International Democracy Seminar Network (1984-)
The Democracy Seminars are our oldest initiative in the region, originally proposed by Adam Michnik when he received an honorary degree from the New School in 1984. Semi-clandestine when they started in Warsaw and Budapest in the mid-80's, this loosely structured network now functions in 17 cities and continues to provide a forum for a sustained discussion on issues of the transition to democracy. Between 1990 and 1996, the branches of the network have met with differing regularity and intensity in the following cities: New York (U.S.A.); Warsaw (Poland); Budapest (Hungary); Bucharest and Cluj (Romania); Prague (Czech Republic); Bratislava and Trnava, (Slovakia); Riga (Latvia); Sofia (Bulgaria); Tallinn (Estonia); Lviv and Kiev (Ukraine); Belgrade (Yugoslavia), Vilnius (Lithuania); Yerevan (Armenia); and Ljubljana (Slovenia). The New York Seminar coordinates the autonomous agendas within the network and facilitates an on-going interchange among its members. A Democracy Seminar Working Paper Series has been established to further facilitate this communication. The activities of each Seminar are found in updates in the East and Central Europe Program's Bulletin. Each year ECEP organizes an annual International Democracy Seminar conference. This meeting brings together members of the seminars for presentations and discussions on the processes of democratization in the region. The first Annual Seminar was held in Budapest in 1990. Since then it has been hosted by the Warsaw (twice), Sofia, Prague and Bratislava chapters. The proceedings of the Seminars are published in Grappling with Democracy: Deliberations On Post-Communist Societies, (1990-1995), SLON Publishing, Prague.
The Junior Teaching Initiative is a new project designed to involve the younger generation of talented scholars from the region, people who are on the threshold of academic careers, in collaborative teaching efforts. The prospective junior teachers are selected from a group of advanced graduate students who come to the Graduate Faculty from the region on one-year pre-doctoral Fellowships arranged by ECEP. While advancing their Ph.D. projects, taking courses, and participating in ECEP activities, each Fellow also works closely with a faculty advisor to develop a new course. The course, which will be introduced to the curriculum of the home university upon the Fellow's return, is typically a reflection of his/her interests, the advisor's area of expertise, and the home university's needs. Here are the most recent examples: Spring 1996 The Political Culture of Democracy Junior Teacher: Sharon Cooley, Department of Sociology, Graduate Faculty Institution: Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest GF Advisor(s): Professor Andrew Arato Spring 1996 Race and Ethnicity in Theory and Methodology: The Case of the Roma in Hungary Junior Teacher: Andras Topalcai, Department of Ethnic Studies, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest GF Advisor(s): Professor Terry Williams Fall 1996 Transitions to Democracy - Political and Social Aspects Junior Teacher: Radim Marada, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic GF Advisor(s): Professors Andrew Arato and José Casanova Fall 1997 Introduction to the Theory of Culture: Modern and Postmodern Changes in the Cultural Theories of Visuality Junior Teacher: Doru Pop, Department of Sociology, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj, Romania GF Advisor(s): Professors Elzbieta Matynia and James Miller Fall 1997 Introduction to Women's Studies Junior Teacher: Mariam Ohanian, Yerevan State University, Armenia GF Advisor(s): Professor Ann Snitow.
Curriculum Centers were designed immediately after the events of 1989 as on-site resource centers to assist university social science faculties in their efforts to revitalize teaching and scholarship and to restore scholarly ties with the academic world at large. The Centers, coordinated by a university-affiliated professor originally in seven countries of the region, performed very specific tasks: distributing curriculum materials, arranging curriculum/bibliographic workshops by visiting Program Fellows, and serving as liaison between faculty, university libraries, and ECEP in the selection of books and journals needed in the development of new curricula. As a natural progression of these Centers, ECEP created several new initiatives that fall under the heading Curriculum Activities. These projects include the system of Collaborative Courses and Democracy and Diversity Graduate Institutes.
Social Science Curriculum Centers and Curriculum Workshops in Central Asia & Russia (TCDS pages)
Substantive Working GroupsIn 1992, the East and Central Europe Program launched a research-oriented Initiative: Substantive Research Working Groups. Based on the conviction that there has been a considerable convergence in the kinds of questions that are most pressing in the structuring of democratic societies both East and West, the Working Groups were established to deal with research and policy problems of common interest. The groups are small (6-12), drawn from the disciplines of political science, economics, history, and sociology to work together on specific themes. The topics of the groups concern the content of public policies in the areas of interest representation, nationalism, gender, and political culture, and are entitled:
Nationality and Diversity: Challenges to Liberalism and Democracy, led by Professors Aristide Zolberg and Ira Katznelson (1992 - 1994) Political Parties and Party Systems in East and Central Europe, led by Professors Andrew Arato and Jan Gross (NYU) (1992 - 1994).
Finding the Tradition of Women's Movements in East and Central Europe, led by Professors Ann Snitow and Elzbieta Matynia (1993 - 1995) Social Memory and Post-Communism, led by Prof. Jeffrey C. Goldfarb (1994 - 1996)The participants of these groups come from Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Germany, and the U.S.(There are also proposed Working Groups on Media and Constitutionalism in the pipeline.)The results of the various Working Groups have been published in Constellations, East European Politics and Society, and in the volume Grappling With Democracy. The Group on Finding the Tradition of Women's Movements in East and Central Europe anticipates the publication of its research at the end of 1996 in the former of a Gender Reader. The group on Social Memory and Post-Communism is also at present edited its findings for publication.
The Teaching Partnerships involve two professors each, one from the United States and one from the region, who create and then teach a new course together, based both on their shared scholarly interest and on the curricular needs of their respective home institutions. This type of collaboration, is a refinement of the earlier Collaborative Courses in that it entails genuine co-authorship, changes the dynamic of collaboration contributes to the intellectual development of both collaborators, and benefits their respective institutions equally.
In 1992, ECEP developed the first Collaborative Courses in Warsaw and Budapest. The syllabus of this initial course in Political Sociology was prepared jointly by New School faculty and coordinators of the course in Warsaw and Budapest. The preparatory work (discussing the topics, selecting the reading materials, the purchasing and shipping of books for the course) took place during the fall semester. The course was taught (and coordinated) during the spring semester by two local professors. Approximately one-third of both the classes were conducted by visiting professors from the U.S. or Western Europe, experts in a given topic. In 1993, the course introduced to the curricula of the region's universities was entitled The Social Construction of Democracy and was taught in Budapest, Prague, and Warsaw. The 1994 course, Political Sociology, took place in two separate universities in Sofia (Sofia University and New Bulgarian University) as well as at Comenius University in Bratislava. Another course entitled Modern Political Ideologies, was introduced at Trnava University in Slovakia in 1994. A course entitled The Political Theory of Ethnicity and Minority was introduced into the curriculum of Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. The program of Collaborative Courses was superceded, over time, by the Teaching Partnerships initiative.