AnSeS

Report on the Eleventh South-East European Summer School for Democracy, Belgrade, 15th – 20th September 2008

The Eleventh South-East European Summer School for Democracy, entitled Euro-Atlantic Integration and Security in the Balkans was held in Belgrade, Serbia, from 15th till 20th September 2008.

Lecturers and participants

The Summer School gathered prominent political scientists from Britain, Hungary, and Serbia. Five lecturers came from Britain: Prof. Christopher Coker of the London School of Economics, Prof. Kevin Featherstone, Director of the Hellenic Observatory/LSE, Prof. Margaret Blunden, professor emeritus at the University of Westminster, Dr. Spyros Economides of HO/LSE, and Tim Judah, journalist of the Economist, and a Research Fellow at HO/LSE.

The School was opened by the addresses of HE Stephen Wordsworth, HM Ambassador in Serbia, and Prof. Kevin Featherstone. The opening was covered by major digital and print media in Serbia.

Among twenty-eight participants one half (14) were from Serbia, 11 from SEE, 2 from Germany and 1 from Slovakia. Participants from SEE came from the following countries: three from Bosnia, two from Greece and Romania, and one from (FYR) Macedonia, Turkey, Croatia and Albania.

Selection of participants

As a result of the advertising the Anglo-Serbian Society received around 70 applications from South-East Europe. This means that there were 2,5 applications per place. It is 20% more than in 2007.

The Selection Committee consisting of Prof. Vojislav Stanovcic, Prof. Vukasin Pavlovic and Dr. Slobodan Markovich, reviewed all applications. All the applicants were requested to submit further documents:

1. Application/registration form available at web-site of AnSeS: www.ays.org.yu
2. Letter of Motivation
3. CV
4. Letter of recommendation written by a senior scholar

Selected participants included one person with PhD degree, two PhD candidates, 13 persons with MA degrees, and 11 with BA degrees. Five participants came from the departments of the Ministry of Defence of Serbia.

School Organisers and Staff

The School was organised by the Anglo-Serbian Society, Belgrade, and the Hellenic Observatory of the London School of Economics and Political Science, London.

In academic terms the School was managed by its Co-Directors, Prof. Vukasin Pavlovic, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Political Science, Belgrade and Dr. Spyros Economides of HO/LSE. In organisational terms the School was managed by Dr. Slobodan Markovich, Executive Director of the School. The Secretary of the School was Ms. Sladjana Gligoric, Programme Co-ordinator at the Anglo-Serbian Society.

Photo 1: Dr. Slobodan G. Markovich, Prof. Vukasin Pavlovic,
HE Stephen Wordsworth and Prof. Kevin Featherstone

The School as a Regional (South-East European) Project

During the previous ten years (1998-2008) the School persistently endeavoured to gather prominent young specialists and activists from the region of South-East Europe. Even under very difficult political circumstances prior to the downfall of the regime of Slobodan Milosevic (in 1998, 1999 and 2000), the School was able to gather young specialists from the region.

Each summer school for democracy gathered between 25 and 30 participants (up to 15 from Serbia, and the equal number from the region of South-East Europe). This means that during the previous ten years approx. 140 young scholars and activists from the region and the equal number from Serbia participated in the project.

In this way the School has been able to create a network of young specialists dealing with the problems of democratisation of the region and to establish mutual links between them. A practical result of the School is that there are many web-groups (yahoo groups) created by School's alumni enabling constant contact between scholars from the region. Alumni stay in touch and continue to co-operate and invite other alumni to the conferences that they organise.

An important aspect of the School is that it serves as a forum where young scholars from the region are able to exchange their views and learn to view social problems through regional perspectives. In this way the School offers its contribution to the democratisation of the region and to overcoming national preconceptions and stereotypes. For this sole purpose afternoon workshops were introduced in 2003.

School's Programme

The School lasted five days of which five were working days. Each of the five working days had three morning lectures (lasting 70 minutes each), and an additional session dedicated to Afternoon Discussions. The topics covered at the Summer School included issues related to Euro-Atlantic integration of the region but also some general topics relevant for general understanding of the discussed issues such as the questions of what is the West or what will be wars like in future. Very current issues were also discussed including impact of Georgian crisis on WB and relations between Serbia and the territory of Kosovo.

At sessions of afternoon discussions country reports were presented dealing either with the euro-Atlantic prospects of particular countries of WB or dealing with issues of security in particular countries of the Western Balkans.

Photo 2: Afternoon workshop held on September 19, 2008

Lecturers at the School

Resource Persons

Lecturers

Prof. Margaret Blunden	Formerly Provost at the University of Westminster
Prof. Christopher Coker	London School of Economics and Political Science
Dr. Spyros Economides	Hellenic Observatory, LSE
Prof. Kevin Featherstone	Director of the Hellenic Observatory, LSE
Mr. Tim Judah	**The Economist, London**
Dr. Slobodan G. Markovich	Institute for European Studies and the University of Belgrade
Prof. Vukasin Pavlovic	Vice-Dean at the Faculty of Political Science, Belgrade
Ivan Vejvoda	Balkan Trust for Democracy
Dr. Eric Beckett Weaver	Budapest

Afternoon Worshop Co-ordinators

Dr. Eric Beckett Weaver	Budapest
Dr. Slobodan Markovich	Faculty of Political Science, Belgrade

Special Events

a. Book-Launch

On September 18, 2008 a book launch was organised at the Leonardo Centre of the book 170 Years of British-Serbian (Yugoslav) Relations. This book was published by the British Embassy, Belgrade in order to mark anniversary of mutual diplomatic relations. Speakers included Prof. Margaret Blunden, Mr. Cedomir Antic and Dr. Slobodan G. Markovich. The latter two are co-authors of the historical commentary in the book.

b. Sightseeing by boat organised by MoD

The Ministry of Defence of Serbia organised for all participants and lecturers a night sightseeing of Belgrade by a boat with a dinner. The boat departed from New Belgrade and cruise was along the Danube and the Sava rivers. This was a memorable experience.

Special lecture organised at the Army Club of Serbia

Prof. Christopher Coker of LSE held a lecture at the Army Club of Serbia on September 17, entitled The Future of War. This is also the tile of one of his latest books. The organisers were the Ministry of Defence of Serbia, the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence and the Anglo Serbian Society.

Prof. Coker was introduced by the State Secretary of Defence Mr. Dusan Spasojevic who highlighted that the Ministry of Defence of Serbia, through the Strategic Research Institute, had a very successful co-operation with research and educational institutions that operate outside the system of the Ministry of Defence, but also with NGOs. One of results such a co-operation is the Eleventh Summer School of Democracy.

The lecture was attended by the members of the Ministry of Defence, by officers of the Serbian Army, by foreign students studying at the Serbian Military Academy, by professors from the University of Belgrade, members of NGOs and by Serbian media.

The lecture was later covered by all major media covering defence studies in Serbia including TV coverage by the Radio Television of Serbia.

Opening of the School and Media Coverage

The School was opened by HE Stephen Wordsworth who discussed in his introductory lecture some of general problems of the region and some of current political dilemmas in Serbia. Prof. Kevin Featherstone, director of the Hellenic Observatory was the following speaker. The opening was covered by leading digital media including RTS and B92.

EVALUATION 2008

TSeventeen out of twenty three participants filled in questionnaires and evaluated all the lecturers on September 7, 2006, according to five criteria: 1. Preparedness, 2. Clarity, 3. Inter-Activity, 4. Interest, 5. General Impression. Marks were between 1 (the lowest mark), and 5 (the highest mark). Written evaluation was followed by a session of oral evaluation where each participant had an opportunity to assess the School.

GENERAL IMPRESSION

Coker	5
Markovich	5
Economides	4,48
Weaver	4,48
Vejvoda	4,41
Blunden	4,38
Featherstone	4,36
Delevic	4,32
Judah	4,16

PREPAREDNESS

Coker	5
Markovich	4,96
Vejvoda	4,54
Economides	4,52
Weaver	4,52
Featherstone	4,36
Blunden	4,25
Delevic	4,24
Judah	4,12

CLARITY

Coker	5
Markovich	5
Featherstone	4,6
Weaver	4,6
Vejvoda	4,55
Economides	4,52
Delevic	4,48
Blunden	4,46
Judah	4,16

INTER-ACTIVE APPROACH

Markovich	4,96
Coker	4,8
Judah	4,68
Delevic	4,52
Featherstone	4,48
Blunden	4,46
Economides	4,24
Weaver	4,24
Vejvoda	4,24

INTEREST

Coker	5
Markovich	4,96
Vejvoda	4,54
Economides	4,52
Weaver	4,52
Featherstone	4,36
Blunden	4,25
Delevic	4,24
Judah	4,12

The participants also evaluated afternoon discussions where participants presented problems of transition in their native countries. Two documentary films were performed during afternoon discussions: Whose song is this?, and a documentary on memories of holocaust in Koszeg in Western Hungary.

Afternoon discussions

Preparedness	4,23
Usefulness	4,00
General Impression	4,16

Comparison of the average marks for the last five summer schools demonstrates that the Summer School 2008 was the best evaluated in the series in terms of average scores. There was particular improvement in the field of inter-active approach of lecturers.

AVERAGE FOR ALL LECTURERS (including comparison with the previous four years)
	Belgrade 2008	Belgrade 2007	Belgrade 2006	Budva 2005	Budva 2004

Preparedness	4,60	4,51	4.41	4.53	4.32
Clarity	4,51	4,45	4.26	4.31	4.17
Interactive Approach	4,39	4,18	4.03	3.97	4.04
Interest	4,50	4,40	4.20	4,20	4.20
General Impression	4,51	4,34	4.20	4.25	4.18

Organisation of the School has traditionally been one of the best evaluated aspects of the School and this year has demonstrated rather good results as well. Accommodation that was the weakest point of the School in the period 2003-2005 significantly improved in the period 2006-2008. However, food was poorly evaluated in 2008.

	Belgrade 2008	Belgrade 2007	Belgrade 2006	Budva 2005	Budva 2004	Budva 2003

Organisation	4,69	4,34	4.52	4.76	4.85	4,57
Accommodation	4,2	4,80	4.44	2.67	3.47	3,38
Food	3,35	3,75	4.04	4.43	4.80	3,69
Facilities	4,56	4,58	4.35	n/a	n/a	n/a
Regional Contacts	4,6	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

All participants were asked on whether they would recommend the school to other potential participants. Five replies were offered:

Would highly recommend; 2. Would recommend; 3. I am not sure; 4. Would not recommend; 5. Would not recommend at all

Substantial majority of participants (almost 70%) noted that they would highly recommend the School, while 30% said they would recommend the School. Not a single respondent replied that he/she was not sure or would not recommend the School. This is a very good result equal to results from 2006.

	ISSD 2008	ISSD 2007	ISSD 2006	ISSD 2005

Would highly recommend	69,6%	57,1%	70,00%	90.5%
Would recommend	30,4%	42,9%	30.00%	9.5%
I am not sure	0%	0%	0%	0%
Would not recommend	0%	0%	0%	0%
Would not recommend at all	0%	0%	0%	0%

In order to improve advertisement of the School the participants were asked to respond on how they found out about the School.

Four answers were offered:

Through alumni of the School
Through one of the mailing lists
Through one of the organizers
Through web-site of the Anglo-Serbian Society

Most of participants (44%) found out about the School from mailing lists in particular “Balkan Academic News”. One sixth of them found out about it from alumni. Organisers (AnSeS, Hellenic Obesrvatory and CSD) and previous lecturers were the source for 28% of participants. The remaining 12% found out from e-mails of their friends who mentioned the School to them.

	ISSD 2008	ISSD 2007	ISSD 2006	ISSD 2005	ISSD 2004

Mailing lists	44%	40%	42.9%	60.0%	50%
Alumni	16%	6,7%	14.3%	20.0%	45%
Organisers	28%	40%	32.1%	10,0%	5%
In other way	12%	13,3%	10.7%	10,0%	0%

This year the main source of participants’ information remain mailing lists in particular Balkan Academic News yahoo group.

CONCLUSIONS

Evaluation of the Eleventh South-East European Summer School for Democracy 2008 demonstrates that the participants were very satisfied with the quality of the School and its lecturers since lecturers were assessed with the best average marks is school's history. The organisation has also received very high average mark and the readiness to recommend the School is quite high. Accommodation was assessed with high marks while food got good marks.

Oral evaluation indicated that participants were very satisfied about the School and compared it favourably with other similar experiences. What was especially appreciated by participants was the quality of lectures.

Participants from other countries than Serbia and outside of Belgrade liked the fact that the School was held in Belgrade while participants from Belgrade preferred some other location in Serbia.

Overall evaluation indicates that the International South-East European Summer School for Democracy 2008 has been successfully conducted and organised both in academic and logistical terms.

CONCLUSIONS

Name and Surname	Educational background	Country e-mail	Organisation /Institution
Zeljko Bellina	MA in IR, PhD c.	Bosnia and Hercegovina, zeljkobellina@gmail.com	Nat. Assembly of the Republic of Srpska
Slobodan Boskovic	MA in DHRSEE (Bologna/Sarajevo)	Serbia, slobodan.boskovic @gmail.com	Billiter Partners Ltd, Center for Nonviol. Resistance
Stefan Cetkovic	BA in PS, FPS Beg, MA in PP, Erfurt	Serbia, stefan.cetkovic @goolemail.com
Georgios Chatziyiagkou	MA in SEES (Kapodist. U.)	Hellas, gc519@york.ac.uk	PhD c. in Politics, University of York
Dr. Claudiu Craciun	MA at LSE, PhD at FPS	Romania, clcraciun@yahoo.com	National School of Econ. and PS
Zlatko Dimitrovski	BA in PS	(FYR) Macedonia, zlatko168@yahoo.com
Milan Dobrosavljevic	MA c. in IR (U. Beg) BA in Law (U. Beg)	Serbia, Milan.Dobrosavljevic @gmail.com	Barrister
Natasa Filipovic		Serbia,	Department of Strategic Planning, MoD of Serbia
George Tudor Florea	MA in LS (Utrecht) MA in IR (Sr. Andr.)	Romania, teddy_florea@yahoo.fr	PhD c. in PS CEU, Budapest
Gunes Guvenc	MA in PS (Istanbul) MBA (Mass,)	Turkey, gunguv@yahoo.com	Istanbul University
Anja Gvozdanovic	BA is Sociology (Zagreb)	Croatia, anja.gvozdanovic@idi.hr	Institut for Social Research in Zagreb
Janko Hrebik	MA c. (Matej Bel)	Serbia/ Slovakia, janko.hrebik @pontisfoundation.sk	MA c. U. of Matej Bej, Slovakia
Olsi Jazexhiu	MA (Malaysia), MA and PhD c. (Florence)	Albania, olsi@rocketmail.com	PhD c. European Uni. Institute, Florence
Florian Küchler	BA in IR (Ox. Brooks) MA in IR (Cantab)	Germany, mail@florian-kuechler.de	Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen
Sloboda Maravic		Serbia,	Department for Internationl Military Co-operation, MoD of Serbia
Sinisa Marcic	BA in Sociology, U. of Banja Luka	Bosnia and Herzegovina sinisamarcic@gmail.com	PhD c. U. of New South Wales, Sidney
Milos Markovic	BA in IR (U. Beg) MA c. in IR (Ankara)	Serbia, milosmarkovic80 @yahoo.com	MA c. at Ankara Univerity
Goran Matic		Serbia,	Institute for Strategic Research, MoD of Serbia
Goran Nikolic	MA in Eco. (Beg) PhD c. in Eco. (Beg)	Serbia, goranvnikolic@gmail.com	PhD c. at Megatrend Uni. (Belgrade)
Zdravko Peric		Serbia,	Department for Internationl Military Co-operation, MoD of Serbia
Sonja Peters	MA c. (Burnswick)	Germany/Bosnia and Herzegovina sonja.peters13 @googlemail.com	Technical University of Brunswick
Jasmin Porobic	MA in ES (Sarajevo/Bologna)	Bosnia nad Hercegovina, jasmin.porobic @yahoo.com	NATO HQ Sarajevo
Milan Ravic	BA in PS (U. Beg) MA c. in IR (U. Beg)	Serbia, ravic.milan@gmail.com	Centre for American Studies, FPS, Belg.
Danko Runic	MA in DHRSEE (Sarajevo/Bologna)	Serbia, danko.runic@gmail.com	Democratic Transition Initiative
Despoina Syrri	MA in PS, PhD c. at U. of Sheffield	Hellenic Republic dsyrri@gmail.com	Fellow of the SEERC, Thessaloniki
Jelena Vidojevic	BA in PS (U. Beg) MA c. in SP (U. Beg)	Serbia, jelenavidojevi6 @gmail.com	TA at FPS, U. Beg
Tatjana Visacki		Serbia,	Institute for Strategic Research, MoD of Serbia
Ljubisa Vrencev	MA in LDB, U. of Trento)	Serbia ljushaff@gmail.com

Abbreviations: s – student, c – candidate, U – University, UB – University of Belgrade,
PS – political science, NS – nationalism studies, TA – teaching assistant, Lec. – lecturer.

Belgrade,
November 5, 2008

Prof. Slobodan G. Markovich,
Secretary-General of the Anglo-Serbian Society