particular emphasis on how Russians make use of both formal legal institutions and informal mechanisms to resolve disputes. In this seminar she presents findings about users of the Russian court system related to research on access to justice she will be conducting in 2011/12 as a Fulbright Professor at Higher School of Economics in Moscow.

  Prof Hendley is William Voss-Bascom Professor of Law and Political Science. She is a graduate of Georgetown, UCLA and California-Berkeley. Her research and teaching are interdisciplinary. She holds a joint appointment at the Law School and the Political Science department and has also served as a consultant legal reform in Russia for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the World Bank in their work on.

  She previously served as the Director of the Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia.

  Co-organised with the Centre for Language Based Area Studies (CEELBAS)

  
  
  

• Tuesday 11 October 2011, 5.30pm, Room 347
  Roundtable Event: Poland's 2011 Parliamentary Elections: Deepening the Divide?
  Speakers:
  Prof Tomasz Mickiewicz (SSEES-UCL)
  Prof Aleks Szczerbiak(University of Sussex)

  Chair: Prof George Kolankiewicz (SSEES-UCL)

  Parliamentary elections to both the Sejm (lower house) and the Senate will be held in Poland on 9 October 2011. Having convincingly won the 2007 election the liberal Civic Platform (PO), led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, is aiming to become the first major governing party to win re-election since the fall of communism. However, it faces determined opposition from the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party and sometimes volatile electorate.

  Leading specialists on Polish politics, society and economy provide expert analysis of the results and their political and policy implications for Poland and Europe.

  Co-organised with Sussex European Institute (SEI)

  Podcast of this event

  
  
  

• Monday 31 October 2011, 5.30pm, Room 432
  Prof Giovanni Capoccia (University of Oxford)
  Dealing with Successor Parties: Electoral Strategies and Historical Legacies in Post-Authoritarian Democracies

  
  
  

• Monday 21 November 2011, 5.30pm, Room 432
  Dr Edwin Bacon (Birkbeck College)
  Writing Russia's Future: Approaches to Forecasting from the Soviet Decline to the Present Day

  Anticipating the future of Russia and the fate of Soviet communism were significant preoccupation of analysts almost since the very foundation of the Soviet state. In this seminar Dr Bacon discusses varied approaches developed to understanding the possible demise of the USSR and how these have been carried forward to efforts to predict the trajectory of contemporary Russia.

  
  
  

• Monday 28 November, 5.30pm, Room 432
  Dr Allan Sikk & Dr Seán Hanley (both UCL SSEES)
  Paths to "Centrist Populism"? Understanding the Emergence of Anti-Establishment Reform Parties in Central and Eastern Europe

  The speakers discuss their research a newly emerging group of parties seen in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) over the last 10-15 years, which combine anti-establishment appeal with support for moderate reform policies. Using Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) technique they identify three broad scenarios leading such parties to break through, which combine diferent patterns of corruption, unemployment and the failure by pro-market governing parties.

  Paper Linked to this Presentation

  Podcast of this event

  
  
  

• Monday 5 December, 5.30pm, Room 432
  Dr Kelly Hignett (University of Swansea)
  Organised Crime from the Iron Curtain to the European Union: The Making of Modern Day 'Mafias' in East Central Europe

  The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe was accompanied by an apparent explosion in organised crime across the region. On closer inspection however, many of the underworld figures who came to prominence after 1989 had criminal histories pre-dating the fall of communism. Drawing on evidence and examples from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, Dr Hignett considers the evolution of the criminal underworld in East Central Europe from its roots in the political-criminal nexus established during communist rule, to the impact of the collapse of communism and post-communist transition on forms of organised crime in the region.

  
  
  

Spring Term 2011

• Monday 17 January 2011
  Dr Andrew Wilson (UCL-SSEES)
  How Do Think Tanks Think - And What Can Academics Learn From Them?

  Dr Wilson discusses the differing ways in which academics and thinktankers approach political research and what they can learn from each other, drawing on his own experience as specialist on post-Soviet politics working both in academic and as a senior researcher with the European Council for Foreign Relations.

  
  
  

• Thursday 20 January 2011, 6.00pm, room 132, 14 Taviton St
  Prof Kevin Deegan-Krause (Wayne State University, USA)
  Live Fast, Die Young: The Short and Curious Life Cycle of New Parties in the New Europe

  Prof Deegan-Krause discusses the rise and fall of new populist parties in Central and Eastern Europe.

  
  
  

• Monday 31 January 2011 (Cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances)
  Prof Giovanni Capoccia (University of Cambridge)
  The Historical Turn in Democratization Studies

  Prof Capoccia discusses how the growing political science research on historical case studies - and in particular, historical democratization in Europe - is enriching our wider understanding of comparative democratization, institution building and regime change.

  Working paper linking to Prof Capoccia's presentation
  http://aei.pitt.edu/14469/01/CES_177.pdf

  
  
  

• Monday 21 February 2011
  Dr Allan Sikk (UCL-SSEES)
  Size Matters: Understanding the Effect of Country Size on Political Phenomena

  Dr Sikk considers how and why the bias of political science towards the experience of larger countries has (mis)shaped our understanding of political processes. He also reflects on the wider importance of polity size as a factor in politics.

  
  
  

• Monday 21 March 2011
  Prof Bo Rothstein (Quality of Government Institute, University of Gothenburg)
  Anti-Corruption. The Indirect "Big Bang" Approach

  Although anti-corruption has been a central topic for more than a decade, studies show that the results of anti-corruption efforts in many developing and transition countries are meagre. Other new studies show that the introduction of representative democracy is not a cure for systemic corruption. This may be caused, Bo Rothstein argues, by a theoretical misspecification of the problem. Most anti-corruption efforts have been built on the idea that corruption should be understood as a so called "principal agent" problem. Offering a critique of this approach, he argues that systemic corruption should instead be understood as a "social dilemma" or "collective action problem". If this is so, the policy recommendations that will follow are very different from those usually made.

  
  
  

Autumn Term 2010

• Monday 4 October 2010
  Prof Harvey Balzer (Georgetown University)
  Building Knowledge Economies in China and Russia

  Prof Balzer discusses the development of knowledge economies in China and Russia focusing on education, science and technology. Despite common aspirations, the challenges faced by the two states are both very similar and very different.

  Organized jointly with the UCL-SSEES Centre for Comparative Economics

  Slides from Prof Balzer's presentation

  
  
  

• Monday 25 October 2010
  Dr Tim Haughton (University of Birmingham), Dr Karen Henderson (University of Leicester), Dr Seán Hanley (UCL-SSEES)
  Going in the Right Direction: A Roundtable on the Czech and Slovak Elections of 2010 and their Aftermath

  General elections in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in May and June this year both brought surprise electoral setbacks for the centre-left and the formation of two new centre-right governments. Voters in both countries also turned away from established parties, producing some unexpected exits for some parties and the surprise emergence of new parties.

  Organized jointly with the British Czech and Slovak Association

  
  
  

• Monday 15 November 2010
  Dr Nicole Bolleyer (University of Exeter)
  The Organization of New Parties in Western Europe

  Dr Bolleyer discusses how new parties have pioneered new forms of political organization in West Europe, presenting some of the findings from a forthcoming book.

  
  
  

• Monday 22 November 2010
  Dr Felix Ciută (UCL-SSEES)
  Rise of Notions: IR Theory and Strategy Video Games

  Dr Ciută discusses the implicit models of international peace and security to be found in popular video and computer games and considers their implications.

  
  
  

• Monday 29 November 2010
  Dr Cristina Chiva (University of Salford)
  Women in the European Parliament: The Case of the New Member States

  Cristina Chiva examines candidate recruitment for the European Parliament from a gendered perspective in six post-communist EU member states: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. She discuss three determinants of women's legislative recruitment: electoral systems, party ideology and party positions on European integration. Party position views on European integration emerges as one of the key factors underpinning candidate selection on the basis of gender.

  
  
  

• Monday 6 December 2010
  Dr David White (University of Birmingham)
  Political Opposition in Russia: Strategies and Prospects

  Dr White discusses the nature of political opposition in contemporary Russia and asks what strategies remain open to opposition forces in the face of increasingly robust authoritarianism.

  Slides from Dr White's presentation

  
  
  

Spring Term 2010

• Monday 18 January 2010 (Cancelled due to illness)
  Dr David White (University of Birmingham)
  Opposition Strategies in Russia in Comparative Perspective

  Organised political opposition in Russia is in crisis, incapable of mounting a serious challenge to the hegemonic party of power, United Russia. David White examines opposition party strategies in one-party dominant regimes. The way in which dominance is maintained and the environment in which opposition parties have operated in one-party dominant systems such as Japan and Mexico suggest that there are sufficient commonalities with the Russian case to make comparison a useful exercise.

• Monday 25 January 2010
  Dr Pete Duncan (UCL-SSEES)
  Nationalism and Pragmatism in Russian Foreign Policy From Yeltsin to Putin

  Pete Duncan discusses the evolution of Russian foreign policy over the past two decades examining taking as case studies issues of CIS integration, arms and nuclear technology transfer and NATO enlargement.

• Monday 1 February 2010
  Dr André Krouwel (Free University, Amsterdam)
  The Transformation of Old and New Parties in Europe: From Catch-All to Business Firm Parties

  Slides from Dr Krouwel's presentation

• Monday 8 February 2010
  Prof Alina Mungiu-Pippidi (Hertie School of Governance)
  Is EU Accession an 'End of History'? East Central Europe After Twenty Years

  Have postcommunist countries been backslidng on rule of law and democracy since entering the EU? Is there evidence to back the conclusion of some analysts that the EU accession offers a highly effective type of conditionality? Mungiu-Pippidi looksin depth at cases where challenges to both the rule of law and EU influence were at a maximum to generate some explanations (Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Latvia); she then presents a quantitative model testing explanatory factors for rule of law in a more systematic comparative analysis across all 28 postcommunist cases.

  Slides from Prof Mungiu-Pippidi's presentation

• Monday 22 February 2010
  Dr Alan Renwick (University of Reading)
  Electoral System Choice During Democratization: East-Central Europe in Comparative Perspective

  Slides from Dr Renwick's presentation

• Monday 1 March 2010 (Cancelled due to illness)
  Prof Bo Rothstein (Quality of Government Institute, University of Gothenburg)
  Anti-Corruption. The Indirect "Big Bang" Approach

  Although anti-corruption has been a central topic for more than a decade, studies show that the results of anti-corruption efforts in many developing and transition countries are meagre. Other new studies show that the introduction of representative democracy is not a cure for systemic corruption. This may be caused, Bo Rothstein argues, by a theoretical misspecification of the problem. Most anti-corruption efforts have been built on the idea that corruption should be understood as a so called "principal agent" problem. Offering a critique of this approach, he argues that systemic corruption should intead be understood as a "social dilemma" or "collective action problem". If this is so, the policy recommendations that will follow are very different from those far been proposed by the international "anti-corruption regime".

  Organized jointly with the SSEES Centre for the Study of Comparative Economies

• Monday 15 March 2010
  Aviezer Tucker (CEVRO Institute, Prague)
  The Legacies of Totalitarianism: Political Theory After Totalitarianism

  Aviezer Tucker argues that the life, death and resurrection cycle of the totalitarian elite explains many of the legacies of totalitarianism. He considers how the pre-1989 bureaucratic elite transformed its naked liberties under communism into property rights, creating creation of a class with wealth, security and family continuity. This, he suggests, distinguishes post-totalitarianism from post-authoritarianism. He then presents a general theory of post-totalitarian justice as rough justice: post-totalitarian governments can only meet demands to rights the wrongs of totalitarianism by compromising on the accuracy of justice. The resulting theory of post-totalitarianism examines the implications of the post-totalitarian experience on political philosophy and theory in general. There is much more to learn from the end of totalitarianism and its aftermath, he suggests, than the weakness of Marxism and the absurdity of command economies without market mechanisms.

  Slides from Dr Tucker's presentation

Autumn Term 2009

• Monday 26 October 2009
  Preferences, Presidencies and Vulnerabilities: Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic's Choices for Europe
  Speaker: Dr Tim Haughton (University of Birmingham)
  Discussant: Dr Seán Hanley (UCL-SSEES)

  Tim Haughton examines the factors shaping the preferences of Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic for the EU. Whilst ideology, economic dependency and the influence of powerful interest groups tell part of the story, the key to explaining how these these state form their preferences, he suggests, lies in their vulnerabilities and (perceived) weakness.

  Slides from this seminar (please attribute to ESRC Today if cited)

  
  
  

• Monday 2 November 2009
  May Contain Nuts? The British Conservatives and their East-Central European Allies
  Speaker: Dr Seán Hanley (UCL-SSEES)

  Seán Hanley discusses the role of East-Central European right-wing parties in the the new European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) grouping formed with the British Tories in the European parliament. Media criticism of the East-Central European parties' extremism has, he suggests, sometimes been misplaced and largely misses other underlying issues which may prove problematic for longer-term the cohesion of the ECR.

  Slides from this seminar

  
  
  

• Wednesday 11 November 2009
  Good Morning Slovakia! A documentary of the November 1989 Revolution
  Speaker: Dr Fedor Gál

  Fedor Gál, one of the leading figures in Slovakia's November 1989 and co-founder and first chairman of the Public Against Violence (VPN) citizens' movement which emerged during the revolution, will be discussing the events of the period and their significiance. His talk will be accompanied by a first UK showing of his new documentary on the revolution and the VPN Good Morning Slovakia!. (in Slovak with English subtitles).

  Organized jointly with the British Czech and Slovak Association and UCL-SSEES Centre for the Study of Central Europe.

  NB: Time and venue for this event: 6pm, room 347, SSEES Building

  
  
  

• Monday 30 November 2009
  Homophobia in Eastern Europe
  Speaker: Dr Richard Mole (UCL-SSEES)
  Discussant: Dr Nicola Mai (London Metropolitan University)

  Richard Mole examines the increase in homophobia in Latvia, analysing, in particular, the influence of national identity on attitudes towards gays and lesbians.

  Slides from this seminar

  
  
  

Info: Seán Hanley s.hanley@ssees.ucl.ac.uk 020 7679 8818

How to find CEPSI:
UCL SSEES, 16 Taviton Street, London WC1H 0BW. Nearest tube: Euston.

Map of UCL and the surrounding area

This page last modified Wednesday 18 April 2012.