Entangled Transitions

Entangled Transitions: Between Eastern and Southern Europe, 1960s-2014

 8-10 December 2014

Janseniusstraat 1, Leuven – Belgium

Programma

In under two decades, authoritarian political systems collapsed across Europe – in the south of the continent in the 1970s, and then in the east between 1989 and 1991. Although much work has been done on these processes in each region, and comparative work carried out on post-authoritarian transitions and memories, there has yet to be any sustained scholarship that examines the ‘entangledness’ of these processes in the context of broader European and global processes of the late Cold War and its aftermath. Taking a longue durée approach, this conference will explore these inter-relationships between the 1960s and the present day. 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of state socialism and the 40th anniversary of the beginning of the transition from dictatorship on the Iberian Peninsula and in Greece: an ideal time to consider the relationship between these processes that have been central to modern European history.

Transnational histories of post-war Europe have hitherto been focused on connections between western and eastern Europe, or western and southern Europe, but have paid little attention to east-south exchanges. This event will address the networks through which these linkages emerged (governments, international organizations, expert groups such as economists, exiles, diplomats, cultural groups, dissidents, churches, NGOs and so on), and explore those ideas (e.g. modernization on the periphery, development, authoritarianism, dissidence, human rights, subnational nationalisms, and the relationship to Europe) which gave meaning to those linkages, whether in imagined or real terms.

By analyzing these connections, this conference aims to develop new perspectives on broader developments in international history, such as détente, the end of the Cold War, processes of globalization, regional integration and Europeanization, and democratization

Organization

This conference is organized by a partnership between the Leverhulme Trust-funded ‘1989 after 1989’ project at the University of Exeter and the research group MoSa (Modernity & Society 1800-2000) at KU Leuven, in co-operation with Complutense University of Madrid. The organizing committee is led by James Mark (Exeter), José Faraldo (Complutense) and Kim Christiaens (KU Leuven). The conference is sponsored by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO-Vlaanderen).

Practical Information and programme

The conference will take place from 8 to 10 December 2014 at the Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe (Janseniusstraat 1, Leuven – Belgium). A more detailed programme can be downloaded here.

Registration is compulsory: contact Natalie Taylor (Exeter University) N.H.Taylor@exeter.ac.uk

For questions about the programme, contact Dr. Kim Christiaens (Leuven University) kim.christiaens@arts.kuleuven.be

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