The end of communism, the Cold War, and apartheid, as well as the democratization taking place in Latin America, have not only made possible an unprecedented and massive experiment in the building of a democratic order, but have opened up a most extraordinary intellectual opportunity: to grasp and to compare what had previously been neither graspable nor comparable. One successful effort to seize that opportunity has been taking place each summer since 1992 at a hillside castle outside Cracow, Poland: the Democracy & Diversity Summer Institute, an intensive 3-week program of post-graduate seminars that concentrate on the critical issues of democracy and democratization in specific societal, political, and cultural contexts. The Institute is designed to bring post-graduate students and junior faculty -- mostly from countries that are undergoing democratic transition (with a small contingent from the U.S.) -- into the broader discourse of the academic community of the world at large, and into fruitful contact and conversation with one another. The Institute is one of the most lively and fertile projects of a much broader year-round effort to assist universities in the new democracies not only to build a viable system of education and research in the social sciences, but to reach out beyond academia through initiatives that strengthen civil society. This effort has been underway since the spring of 1990, when the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research launched its East & Central Europe Program (ECEP). With the help of constant feedback from our counterparts in the region, ECEP focused on developing new approaches to academic assistance and support while addressing the specific needs of a region in the unique environment of transition. Among these new approaches was the Democracy & Diversity Summer Institute in Cracow.

We have designed and conducted our annual Institute in the conviction that social science scholars constitute an important link in the democratization process, and that their urgent task is to prepare a new generation of researchers, civic activists, political leaders, media and policy experts committed to the ideas of free expression, open inquiry and tolerance that are basic to the functioning of civil society.

1. Democracy and Diversity Summer Institute in Cracow

Przegorzaly Castle, just outside of Cracow, Poland, provides the setting for this annual forum in which an international community of 50 young scholars and activists meet to study and rigorously discuss democratic ideals and institutions as they relate to national identity, gender, and ethnic and religious diversity. The Democracy and Diversity Institute's curriculum includes seminars, workshops, guest lectures, field trips, and special events. The program provides opportunities for engagement with leading American and European scholars, as well as exposure to ideas, debates and texts which -- given the extreme shortage of resources in the universities and other intellectual and cultural institutions in the region -- are often still unavailable to many young intellectuals in East and Central Europe. The intensive academic program -- equivalent to a full semester of graduate study in the U.S. -- is augmented by a number of special guest lectures by journalists, writers and other public figures from Poland and the region -- leading intellectuals often directly involved in the processes of transition, and democratic participation. The Democracy and Diversity Institute expands the flow of information across national, regional, and continental boundaries and it opens an invaluable window through which participants can see the similarities between their own and other countries. Through the sharing of specific experiences, parallels become illuminated and participants are able to develop new approaches to their problems at home. For the organizers and faculty of the Institute, it has been deeply rewarding to see young Czechs and Slovaks, Ukrainians and South Africans, Serbs and Croats working together to find answers to the hard problems faced by their new countries.

2. Evolution of the Institute (1992 -1997)

Growth and change are inherent in the mission of any institute based on a commitment to democracy and diversity. The work of our summer gatherings is a two-way learning process, a sharing that has changed the ECEP as much as it transformed the work and research of the participants from the region. As a result, over the course of six years, the program has expanded in both the diversity of its participants' political and intellectual backgrounds, and the scope of 'emerging democracies' which are discussed. A growing focus on the issues of democracy as such has led naturally to a geographic expansion that required a broader mantle (both within the Cracow curriculum, and in the work of ECEP as a whole). Extending the Cracow seminar topics to include South Africa's transition, for example, which first took place at the 1996 Institute, has greatly added to the comparative perspectives possible. Considerations of the shape of democracy in such countries as Israel, Peru and Argentina.

 It is the participants themselves that best reflect the gradually widening scope of the Institute, as it is their presence that makes in-depth comparison and exchange of perspectives possible. Geographically speaking, the Institute has been able to bring young scholars and leaders to Cracow from a growing number of East European countries, including the Caucasus, countries of the former Yugoslavia, Central Asia, South Africa and Israel, and also to attract Canadians and Latin American students studying at U.S. universities. We also see a greater diversity in the backgrounds and prior experience of the participants. First, while originally the Institute drew graduate students in the social sciences, from Central Europe and the U.S., increasingly its participants are junior faculty, already teaching or preparing to teach courses at their home universities on the subjects they explore during the Institute -- and the program is specifically designed to assist them in developing curricula. In addition to gaining a solid background in current theories and debates in the social sciences, there is the chance to gain extensive bibliographic material for future use, and exposure to a variety of new teaching methods. Second -- a reflection of the great strides civil society has made in the region -- many more Institute participants in the last two years are both scholars and activists in the NGO world -- working in or even developing new NGOs in their own countries. Here the weeklong Public Policy Workshop, which has been part of the Institute's program each year, becomes especially important. The workshop focuses on the practical processes by which citizen groups influence public policy formation; and it becomes both richer and more necessary, the greater the experience of its participants.

In the six years since the Summer Institute's inception, great changes have taken place in the countries from which the participants come. The questions that policy-makers, advisors and NGO activists must focus on are changing as well -- highly complex issues come to the fore that were previously glossed over, or simply nonexistent in totalitarian societies. The Cracow Institute's curriculum is shaped by these changes as well. Issues pertaining to the presence of ethnic or racial minorities within newly drawn borders; of migration, identify formation, and the role of gender in society are by no means restricted to 'emerging' democracies. The need for rigorous comparative analysis will continue to affect the growth of the program -- now within the scope of the Transregional Center for Democratic Studies (TCDS).

1. Participants

The 48 participants in this year's program came to Cracow from 20 countries, 4 continents, and 35 institutions--from a striking diversity of political and cultural contexts which included the Balkan states, Republics of the former Soviet Union, North and South America, Israel and South Africa, and the Baltic and Central European states. There were 7 participants from the USA, 1 from Argentina, 1 from Bosnia, 2 from Bulgaria, 1 from Canada, 2 from Croatia, 2 from Czech Republic, 2 from Estonia, 3 from Hungary, 3 from Kazakhstan, 3 from Kyrgyzstan, 1 from Latvia, 2 from Lithuania, 2 from Macedonia, 5 from Poland, 4 from Romania, 2 from Russia, 1 from Slovakia, 2 from South Africa, and 2 from Yugoslavia.The participants were accepted into the program after an intensive selection process which focused on academic achievement as well as active community involvement. This year's mix of scholars, junior faculty and activists included individuals working within governmental or non-governmental research institutes and policy advising bodies, such as the OMRI Institute, South Africa's Human Sciences Research Council, UNDP, Soros Foundation branches, and the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Several had been active in feminist and anti-war groups in their countries, including a member of the Belgrade organization Women in Black. Others had a special concern with immigrant and minority issues, including aid to Bosnian refugees, and to the Russian minority in the newly independent Balkan States. In addition, in response to the 1997 seminar offered on the Politics of Culture, several participants joined us with a strong background in cultural and arts organizations within their countries -- two working at branches of the Poland's National Museum.

 Again, the group of participants who gathered this past summer is indicative of change and development in the Cracow program: they were on the whole a more mature and experienced group of scholars -- and seminar discussions reflected this maturity. In many cases they were individuals with previous international experience, having either studied outside their home countries in an English-speaking context, or having participated previously in (live or electronic) international conferences.

2. Curriculum

The Democracy and Diversity Institute's formal curriculum consists of four graduate-level seminars (students choose two in which to enroll), a workshop focusing on public policy, a program of special guest lectures delivered by journalists, writers, and other public figures, and group visits to sites of cultural and historical interest in Cracow and its environs. Here are the major curriculum components of the 1997 Institute:

 Seminars

Nation, Identity and Community

Professors: Shlomo Avineri, Dept. of Political Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel; Elzbieta Matynia, Committee on Liberal Studies, Graduate Faculty, NSSR, New York; Aristide Zolberg, Dept. of Political Science, NSSR, New York; Ira Katznelson, Dept. of Political Science, Columbia University, New York; Alex Grigorievs, NDI, Moscow.

Whether defined as philosophical concept, ideology, attitude, or a group's state of mind, nationalism has been a major force during the last two centuries, leading to successive reconfigurations of the world map. This seminar discussed the origins of modern nationalism both in the Enlightenment and in the romantic movement, surveyed the current social science literature, and looked at various approaches to the study of nationalism as an historical phenomenon. The reemergence of nationalism in some post-communist societies was also examined on both the social and the ideological level. It also explored the impact of the relatively recent phenomenon of mass migrations, the incorporation of immigrants in western societies, and the emergence of a transnational civil society.

The popularity and success of the seminar demonstrated the centrality of issues of nationalism, identity, and community for scholars and activists in developing democracies. This seminar was filled beyond capacity, and participants who could not enroll attended in addition to their own courses. Several of the seminar's participants made plans for a follow-up conference in 1998, which will focus specifically on these topics--an outgrowth of the seminar's discussions and energy.

The teaching of the course followed a team format--five professors took part--which has worked well in past years, allowing for in-depth case studies, and exposure to a range of theoretical approaches. This year we had the honor of two very special visits (of one week each) from New School professors Aristide Zolberg and Ira Katznelson. Each taught sessions of the seminar, tying in material from their areas of specialty--including the impact of recent mass migrations, the incorporation of immigrants in Western societies, and a detailed textual analysis of Locke. Together with Professor Shlomo Avineri of Hebrew University, they brought to this seminar a breadth of knowledge which many students remembered as the highlight of the entire 1997 program.

Citizenship and Continuity in Democratic Politics

Professor David Plotke, Dept. of Political Science, Graduate Faculty, NSSR, New York

How can democratic practices and institutions be sustained? This is an urgent question in newer democracies and in many more established democracies as well. To try to answer this question this seminar examined relations between citizenship and democratic continuity. How should we understand the concept and practice of citizenship? What should citizens do to sustain a democratic polity? On what do citizens need to agree for democratic politics to continue over time? Together participants examined possible sources of democratic continuity in law, civic commitments, and political values and looked at areas of sharp contention where democratic continuity may be at risk.

While it varies each year in its focus, this course is one of the Institute's staples. It introduces theories of citizenship and democratic politics, provides materials for introductory political science courses that some participants will teach at their home universities. This year Professor Plotke's seminar addressed the urgent question of how democratic practices and institutions can be sustained, both in newer and more established democracies. To this end, participants examined the relationship between citizenship and democratic continuity. Using case studies and basic theoretical texts as background reading, the seminar examined possible sources of democratic continuity in law, civic commitments, and political values--especially in areas of sharp contention, where democratic continuity may be at risk. As engaging as the subject matter was Professor Plotke's dynamic, interactive teaching style, which involved seminar participants through role-playing, the creation of hypothetical scenarios, and an expectation of significant 'audience participation'.

Politics of Culture in Repressive and Liberal Regimes

Prof. Jeffrey Goldfarb, Dept. of Sociology, Graduate Faculty, NSSR

In the course the politics of culture was studied as it had manifested itself in East Central Europe and in America. Special attention was given to how the Communist project of politicizing art has effected cultural life in that part of the world. The social bases of independent public expression in a communist context was explored. The implications of turning off the censor was examined, and the long term legacies in the post communist context of the systematic political control of culture was appraised. Comparisons were also made between the systematic distortion of cultural life by international markets and totalitarian politics. The goal of the course was to arrive at an understanding of the situation of culture after the fall of communism.

Theories of Gender in Culture

Prof. Ann Snitow, Committee on Gender Studies and Feminist Theory, Graduate Faculty, NSSR

Now in its sixth year, this course keeps changing to include developing debates, from both East and West, about the ways in which gender structures social and political life. This summer, the course introduced a wide range of discourses about male and female as key variables in both private and public experience. Participants discussed a variety of feminist movements - both their theories and practices - including a critical assessment of the current globalization of feminist ideas and action.

Also offered each year, this course keeps changing to include developing debates, from both East and West, about the ways in which gender structures social and political life.

The title of this seminar, emphasizing theory, does not adequately capture its true scope and mission. The material is controversial, the class at the same time one of the smallest and most exciting at the Institute. From the start, many participants feel the need to openly distance themselves from the subject matter addressed in Professor Snitow's course, stating that they are not "that kind of person," or that these are not problems in their countries. Conversely, a number of participants have sought out the Institute specifically for the opportunity to study under Ann Snitow.

It is in just this setting that the remarkable nature of Professor Snitow's work becomes evident. In addition to the seminar, Professor Snitow brings to Cracow an exhaustive library of critical source material in the field -- books, journal articles and bibliographies, most of it otherwise unavailable to the participants. This resource, combined with the seminar itself, and extensive outside contact and discussion with feminist groups working in Cracow, makes for a transformative experience for many of those who participate -- scholars who are doing or will be pioneering work in the field of gender studies in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Public Policy Workshop

Public Policy, Citizen Involvement & Communications

Instructor: Elaine Zimmerman, Executive Director, Connecticut Commission on Children

This workshop addressed several major policy issues in contemporary North America and Europe such as child care, education, and social welfare. Participants looked at the practical side of policy making, turning good ideas into legislation, how policy becomes law and how to ensure that good policy is financed in state budgets, enacted, and evaluated. What are the outcomes of a policy and how can law be improved over time for the public good? Public policy is a democratic process with citizen participation, discourse, and public expectations of elected officials within government who turn policy into law. In the workshop strategy, methods of citizen involvement and use of the media to bolster public awareness of policy issues were discussed.

The Public Policy Workshop is offered each year for one week--in addition to the normal course load--to address the needs of those interested in active citizen participation. In its Cracow '97 incarnation, the workshop focused on methods of citizen involvement and use of the media to bolster public awareness of major policy issues including child care, education, and social welfare. As always, Elaine Zimmerman approached these issues from a practical angle (that of the policy-maker), discussing how good ideas can be turned into legislation, how to ensure that good policy is financed in state budgets, enacted, and evaluated, and how law can be improved over time. With an eye toward future work, the course provides valuable tools and an extensive pack of source materials on public policy.

3. Evaluation of the Curriculum

We asked participants of the 1997 Summer Institute to tell us how the participation in the Cracow seminars and workshops has affected them, and how it will impact their research, teaching, and NGO activities.

As mentioned, Professor Ann Snitow's course on Theories of Gender in Culture was described by several participants as a transforming experience in their careers. What Professor Snitow brings to Cracow each summer is not simply an introduction to theory--including the tools and language of feminist and gender theory, and a chronology of its development. She also provides a special understanding of the different dynamics surrounding gender studies in two very different contexts: East and West. The course material and Snitow's approach enable participants to reach across this gap; but also to focus on gender issues as they are manifest in their own societies. This year's participants have been greatly inspired by the seminar's content and Ann Snitow's energy and conviction. Pawel Leszkowicz called the seminar a "crucial experience in my university career" and then added,

 Although I had searched for a sophisticated course in gender studies for years in both Poland and Britain, I only found it in the class of Professor Ann Snitow, who taught us with competence and passion. ... [it] opened new vistas in my explorations of art, that foreground the questions of sexual, national, ethnic and social identity which form part of my doctoral research and publications for Poland's leaders arts journal Magazyn Sztuki

The reticence on the part of many Central and Eastern European students to embrace gender as a legitimate topic for study has not disappeared; but this year two developments led a wider group to seriously consider gender-related questions. The conflicting approaches of Professors Ann Snitow and Jeff Goldfarb on certain issues--"feminism after socialism" in particular--led to the organization of an extra, joint evening session at which the two professors and their seminar participants met for a focused discussion on gender issues. The session took place in the Chimera Cafe in Cracow's Old Town (which had become the favorite meeting place for many Institute participants). This after-hours debate was a great success; and in fact it suggested a new model of cross-seminar exchange and discussion, which may be pursued in future years. Several participants commented that this format was particularly valuable as it "made it easier to develop linkages between various classes" and to gain exposure to material and issues in those seminars they didn't attend.

The second unique aspect of this year's seminar was that an openly gay couple from Poland attended the Institute, one of whom took part in this course. The East and Central European context of the Institute alone makes this worth mention. It influenced the overall experience for everyone involved by bringing a meaningful element of diversity to the Institute. Jasenka Hadzikadunic of Bosnia wrote to us later: "I am only glad that I have met persons who are not afraid to talk about their homosexuality." While an atmosphere of diversity and mutual respect has always been central to the Cracow program, Pawel Leszkowicz's and Tomasz Kitlinski's participation noticeably enriched or changed the quality of our discussions, our sense of the Institute's mission, and our pride in the environment of mutual support created.The overwhelming reaction of participants to the workshop in public policy this year was a request for "earlier, and more!" One inevitable shortcoming of the three-week Democracy and Diversity Institute is the painful lack of time; and this is especially noticed at the one-week long Policy Workshop. Participant Vanda Perovic, who works for the Women's Studies Center in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, found the workshop

 ... exceptionally useful and enlightening: it showed us how to practically implement the ideals of a democratic society. This is a field we all lack personal experience and knowledge in. ... [Elaine] showed us that there are certain skills that can be learned in order to foster democratic participation. I hope to use some of the skills taught in order to improve our public relations at the Women's Studies Center in Belgrade, and to make gender issues more present in the media.

 Comments of Agnieszka Chmielewska, who came to the Institute from the National Museum in Warsaw, Poland, illustrate widely-shared enthusiasm this year for the course Nation, Identity and Community:

 I appreciated most Professor Avineri's lectures ... specifically his interdisciplinary approach to the question of nationalism, which included problems drawn from the fields of history of culture, and history of ideas. His setting of all these problems within the framework of European history (especially Central and Eastern European) and the traditions of different empires (Austro-Hungarian, Russian) was fascinating.

Agnieszka Zembrzuska, also of Poland, made the following generalization about the overall effect of a seminar that included disparate approaches and historical examples:

 The class on nationalism gave me the opportunity to trace back some of the greatest world national conflicts, and to put it roughly, not to perceive history as a battle between Good and Evil. Tolerance teaches us that the needs of each side of the conflict should be respected, and compromise is the most wanted solution to any conflict arising out of national interests.

 Many of the students who attended David Plotke's course on Citizenship and Continuity in Democratic Politics pointed to the importance of his dynamic, audience-participation approach to teaching. Such methods were new to many of the participants, who saw them as a possible model for their own development as instructors. Cristina Stanoiu, who teaches at the Law Faculty in Bucharest, Romania, explained:

Professor Plotke's course has proved very useful to my work not only because it provided the theoretical background I need to deliver a course to the undergraduate students of the Political Science Faculty, but also because the teaching methodology used successfully combined lecturing with more learner- and skills-oriented methods.

Speaking to the program as a whole, Vanda Perovic of Belgrade mentioned an aspect of the curriculum that it is important to touch on:

I would like to say that I appreciate how the professors have tried to show us the problems that democratic societies face, as well as the advantages of such a system - and how the struggle for a democratic society has been a long and difficult one.

A number of students were able to describe how they envision using the materials and approaches encountered at the Institute. Agnieszka Zembrzuska of Poland explained:

 My objective is to transmit the knowledge acquired in the course (Nation, Identity, Community and Citizenship and Continuity in Democratic Politics) to the staff and students of the Faculty of Philosophy and Sociology, Maria Sklodowska-Curie University in Lublin, Poland.What was of special benefit to us, East Europeans, was the workshop "Pubic Policy, Citizen Involvement and Communications" as in many ways we lack the "art of associating" (de Tocqueville) -- of helping ourselves and others through civic involvement. I intend to transmit to my students the reader which Ms. Elaine Zimmerman carefully prepared, with many texts written specifically for the Cracow Institute.

The Summer Graduate Institute of the highest intellectual level was a crucial step in my academic life. Thanks to the participation in the Institute, I have developed my research and improved my teaching skills, which will allow me to assist in transforming the curricula and instruction methodology at my Faculty of Philosophy and Sociology.

4. Guest lecturers

For the participants, the Cracow Institute's guest lectures are an opportunity to meet with leading intellectuals who have lived through a period of great change in their society -- be it Poland, Israel or South Africa. They share with the participants their particular insights as scholars on the growth of democratic structures -- and also their personal experience as poets or political activists, engaged in shaping their societies. Special guests who joined us for an evening presentation this year included old friends as well as new:

-Professor Jacek Wozniakowski, Jagiellonian University: A Conversation about Cracow, its Culture and People

-Adam Michnik, historian and Editor-in-Chief of Gazeta Wyborcza: Between Warsaw, Kiev and Moscow: Remarks on the New Political Geography of the Region.

-Professor Dirk Van Zyl Smit, University of Cape Town: Human Rights and the Criminal Justice System in the South African Transformation

-Professor Shlomo Avineri, Hebrew University: The East European Roots of Israeli Democracy

-Professor Zbigniew Pelczynski , Oxford University: Introducing a Summer School for Young Leaders near Warsaw

-Czeslaw Milosz, Nobel Laureate: An Evening of Poetry and Conversation

Professor Wozniakowski is a well-loved figure in the Cracow intellectual and artistic community--a professor of art history at Jagiellonian University, and former 'President' of the city of Cracow. We were very lucky to have him introduce us to the city shortly after the program got underway. His informal, anecdotal talk on the history and cultural life of Cracow gave us a glimpse of the city we could not have gotten on our own: a feeling for Cracow as a place, historically, for intellectual and cultural activity even during times of serious censorship in Poland. Participants carried this unique feeling with them through the city, gravitating toward the atmospheric cafes in the city's old town for discussions and even class meetings. Most strikingly, Professor Wozniakowski brought alive the image of the city as a vast public square, situated on a crossroads between many diverse cultures. This, he described, was the central rynek of the 16th and 17th century in Cracow: a town square where individuals from Asia, Russia, Western Europe and Scandinavia, from the Middle East and Central Europe, gathered to trade--and to lose their shoes, silk or wood, in the mud (discovered only recently in excavations beneath the square). His talk struck a chord with the participants on so many levels, and set a tone for explorations into the Old Town. Professor Shlomo Avineri of Hebrew University in Jerusalem delivered a public lecture (which has become a favorite annual event) on the roots of modern Israeli democracy in the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe.

Adam Michnik's annual talk is also a tradition of the Summer Institute--and his visit is a live complement to discussions on citizen responsibility and action. Michnik is a Polish intellectual and political writer who chose to play a leading role in the struggle for democratic change in Poland and the Eastern Bloc, and who continues to do so after his transition as the controversial editor of Poland's leading paper. During his talk he addressed the (controversial, naturally) question of relations between Poland and Russia. He stressed the importance of strengthening these relations, and of recognizing the international importance of the Warsaw-Kiev-Moscow triangle. During a special reception that followed his lecture, participants had the chance to talk with Michnik at length. Another evening during the Institute was devoted to a visit and reading by Polish poet and Nobel Laureate Czeslaw Milosz, who comes each year to share his work with the program's participants and to speak with them in the informal but elegant setting of the castle's baszta. After reading from his own poetry and from the work of Wyslawa Szymborska (Polish poet and recent Nobel Laureate), he stayed to answer our questions about his life and poetry. Milosz has become a quintessential figure at the yearly institute. Perhaps more than any other visitor to the program, he embodies the spirit and goals of the Democracy and Diversity Summer Institute: indeed, he was born and raised in Lithuania, is a resident of the United States, and has written all his literary works in Polish.

 Reflecting on the poems Milosz read this year, Professor Jeffrey Goldfarb remarked that:

 Milosz portrays a world that still honors love, the simple beauty in remembrance, and human diversity... He embodies the liberating possibilities that art allows; the idea that these are truths people from so many different culture and, historical experiences can appreciate -- all coming together around one table.

Professor Goldfarb described Milosz's poetry, and his presence at the Institute, as "a gift to us.

The New School's President Jonathan Fanton also came to visit the Institute for several days this year. It was a special opportunity for the participants, who were able to ask questions concerning higher education in the U.S., and the activities of the International Helsinki Watch in which he takes part. President Fanton in turn was able to see firsthand the workings of an Institute that the New School has been supporting for more than five years. Most importantly, over meals and during an informal reception, he was able to meet and speak in depth with many of the participants.

5. Cultural Events & Field Trips

In addition to scheduled class time, one day a week was set aside for excursions to sites in and around Cracow. The first such event was an evening tour of the city, which pointed participants to spots they would explore on their own. On a second trip to the Old Town, participants visited the Collegium Maius of the Jagiellonian University (the second oldest university in this part of Europe, founded in 1364). Other events included excursions to the Wieliczka Salt Mines, to Cabaret Pod Baranami, and to Jama Michalika -- a Viennese coffeehouse, evocative of the intellectual and artistic environment which characterizes Cracow's history.

For many participants, visiting the former concentration camp at Auschwitz/Birkenau is the most important activity outside the Institute's academic work, and will remain central to their experience in Poland. The Institute's proximity to this site of deep emotion and historical record provides a powerful context for the program's study of nationalism and issues concerning ethnicity, minority status, and race. Jasenka Hadzikadunic of Bosnia later explained:

Tolerance is a term which has acquired significance in the past five years of my war experiences and refugee life. It is my impression that the goal of the Cracow Summer School was not only to enrich the students with new knowledge, but also to deepened and widen a new moral dimension -- namely, tolerance. It would be ironic for me to say I was glad to visit Auschwitz, but it was very important to me to see the horror factory. Latest events in Bosnia, mass graves being discovered and openness show us that showing to people worldwide the consequences of extreme nationalists is never exaggerated.
 

Every three-week session of the Cracow Summer Institute has its own characteristic feel, or unique qualities. Certainly the 1997 session is memorable for the particularly heightened emotional tenor of that few-week period. This year we gathered just as the unprecedented floods of the past summer began to paralyze large parts of the region--Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. Poland was entering a state of emergency, and suddenly we were witness to the efforts of a citizens to organize a myriad of relief efforts -- the majority of these on the local level. For the participants of the Summer Institute, the floods meant primarily re-routings and delays in arrival; though one of our participants stayed several days to help her family in the Polish city of Wroclaw, which was thoroughly submerged. At the Summer Institute Poland has often been discussed for the examples it provides of grassroots citizen organizing -- the kind of unity under duress for which the country is famous -- and events this year added to that discussion.

 The 1997 Institute was further intensified by the knowledge that it was taking place during a time of significant transition for the East and Central Europe Program -- the ECEP's launch of a new, broader initiative that would extend the Program's work in Central and Eastern Europe to countries in many other regions that also face the challenge of building democratic institutions. Director Elzbieta Matynia was pleased to announce to this summer's participants and guests the creation of the Transregional Center for Democratic Studies (TCDS). By bringing together scholars from 20 countries, the 1997 summer institute already provided an inspiring glimpse into exactly the type of transregional, scholarly exchange that the TCDS will encourage in future years.Planning was also taking place this summer for a newly funded curriculum-building initiative in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Certainly a stream of special visitors and lecturers contributed to the excitement. The New School's President Jonathan Fanton spent almost a full week at Przegorzaly Castle with Institute participants, as did New School Professors Aristide Zolberg, Vera Zolberg, and Ira Katnelson. Dirk van Zyl Smit made a visit from South Africa. After their respective talks, Adam Michnik, Professor Jacek Wozniakowski, and Czeslaw Milosz stayed to speak with participants in the intimate setting that the castle provides. Though incessant rains put a damper on activities for the first two weeks, if anything they heightened the formation of intense personal friendships, so characteristic of this year's Institute.A comment made by Ivica Krasev of Macedonia captured some of this feeling: "I do not even want to talk about the friends I met there," he said, "because it will take a book to describe the feelings they raised inside of me and the knowledge I embraced from each of them about their countries and about human nature."

We must turn to the Cracow participants themselves for an evaluation of the environment created at Cracow, and the usefulness of the academic materials and discussions it provides -- how the three weeks have affected them, and in what ways the experience may continue to impact their work in the future. The participants' input has been important for the growth and development of the program -- and for the organizers it has been deeply rewarding to see the project taking on greater life in each individual who takes part.

 Many participants in this summer's program have told us that the experience changed them profoundly. They attributed this growth to both the academic and interpersonal aspects of the program. For some participants the American-style graduate-level teaching was their first experience with free expression and rigorous thinking in the classroom. This environment, combined with the diversity of the intellectual community, gave participants a broadened cultural knowledge. It also forced them to look critically at their own ideas on society, politics, and culture--ideas which had often centered around a narrow nationalism. Seeing their own beliefs through the eyes of others, through various political and cultural contexts, helped participants tackle the difficult task of challenging fundamental assumptions. Perhaps one of the main reasons for the Institute's impact--and it's highly emotional quality-- is that the issues addressed in the classroom and the lectures represent concrete, urgent concerns in the lives of many of the participants.Two participants, Snjezana Susnjara and Jasenka Hadzikadunic, have lived through the experience of war in the former Yugoslavia and are now beginning to address the question of their future work and life in the years of post-war reconstruction. Snjezana, a Bosnian Croat, had stayed in her home country during the war; for five years, life was literally on hold. Jasenka, a Bosnian Muslim, had escaped the immediate threat of the war as a refugee to the Czech Republic. Their different experiences took discussions of current conflicts based on nationalism and minority identity from the realm of abstraction into immediate reality. We think it is indicative of a strength of the program that the two of them were able to come together in a healing context. Jasenka commented to us:

I am only glad that I met Snjezana Susnjara, who is a Bosnian Croat (I am Moslem myself) ... from the part of Bosnia where fierce clashes were between Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Moslems. Our friendship certainly cannot change the global situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but, surely, it was a great lesson in tolerance.

At the height of the Balkan war, past Institutes did witness tension among participants from the region, which eased gradually over the three weeks as participants worked together. This year friendship seemed easier from the start. One sensed a focus on recovery and a looking to the roles a citizen can play in the rebuilding process. Jasenka writes further that "I can now say that, my stay in Cracow was certainly a motivational injection to continue working on the problem of Bosnian refugees in Czech Republic." As she describes it, this is daunting and truly pioneering work:

The number of people dealing either professionally or on a volunteer basis with immigrants is small. One of the main problems is xenophobia and prejudices towards foreigners due to the 50 years of communist isolation of former Czechoslovakia. ... It was my stay in Cracow, the conversation and experiences I had with various people, that helped me strengthen my conviction and will to keep on working.

This feeling of moving into the long phase of transition building was evident across the board. Sakkie Mpanyane of Pretoria, South Africa wrote to us:

The program has...confronted and challenged some deep suspicions and doubts that I always harbored about people outside my immediate area of socialization, community, and race. Here I refer to my past experiences as a black person in South Africa--that is, to the 'them and us' mentality .... Obviously this will help me to understand the process of change as it unfolds in South Africa.

Cristina Virtopeanu, law student and program coordinator at the British Council in Bucharest, expressed similar sentiments: "This institute certainly raised my cultural awareness and my understanding of the necessity "to civilize differences" not only in the "safe" world of theory but in the real world when you have to communicate and live with people from different backgrounds."

One of the specific features of the Cracow Institute, however, is that it allows a kind of interaction that the 'real world' very rarely provides. It is one in which there are concrete reasons, and substantial time, to interact with people from very different backgrounds: though they may not be from the same academic discipline, age group, or political allegiance, they become colleagues. In such a setting participants feel far more than tolerance and acceptance toward their fellow students: what they describe is the joy that comes from forming close and unexpected ties. American participant Diane Walsh tried to capture the deep impression this had on her:

 By living in a fast-formed but closely woven community, I became emotionally enriched and tied to other scholars, experiencing first-hand the construction of community. Despite the passion of nationalism in Eastern Europe, students easily crossed that boundary and became intellectually and often emotionally connected. I now feel linked to places I have never been, to peoples I do not know and to events I have not experienced. Our discussions never failed to enlarge the space of discourse; and the subjects of that discourse were made painfully urgent as current events, such as the bombing in Jerusalem, and past horrors like Auschwitz became part of our shared experience.

 Wrote Askhat Dukenbayev of Kyrgyzstan,

Frankly speaking. in the beginning the variety of nationalities overwhelmed me. But later I found the people warm and friendly. I believe that such international contacts improve understanding between people and cultures -- and help to exchange knowledge and new ideas around the world.

The participants' feedback about the '97 Institute clearly shows how their close work with colleagues from other countries was not simply a chance to gain exposure to unknown cultures: it also provided them with the rare opportunity to gain new insight into the world they know best. Fiona Melrose, a participant from South Africa, describes it as "a critical self awareness which comes with having to defend or explain one's point of view to someone... to whom it is conceptually alien. These were exciting, unforgettable and invaluable challenges." As Diane Walsh (United States) put it, "We vastly complicated one another's intellectual lives." And Vanda Perovic from Belgrade explained:

The lectures... have enabled me to better understand the origins and complexity of the problems my country has been going through in the last six years. I was also faced with the challenge of rethinking my own identity in the light of the new theoretical knowledge I was exposed to.

Nenad Kocmur of Croatia also described a profound change in his attitude toward his own country. He explained that before coming to the Cracow Summer Institute, he had for some time decided that he wanted to emigrate--to leave his home country of Croatia and move permanently to New Zealand. He credits the Institute for giving him insight into the types of problems faced in countries outside of his region, which led to his discovery of the many things that had been part of his life and his culture in Croatia that he deeply valued. As he says, "I think of all the things that I did receive from my country--an education, health care, a respect for history." Despite his deep worry over nationalist tendencies and the lack of functioning democracy in his own country, he stated on the last day that he had decided not to leave his country; but to live and work within it. We also include here a more lengthy discussion that took place with one of our 1997 Cracow participants, Sakkie Mpanyane of Pretoria, South Africa. Sakkie spoke with us shortly after the three-week session, and we believe his comments help to provide a more detailed look at the interaction between one student's individual background, and the materials and setting provided by the Cracow Institute.