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  Academic Freedom in Russia: Between the Scylla of Conservatism and the Charybdis of Neoliberalism

  By Dmitry V. Dubrovskiy on 5 mars, 2019

  Independent scientific and professional organizations began to suffer especially after the introduction of the so-called law on “foreign agents”. Ideological control over science, together with espionage, begins to directly influence the state of academic rights and freedoms. The topic of human rights has almost disappeared from teaching, and research in the field of queer sociology is in fact banned. However, the most vulnerable are those who either teach or demand respect for human rights at the university, and then the loss of employment is the result of a direct ideological confrontation with the rector, such as for the author of this text.

  Category: Scientific articles

• 

  Expulsion of students as a tool of control

  By Marina Henrikson on 6 mars, 2019

  In order to silence dissident voices within Belarusian higher education, students with uncomfortable political views are often expelled. International critique has resulted in a decrease in the number of expulsions, but the repression continues. The university administration merely has changed methods and nowadays focuses on the students with a capacity to lead others.

  Category: Features

  

  Measuring academic freedom in a regional and global perspective

  By Vello Pettai on 6 mars, 2019

  Democratic backsliding has been an abiding and pervasive concern across the post-communist region for almost a decade. Data from the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) dataset corroborate this phenomenon and show that one of the contributors to this decline is a narrowing of freedom for academic and cultural expression.While not being the sole driver of this recent backsliding trend, the opportunity for open academic and cultural exchange does remain an important principle of basic electoral democracy.

  Category: Features

Just in

• The “Good”, the “Bad” and the “Ugly”.  Anti-establishment populism and the Slovak presidential election

  On March 30, Zuzana Čaputová defeated Maroš Šefčovič in the second round of the Slovak presidential election. It looks like an important victory for those who want a “European” and socially liberal Slovakia - regardless of the fact that the country is a parliamentary republic with limited powers for the president. But the presidential race has also revealed more troubling aspects of Slovak politics, and exposed deep divisions within the Slovak society.

  By Aliaksei Kazharski Inga kommentarer till  Anti-establishment populism and the Slovak presidential election

• Kaliningrad’s problematic exclave status

  The distinguishing feature of the Kaliningrad region is the fact that it is an exclave, part of but separated from Russia by two countries, Poland/Belarus or Lithuania/Latvia, though with access across the Baltic Sea (thus strictly speaking a semi-exclave). It is Russia’s only exclave and is the biggest in Europe. Seen from inside it is an enclave (or a semi-enclave).

  By Ingmar Oldberg Inga kommentarer till Kaliningrad’s problematic exclave status

• Elections in Estonia: Winner Sidelined in Coalition Talks

  Immediate reactions to the election results focused largely on the triumph of EKRE which nearly tripled its number of mandates. EKRE holding nearly a fifth of the Riigikogu seats ushers in a new era in Estonian politics where the populist far-right is a force to be reckoned with.

  By Piret Ehin Inga kommentarer till Elections in Estonia: Winner Sidelined in Coalition Talks

• Elections in Moldova: preservation of status-quo

  Regardless of what shape the future government will take, there is no doubt that it will remain under the control of Vlad Plahotniuc and Igor Dodon. This in turn means further deterioration of Moldova's relations with its Western partners, lack of structural reforms and deepening social collapse.

  By Kamil Calus Inga kommentarer till Elections in Moldova: preservation of status-quo

• State integration vs. regional exceptionalism. A European predicament

  There is a significant discrepancy between the political potential of the EU and its actual position and role in the future development of Europe. In practice, the member states have maintained their power monopoly in the most essential policy areas.

  By Bjarne Lindström Inga kommentarer till State integration vs. regional exceptionalism. A European predicament

• Urban and Rural Transformation

  Over 40 researchers representing countries spanning from Ukraine to the United States and from Sweden to Serbia gathered in Prague to explore the changing roles of rural and urban cultural heritages in post-socialist countries.

  By Paul Sherfey Inga kommentarer till Urban and Rural Transformation

• Cease identification with territory, gender, race, and class

  Usually, this triennial takes place in Lithuania, as it has since its foundation in the year 1979. But now, due to the celebration of the centennial of the restored three Baltic states, Kestutis Kuizinas, the leader of the Contemporary Art Centre, decided to suggest that they work collaboratively. Thematically, the 13th Baltic Triennial’s three-part format also shaped the way it was realized.

  By Charlotte Bydler Inga kommentarer till Cease identification with territory, gender, race, and class

• Spatial imagination and political notions of the Baltic Sea Region

  Among many topics in the concluding discussion, there were some reflections from the participants on how to relate to the changing definitions and redefinitions of concepts like regionalism and nation as well as the relevance of these ideas in a period of speedy change. A suggestion was that that the populations in the Baltic Sea region perhaps practice regionalism in everyday life but think in nation-state terms when it comes to politics, and this is but one of many challenges for historians and political scientists to address in future research.

  By Anna Hedén and Thomas Lundén Inga kommentarer till Spatial imagination and political notions of the Baltic Sea Region

• Postsocialist Revolutions of Intimacy

   “Postsocialist Revolutions of Intimacy: Sexuality, Rights and Backlash”, Workshop October 1–2, 2018. The workshop was organized by CBEES, Centre for […]

  By Yulia Gradskova Inga kommentarer till Postsocialist Revolutions of Intimacy

• The idea of Russian cultural heritage

  What the symposium emphasized was the processes that led to the emergence of the cultural techniques and institutions as well as the conceptual apparatus to deal in practice with the suddenly highly desired Russian cultural heritage. Another focus was on the reception of the Western tradition by the Russian educated society, which took place in parallel with, and sometimes conceptually intertwined with, the re-opening of the Russian tradition.

  By Anna Kharkina Inga kommentarer till The idea of Russian cultural heritage

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• reviews

  1. Path dependency and gender norms. Governance and “doing gender”

     Gendering postsocialism: old legacies and new hierarchies, Yulia Gradskova and Ildikó Asztalos Morell, Eds.. 2018. London ; New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

  2. Writ in water. Reading Die Ostsee

     Die Ostsee. Berichte und Geschichten aus 2000 Jahren. Klaus-Jürgen Liedtke (ed.) Berlin: Galiani Verlag 2018, 650 pages.

  3. Media reporting of the Ukrainian war. A comparison of ideals and outcome

     Ukraina och informationskriget – journalistik mellan ideal och självcensur [Ukraine and the information war – journalism between ideal and self-censorship] Gunnar Nygren and Jöran Hök (ed.), Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap. (2016), 279 pages.

  4. Understanding the geography of Belarus 95 maps with comments

     Belarus in Maps, Edited by Dávid Karácsonyi, Károly Kocsis, and Zsolt Bottlik. Budapest: Geographical Institute, 2017, 194 pages.

  5. From Soviet seclusion to West European integration. The development of Baltic air connections

     Mobility and regionalization: Changing patterns of air traffic in the Baltic Sea Region in connection to European integration. Jan Henrik Nilsson, Geographia Polonica 2018. Vol. 91:1, pp 77–93.

  6. All reviews