Challenges to democratic governance in new democracies in CEE and the Balkans

“Challenges to democratic governance in new
democracies in CEE and the Balkans”

October 10-11, 2008

Central European University
Nador u. 9
Budapest, Hungary
(in Popper and Gellner Rooms)

Organized by the Center for the Study of Imperfections in Democracy (DISC)
at Central European University
(www.ceu.hu/disc)

and

Freedom House Europe
(www.freedomhouse.hu)

Conference Program



Conference papers
(Password-protected: If you would like access to the papers, please send an email to disc@ceu.hu.)



Although in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Balkans transitions away from authoritarian rule began more than fifteen years ago, many of the recently (re)emerged regimes still face significant challenges regarding the consolidation and quality of democracy. The current problems that must be addressed related to democratic governance may (or may not) be different than the problems that were confronted in early transition and in different world regions. There is a need for a thorough and comparative assessment of the current state of democracy in these countries, which can form a basis for future policy decisions to improve the quality of democracy. To accomplish this goal, the Center for the Study of Imperfections in Democracy (DISC) at CEU and Freedom House Europe are organizing a conference in Budapest on October 10-11, 2008, entitled “Challenges to Democratic Governance in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans”. By evaluating the state of democracy in the countries of CEE and the Balkans, this conference aims to generate theoretically-founded yardsticks for the evaluation and empirical evidence of the quality of democratic governance in the region. This conference gathers 35 scholars and experts on the region to present their latest research and many other participants to discuss topics related to democratic governance, including media, civil society, local governance, and corruption.


The following countries are included: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine.