Old News
March 2019
Eurozine published by reflections on the 30th anniversary of the end of the Cold War in an article called “Anxious Europe.”
Why a border change between Serbia and Kosovo is a bad idea and how this debate gained traction in “What could a Serbia-Kosovo border swap achieve?” for New Eastern Europe.
January 2019
Together with Wondemagegn Tadesse Goshu, I wrote an analysis on the transformation of Ethiopia and what lessons can be learnt from Yugoslavia for Foreign Policy.
November 2018
Ethnopolitics published a symposium with my article “Is Nationalism on the Rise? Assessing Global Trends” and comments by Erine Jenne, Zsuzsa Csergö and Siniša Malešević, as well as my response.
July 2018
My article “Patterns of competitive authoritarianism in the Western Balkans,” was published in East European Politics in a special issue on Rethinking ‘democratic backsliding’ in Central and Eastern Europe
March 2018
My article on “The Rise (and Fall) of Balkan Stabilitocracies” was published in Horizons. In addition, I wrote two comments on the EC strategy for Danas and the Serbia-Kosovo dialogue for NIN (in English on the blog)
February 2018
Analyzing the newest EU strategy for the Western Balkans, I wrote a comment for Foreign Affairs, as well as several interviews and statements (DLF, Der Standard, Swedish Radio, Financial Times, Vijesti.ba) .
December 2017
My chapter on “Tourism, Nation-Branding and the Commercial Hegemony of Nation Building in the post-Yugoslav States” was published in Ulrich Ermann and Klaus-Jürgen Hermaniek (eds), Branding the Nation, the Place, the Product. by Routledge.
September 2017
The Routledge Handbook of East European Politics, edited by Adam Fagan, Petr Kopecký was just published by Routledge with a chapter of mine on the Belated Transitions in Southeastern Europe.
May 2017
My chapter on Post-Yugoslav Patterns of Democratization was published in Building Democracy in the Yugoslav Successor States Accomplishments, Setbacks, and Challenges since 1990, edited by Sabrina P. Ramet, Christine M. Hassenstab, Ola Listhaug, with Cambridge University Press.
April 2017
On 28 March, BiEPAG released its latest study on the state of democracy which we presented at the European Parliament in Brussels and subsequently I commented on the study’s findings and Serbian elections for Financial Times, New York Times, Wiener Zeitung, and Spiegel-Online.
March 2017
The Austrian journal Der Donauraum released the special issue Remembrance Culture and Common Histories in the Danube Region I edited following a conference hosted by the IDM in late 2014.
February 2017
My first book chapter on the history of Hvar was published in German as “Die Insel als Provinz. Isolation, Identität und die Beziehungen zum Zentrum in Dalmatien”
December 2016
Early Macedonian elections were of interest as a test case for challenging authoritarian rule, as I wrote in a comment for Balkan Insight. Furthermore, I offered a number of interviews and comments for Economist, VOA, Politico, DW, AFP, Der Standard, Wiener Zeitung (and here), among others.
In addition, I wrote an analysis of the Austrian presidential elections for the New York Times and what is means more broadly for defeating far-right populists in Europe and gave an interview for Der Standard on the Balkan foreign policies of FPÖ candidate Hofer.
November 2016
I presented the final study we wrote at the Centre for the Council of Europe on best practices from a large-scale project on minority empowerment at the local level in Tirana.
Routledge published Negotiating Social Relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Semiperipheral Entanglements, edited Stef Jansen, Čarna Brković, Vanja Čelebičić, in the Series Southeast European Studies I edit, including a response to two chapters I authored.
October 2016
Elections in Montenegro have been putting the question of the state of democracy in the region on the agenda. In addition to some media statements (NZZ, Europe Western Balkans, RFE) and a blog post, I also wrote a comment on it for Balkan Insight.
BiEPAG published the latest policy brief on EU Enlargement in the Western Balkans in a Time of Uncertainty, Marko Kmezić and I co-wrote.
September 2016
I published an article in Die Zeit on Yugoslav and Greek refugees in the Middle East during World War Two, a fascinating story that I have been researching on in archives in New York and Split.
June 2016
In response to the Brexit referendum, I wrote a short analysis for Freedom House what it means for the Balkans, as well as some media statements (Der Standard, NZZ)
May 2016
Here is my take on the Austrian elections for the New York Times, as well as a comment on the larger European context.
April 2016
I have published a few comments and analysis on the early Serbian elections, including a longer analysis for the BiEPAG blog, as well as interviews for the Economist, Deutsche Welle, Tagesschau.de and Tageswoche.
Another topic has been the Dutch rejection of the free trade agreement of the EU with the Ukraine, and what it means for enlargement in the Balkans. See my comment and article in the Serbian daily Politika.
I joined a discussion at Freedom House at the launch of the annual Nations in Transit report on the state of democracy in Eastern and Southeastern Europe.
February 2016
Turkish Weekly carried my analysis on why the Balkans are back on the radar (for all the wrong reasons).
The refugee crisis and Austrian policy in the Balkans was the topic of an interview for the Austrian radio station FM4.
January 2016
Between February and June 2016, I will be on a sabbatical as a visiting fellow at the Remarque Institute of New York University.
December 2015
The article “The Serbia-Kosovo Agreements: An EU Success Story?” was published in
November 2015
The 20th anniversary of Dayton was topic on which I gave media statements for Harpers and Der Standard.
For Radio Free Europe, I wrote my one week diary under the impression of the refugee flow through the Balkans.
October 2015
The refugee crisis dominated this month with interviews for Der Tagesanzeiger, and Swiss Radio.
September 2015
The refugee crisis has dominated this month, including an op-ed for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and Balkan Insight, and discussion for the ORF Europastudio, as well as interviews for numerous media (Bloomberg, NTV, 20 Minuten, Blick)
August 2015
As part of the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BIEPAG), I contributed to the civil society component of the Vienna Western Balkans summit in late August and BIEPAG presented a study on bilateral relations for the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that was mentioned in the final conference statement and also included a declaration on bilateral relations and EU integration signed by all ministers of foreign affairs of the Western Balkans. My notes on the summit are on my blog, as well as in a number of interview for the summit (Der Standard, and here, Kleine Zeitung, N-TV). The study is available here.
The article “The Construction of National Identity and its Challenges in Post-Yugoslav Censuses” was published in a special issue of Social Sciences Quarterly.
The FWF-funded research project on workers in Serbia and Montenegro during the 1980s was discussed in an article in Der Standard.
May 2015
The edited collection “Universities and Elite Formation in Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe,” I co-edited with Harald Heppner has been published in the series Transkulturelle Forschungen an den Österreich-Bibliotheken im Ausland by the Lit-Verlag
The political crisis in Macedonia has been the focus on a few blog posts I wrote and media commentary (for Deutsche Welle, Reuters, also here).
In early May, I presented a “food for thought paper” on “The challenges of Freedom of Expression in the Western Balkans in the
context of EU integration” at a conference organized by the MFA in Albania on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Albania’s membership in the Council of Europe.
At the conference of the ABDOS in Graz, I gave a keynote speech on “Die Krise der Demokratie auf dem westlichen Balkan. Wo liegen die Grenzen der EU-Integration?”
April 2015
At the annual convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities in New York, I presented a paper on “Constructing Inclusive National Identities: The Trajectory of Socialist and Post-Socialist Montenegrin Identity.” It discussed the intellectual debates, mostly during the socialist period about how to define Montenegrin national identity.
The Austrian daily Kleine Zeitung published an article I wrote about provocations of Vojislav Šešelj.
I gave several interviews on the situation in Bosnia, including for Novo Vrijeme, Vijesti.ba and Al Jazeera Balkans and for the Macedonian TV stations Alsat and Telma TV on the political crisis in the country. Der Standard reported about corruption and dubious practices in higher education in Southeastern Europe for which I provided comments and background.
March 2015
Central European University Press Civic and Uncivic Values in Kosovo. History, politics, and value transformation, edited by Sabrina P. Ramet Albert Simkus Ola Listhaug which included a chapter I wrote on “The Serbs of Kosovo”.
February 2015
Democratic backsliding in the Western Balkans has been a key theme. Following a public lecture at LSE in late January, a wrote a blog on 10 rules of Machiavelli for a 21th century Balkan prince that became widely circulated in the region, as well as more detailed analysis for the NZZ and several comments for media, in particular on Macedonia.
December 2014
The Austrian journal Europäische Rundschau published an article on the state of democracy in the Balkans.
The French online journal Regards Sur l’est published an short article on Hvar I wrote as part of a special issue on islands in Eastern Europe.
The Journal Southeast European and Black Sea Studies published a special section I edited on the first multiparty elections in Bosnia in 1990. My introduction is available for free online. This elections was crucial in bringing to power the key protagonists of the Bosnia, but has been insufficiently understood. These articles seek to shed some new light on this key episode .
Following up on our conference on the centenary of the beginning of World War One, I published an op-ed article in Die Presse.
November 2014
In the Europastudio of Austrian television ORF, I discussed new nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe.
October 2014
The edited collection from our conference on the Dissolution of Yugoslavia was published with Ashgate. The book, co-edited with Armina Galijaš and Rory Archer, seeks to offer some new directions in which the research of the dissolution of Yugoslavia can be taken. Glad to have some greatauthors in it, including Eric Gordy and Chip Gagnon, but also Ljubica Spasovska and others.
September 2014
I honored to be joining the advisory board of the Croatian International Relations Review.
Juni 2014
A key theme in media conversations were the floods, for example for Foreign Policy. Another theme has been the EU policy towards the region, on which I gave an interview for the Bosnian weekly Novo Vrijeme, The 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War One also received attention, in particular the controversies over the commemorations, one which I talked about for an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education
An article with Erin Jenne on “Situational Nationalism: Nation-building in the Balkans, Subversive Institutions and the Montenegrin Paradox” in Ethnopolitics.
May 2014
In May I participated in the launch of the policy paper and policy briefs of the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group in Sarajevo and later in Belgrade.
March 2014
I just published an analysis of the authoritarian temptation in Southeastern Europe on the occasion of the Serbian elections in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
February 2014
The protests in Bosnia and Herzegovina created considerable renewed interest in Bosnia and some lively debates. In addition to several analysis (and here) for my blog, quoted in European Voice, several European newspapers (including in Portugal and Spain, and Austria) a contribution to a debate for Balkan Insight, I gave several interviews, including for Le Monde, Radio Free Europe,and another interview in German and also signed an open letter on the protest, signed by a number of academics, published in the Guardian (full text here).
A long analysis of the different protest movements in the Balkans was published by the Council for European Studies at Columbia University, called the New Tragedy of the Commons (written before the protests in Bosnia).
January 2014
I published a comment on the contested nature of the centennial commemoration of World War One for the Austrian daily Die Presse.
December 2013
Oxford University Press published The Milosevic Trial. An Autopsy edited by Timothy William Waters to which I contributed two chapters (Do Historians Need a Verdict? and The Show and the Trial: The Political Death of Milosevic)
The International New York Times published an article on private universities in Eastern Europe to which I contributed a comment.
Eastern Approaches, an Economist blog, mentioned my analysis on the Croatian referendum.
November 2013
Kleine Zeitung published a reportage on the project Skopje 2014.
I was guest on the Graz radio show Die Neue Stadt of Helsinki Radio on the conference Rebellion and Protest from Maribor to Taksim. Social Movements in the Balkans. The podcast is available for download here.
Radio Free Europe and Anadolu News Agency published analyses with my comments on the 18th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
October 2013
The Macedonian daily Dnevnik published an interview with me on Macedonia’s relations with the EU and the larger international context.
In Graz, we launched the Research Advisory Group, a new initiative of the Centre for Southeast European Studies and the European Fund for the Balkans to develop policy suggestions for the Western Balkans.
August 2013
Ö1 ran a detailed reportage “Alma Mater Absurda. Über private Universitäten, fiktive Ehrentitel und dubiose Diplome” on private universities in Southeastern Europe featuring an interview with me.
July 2013
I just published a comment the EU enlargement in the Balkans after Croatia’s EU membership in Die Presse.
June 2013
The Index on Censorship ran a report on the protests in Bosnia including some of my observation.
May 2013
The Taiwan Journal of Democracy published a special issue on power-sharing including one article by myself on “Power Sharing and Democracy in Southeast Europe”
The new Routledge Handbook of Regionalism & Federalism edited by John Loughlin, John Kincaid, Wilfried Swenden includes a chapter “Federalising the Federation’: The Failure of the Yugoslav Experiment” I wrote.
A new edited volume on power-sharing was published edited by Joanne McEvoy and Brendan O’Leary on “The Power Sharing in Deeply Divided Places”, including a chapter by myself “The Balkans: The Promotion of Power Sharing”
April 2013
At the ASN convention, I had the pleasure to be part of an exciting round table discussion on “Scholars as Public Intellectuals Weighing in on History and Politics in East Central Europe” with Katherine Fleming (History, NYU), Timothy Snyder (History, Yale), Kim Scheppele (International Affairs, Princeton), and István Deák (History-Emeritus, Columbia), and Holly Case
The German journal Südosteuropa Mitteilungen features a special section on the recent controversial decisions of the ICTY including a comment by myself on “The ICTY’s Limits: After the Acquittals of Gotovina, Markač and Haradinaj”
After having served as editor-in-chief of Nationalities Papers for four years, I have handed over the job to Peter Rutland. Here some thoughts on my time as editor.
February 2013
The European Parliament published a study on “Mainstreaming Human and Minority Rights in the EU Enlargement with the Western Balkans” to which I contributed.
I participated in a Ditchley Foundation conference “Problems in the Western Balkans: settled or dormant?” with leading policy makers, analysts and diplomats. Here are some notes of mine from the conference.
Recently Perspectives on Politics published a review essay of mine on several books dealing with democratization and popular mobilizations in the Balkans.
January 2013
The German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published an article about a policy paper written by myself and Leon Malazogu. The report was also re-published in a shortened version in Südosteuropa Mitteilungen. The original report, published in October 2012 is available at the website of D4D.
The Serbian weekly NIN published a comment I wrote on a analysis written by Boris Begović. The English version, as well as the original text are available on my blog. My comment triggered further reactions published in NIN and a response also available on my blog.
April 2012
The Centre for Southeast European Studies is launching its new website with news of events, projects and publications: http://www.suedosteuropa.uni-graz.at/en
January 2012
Comment for Anerkennung Sloweniens und Kroatiens vor 20 Jahren „Oder es wird zerfallen“, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 15.1.2012
Article on the Conference Debating the End of Yugoslavia in Graz in Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 11.1.2012.
November 2011
Just published with Soeren Keil ” The Bosnian Crisis and the Independence of Kosovo” in Kosovo: independence, status, perspectives
Interview for Vijesti
Just published: Special issue of Europe-Asia Studies on Unconditional Conditionality? The Impact of EU Conditionality in the Western Balkans
Visit the website of the conference “Debating the End of Yugoslavia” with Podcasts and Photos
Interview for Buka
June 2011
The Western Balkans after the ICJ Opinion in the Chailliot Paper The Western Balkans and the EU: ‘the hour of Europe’ edited by Jacques Rupnik
Interview for the Novi Sad daily Dnevnik.
May 2011
Op-ed in the Austrian daily Die Presse on the arrest of Ratko Mladic: Der Massenmörder, der Held
Interviews for Vecernji List, Glas Srpske, Radio Free Europe, Buka and Slobodna Bosna on the political crisis in Bosnia
March 2011
Op-ed in the Austrian daily Die Presse on the arrest of Jovan Divjak in Vienna: Zur Verhaftung von Jovan Divjak: Der falsche serbische General
Feburary 2011
Op-Ed in the Austrian daily Die Presse on the lessons learnt for the Tunisian democracy movement from Eastern Europe: Was Tunesiens Demokraten von Osteuropa lernen können
October 2010
See new EUI working paper on dual citizenship including my contribution “Dual Citizenship can be a solution, not a problem”.
September 2010
Presentation at a Conference on Power-Sharing in post-Ottoman States (Bosnia, Lebanon and Iraq) in Beirut.
Since 1 September I have taken up the post of Professor for Southeast European Studies at the University of Graz.
July 2010
Articles, comments and debate about funny student exam answers on Yugoslavia and Eastern Europe from my blog.
Comments on the ICJ ruling: Kosovo, Serbia and Bosnia after the ICJ ruling for Open Democracy.
Comment on the ICJ ruling: After the ICJ Opinion: Ways Out of Deadlock for Balkan Insight.
Working Paper on Policing the Peace after Yugoslavia: Police Reform between External Imposition and Domestic Reform published by GRIPS (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies), Tokyo.
Comment on Dual Citizenship can be a solution, not a problem to the EUDO citizenship debate.
April 2010
Op-ed for European Voice with Rosa Balfour on Bosnia fatigue, and how to deal with it
Policy paper for the European Policy Center on Constitutional reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina: preparing EU accession
Interview for BBC Serbian, Stajnberg i Moratinos u BiH, 7.4.2010.
March 2010
Interview for Most, Radio Free Europe: Dodika zanima vlast, a ne otcjepljenje RS
Interview for Radio Free Europe: Ne verujem da Srbija želi da joj Ganić bude izručen, 7.3.2010 (for some of the same arguments in English, see my blog).
February 2010
Chapter “Executive Power-Sharing” in Marc Weller and Katherine Nobbs (eds), Political Participation of Minorities. A Commentary on International Standards and Practice, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Chapter “The Challenges of Democratisation and Human Rights–1998-2008” in Erhard Busek, Björn Kühne (eds), From Stabilisation to Integration. The Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, Vienna-Cologne-Weimar: Böhlau Verlag, 2010, Vol. 1, 33-44.
Chapter “Granice stvaranja drzave: Da li Bruxellesu dovoljan Dayton?” in Helmut Kurth (ed.), Bosna i Hercegovina – 2014. Gdje zelimo stici?, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung 2009. (click here to download book)
January 2010
Interview for the Bosnian weekly Slobodna Bosna on constitutional changes and the current crisis in Bosnia
A special issue of Global Society on the Global Impact of 1989 was just which I co-edited with Holly Case.
December 2009
A comment for Balkan Insight on the situation in Bosnia: Dayton Bosnia May Be Over – But What Next?
Just published with Sören Keil an article on power-sharing in the Balkans: Power-Sharing Revisited: Lessons Learned in the Balkans?, Review of Central and East European Law, Vol. 34, No. 4, 2009 , pp. 337-360(24)
November 2009
Interview for Radio Kosova is available on the radio website.
Interview for Radio Dukagjin, Kosovo was just published on Telegrafi.com
The blog entry on Butmir was just re-published in Bosnia at Buka.
Just published with Jenni Winterhagen an article on Montenegro in Südosteuropa: Erst der Staat – dann die Nation: Staats- und Nationsbildung in Montenegro, Südosteuropa, Vol. 57, No. 1 (2009), 2-24.
Gave a talk at the Harriman Institute of Columbia University on 16 November “The End of Dayton Bosnia?” about the failure of the Butmir talks and the false weight given to constitutional reforms by international actors.
September 2009
The Final Report of the King Baudoin Foundation’s Minority Rights in Practice has just been published.
August 2009
Article on confidence building in the post Yugoslav states for Austrian TV-Radio Webportal in German entitled Vertrauen als Kriegsopfer.
Commentary on a report on how to reform higher education in the UK ‘Quality control’ is the problem, not the solution in the Times Higher Education.
June 2009
New Article: “Territory, Identity and the Challenge of Serbia’s EU Integration,” Wolfgang Petritsch, Goran Svilanovic, Christophe Solioz (eds), Serbia Matters: Domestic Reforms and European Integration (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2009).
As for April 2009, I have been named editor in chief of Nationalities Papers. As part of the changes since taking over, the journal is receiving a new visual identity, changing its description. Submission are welcome!
May 2009
Op-ed commentary with Gülnur Aybet on the visit of the US vice president Joe Biden to the Balkans for Newsweek/Washington Post PostGlobal website, 27.5.2009.
Interview for Radio Free Europe on the third anniversary of Montenegro’s Independence, 22.5.2009
April 2009
Interview for Radio Kosovo, 30.4.2009
New Article: “Serbien zwischen Europa und Kosovo. Politische Entwicklungen seit der Unabhängigkeitserklärung” Südosteuropa, Vol. 56, No. 3, 2008
Comments for Koha Ditore on the case at the ICJ over Kosovo’s declaration of independence. For an English version, see the blog.
March 2009
Interview for the Blog East-Central Europe Past and Present
Talk on How Independent Is Independent: Kosovo, Year One, Peace Studies, Cornell University, 5 March 2009
February 2009
A short article on the first year of independent Kosovo: Kosovo: one year on, Open Democracy
Commentary on an article by Anthony Oberschall, Creating an Ethnic Peace, Sociological Analysis, Vol. 2, 2008, pp. 139-141.
January 2009
I am joining the team of the journal Global Society as Associate Editor. Contributions are welcome!
From January until May I am at Cornell University as the Luigi Einaudi Chair in European and International Studies.
December 2008
Interview for the Bosnian weekly DANI on the political situation in Bosnia and reforms.
Workshop on EU and NATO integration of Bosnia, the final event of the BA funded project with Gulnur Aybet.
Discussion on the Western Balkans with James Lyons for the program Most with Omer Karabeg on Radio Free Europe
November 2008
New publication: Political Parties and Minority particpation, Friedrich Ebert Foundation
Comments regarding reconciliation and ethnic politics in Bosnia for Radio Free Europe
Conference on where Bosnia and Herzegovina is heading by 2014, organized by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Sararjevo
October 2008
Report on the implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities for the Council of Europe, presented in Strasbourg
September 2008
Presentation of a book on power-sharing in Macedonia, the book is available at the FES website in Engish, Macedonian and Albanian.
Commentary on Sonja Biserko’s “The EU and the Serbian Civil Society”, Europe’s World
Florian Bieber's Notes from Syldavia 