Conference of the Diplomatic Academy Student Initiative 25 Years: Picking up the pieces of the Berlin Wall

Programme MORNING 9:00 – 9:30 Coffee and registration (Festsaal) 9:30 Welcome, Amb. Hans Winkler, Director of the Diplomatic Academy Introduction of conference theme and of Sli.do, interactive medium for questions 10:00 – 11:15 Morning presentations, round 1: Ewald König, journalist and author, former correspondent Die Presse (1977 – 2003) in Germany, including the GDR “When the first pieces came down – reporting from the Brandenburg Gate in 1989” Prof. Melanie Sully, Go-Governance Institute, Vienna “Checkpoint Democracy” Dr. Iveta Radičová, sociologist, former Prime Minister of Slovakia (2010-2012) “Democracy in crisis or crisis of democracy?” Moderation: Prof. Markus Kornprobst, Chair of International Relations, Diplomatic Academy 11:15 – 11:45 Coffee break 11:45 – 13:00 Morning presentations, round 2: Amb. Christian Strohal, Ambassador of Austria to the OSCE, former head of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) “Putting pieces together - creating stronger cooperation or new dividing lines?” Aleksander Smolar, Polish publicist and political scientist, former advisor to Polish Prime Ministers Tadeusz Mazowiecki and Hanna Suchocka “Poland 1989 - twenty-five years later” Moderation: John Hildred, President, Diplomatic Academy Student Initiative (DASI) 13:00 – 14:00 Lunch break

AFTERNOON 14:00 – 15:45 Three simultaneous afternoon panel sessions Panel 1: Politics & Democracy What are the common features of the political landscape in contemporary Central and Eastern Europe? How can we achieve a mature consensual political culture based on debate rather than confrontation in the CEE countries? What is the state of corruption, has it improved and how does it affect politics? Have people been empowered through political participation since the fall of communism, or do they have a feeling of frustration and resignation when it comes to politics? Prof. Anton Pelinka, Professor of Nationalism Studies and Political Science, Central European University, Budapest Sergejus Muravjovas, Executive Director, Transparency International Lithuania, Board Member, TI International Board of Directors Prof. Iveta Radičová, sociologist, former Prime Minister of Slovakia (2010-2012) Jan Krč, Counsellor for Public Affairs, U.S. Embassy, Vienna Moderation: Erik Szedely Panel 2: Economics and Democracy Has the way in which free-market capitalism and privatisation were implemented in Central and Eastern Europe delivered on the popular aspirations associated with the fall of the Berlin Wall? To what extent is contemporary politics in Central and Eastern Europe really about economics? What has been the most important political consequence of the region’s integration into the European common market? Has the sovereign debt crisis significantly affected politics in Central and Eastern Europe? Petr Skočdopole, Czech journalist Prof. Vladimir Gligorov, Staff Economist, Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies Richard Kühnel, Head of the Representation of the European Commission to Austria Peter Havlik, Staff Economist and former Deputy Director, Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies Moderation: Jená Armstrong

Panel 3: Identity and Democracy What is the role identity plays today in shaping democracy in Central and Eastern Europe? To what extent is there a resurge of ‘identity politics’ and where? Are there significant differences between countries? Does the concept of “Maur im Kopf” still play a role in Central and Eastern Europe today, and if so, how does this affect democracy? Can we draw parallels between ‘positive’ identity building and ‘positive’ democratic developments when we compare the different states in the CEE? How do younger generations think about the issue of identity? Dr. Boglárka Koller, Associate Professor, King Sigismund College, Budapest Ewald König, journalist and author, former correspondent Die Presse (1977 – 2003) in Germany, including the GDR Dr. Krisztina Arató, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Faculty of Law, Institute of Political Science at ELTE University, Budapest Dr. Zuzana Kepplová, author, lecturer in gender and cultural studies, Masaryk University, Brno Moderation: Yasmin Seyed Assiaban 15:45 – 16:00 Concluding remarks (Festsaal) 16:00 Coffee and tea reception

Short Participant Biographies In order of appearance

Ewald König began his journalistic career working at the daily newspaper “Die Presse” (Vienna) in 1977. As its Germany correspondent, he reported from Bonn and Berlin and was one of the few journalists accredited in both West and East Germany. He is editor-in-chief and publisher of the European news portal “EurActiv.de” and author of a book on the fall of the Berlin Wall Menschen, Mauer, Mythen – Deutsch-deutsche Notizen eines Wiener Korrespondenten (2013, Mitteldeutscher Verlag).

Prof. Melanie Sully is President of Go-Governance, editor, writer as well as consultant, and was for many years (1992-2010) Professor in Political Science at the Diplomatic Academy, Vienna. Formerly Voice of America radio correspondent, Dr. Sully now runs good governance projects with the Cultural Department of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs and Integration, Austria and the City of Vienna.

Prof. Iveta Radičová has a distinguished career as a sociologist and politician. She was Slovakia’s first female Professor of Sociology, publishing widely on changes of the social system in post-socialist countries. She served as government minister and parliamentary deputy before becoming Slovakia’s first female Prime Minister in 2010, acting in this position until 2012, when her government fell after a dispute on Eurozone bailout.

Amb. Christian Strohal currently serves as Austria’s Ambassador to the OSCE. Previously, he served as Director of ODIHR from March 2003 to June 2008. Other diplomatic postings have included working as representative to the UN Commission on Human Rights, as a delegate to the UN General Assembly, and as a representative to the EU Working Group on Human Rights. Prof. Aleksander Smolar is a Polish publicist and political scientist, who was a dissident during Communism. From 1989 to 1990, he served as a political advisor to the government of Poland’s first non-communist Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki. Between 1992 and 1993, he furthermore advised Hanna Suchocka’s government on foreign policy. He is currently President of the Stefan Batory Foundation in Warsaw, focusing on democracy and

human rights, and is affiliated with the Centre national de la recherche scientifique in Paris.

Prof. Anton Pelinka is Professor of Nationalism Studies and Political Science at the Central European University in Budapest. Between 1995 and 2006, he was Professor of Political Science at the University of Innsbruck. He has published widely in Comparative Politics (e.g. Democracy Indian Style, 2004), Political Theory (e.g. The Politics of the Lesser Evil, 1999), and Austrian Politics (Austria: Out of the Shadows of the Past, 1998).

Sergejus Muravjovas is the Executive Director of Transparency International Lithuania and a member of Transparency International Board of Directors. As the head of TI Lithuania he has been at the forefront of developing new people engagement platforms such as an online ALAC service, an online parliamentary monitoring website and a

media ownership website. Muravjovas holds degrees with distinction from Leiden and Utrecht Universities, the Netherlands and Vilnius University, Lithuania.

Jan Krč has been Counsellor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Vienna for nearly four years. He joined the Foreign Service in 1982 with the then U.S. Information Agency (USIA). Among a variety of other postings, he has worked as press attaché in Prague and Budapest between 2002 and 2010. Born in Prague, Mr. Krč holds an undergraduate degree in European history from Wesleyan University and a Master degree in international

relations from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Petr Skočdopole studied literature and Czech language at the University of Hradec Králové. He is the former long-time editor-in-chief of the Czech weekly Instinkt, and has been a collaborator on a new online journalistic project, which is quickly gaining a large audience among Czech and Slovak decision-makers. Mr. Skočdopole has

additionally worked as an occasional TV anchor on Czech television.

Prof. Vladimir Gligorov is Staff Economist at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies and country expert for the Balkan countries, in particular Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. His research focuses on long-term growth in transition countries, macroeconomic analysis and financial markets. He is a lecturer at the University of Vienna. He was a founder of the Democratic Party in Serbia in December 1989. Richard Kühnel has been Head of the Representation of the European Commission in Austria since 2008. Between 2004 and 2008, Mr. Kühnel worked in the Cabinet of European Commissioner Dr. Benita Ferrero-Waldner. Prior to his shift to the European Commission, Mr. Kühnel served in the Austrian diplomatic service for ten years. He studied Law at the University of Graz.

Peter Havlik is Staff Economist and former Deputy Director at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) and guest research scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). His main research areas currently cover economic transition in Central and Eastern Europe, foreign trade, competitiveness, EU integration, and EU-Russian relations. He has contributed to and coordinated various chapters to the EU Competitiveness Reports (2003, 2009, 2012) and conducted a study on

the Economic Development of the Black Sea Region for the Austrian Ministry of Economy in 2009.

Dr. Boglárka Koller is Associate Professor at the Institute of International and Political Studies, King Sigismund College, Budapest. Her main research areas are the theories and history of European integration, nations and nationalism and the identity issues in Europe. She was a visiting professor in Germany, France, Spain, Cyprus, Turkey and Vietnam, and has published two books and co-edited three volumes on the European Union and identity questions, including Nations, identities and politics in Europe (2006).

Dr. Krisztina Arató is Associate Professor and Deputy Director at ELTE University, Faculty of Law, Institute of Political Science in Budapest. She studied History at ELTE University in Budapest and Political Science at the Victoria University in Manchester. She was General Secretary of the Hungarian Political Science Association between 2007 and 2012 and is currently the chairperson of the legal and political science jury of the

Hungarian Scientific Research Fund. Her research interests are history and theory of European integration, civil and social dialogue, and EU cohesion policy.

Dr. Zuzana Kepplová is a lecturer in Gender and Cultural Studies and a writer. Currently, she is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. She studied Dramaturgy and Script Writing in Bratislava, Gender studies in Budapest and Cultural studies at Stony Brook, SUNY. Her first book of prose, Buchty švabachom (‘Buns in Gothic’, 2011) appeared on the short list of the

prestigious Anasoft Litera and received multiple literary prizes. Her second book, 57 km od Taškentu (‘57 km far from Tashkent’), appeared in 2013.

Amb. Hans Winkler has been the Director of the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna since April 2009. He completed his doctorate in Law in 1968 and studied at the Diplomatic Academy between 1968 and 1970. He then had a distinghuised career in the Austrian diplomatic service, and served as State Secretary in the Austrian Foreign Ministry between 2005 and 2008.