The 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is a good moment to move these discussions forward. How can we think more systematically about the last three decades of political, economic and social change across Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union? Thirty years are a time span that can be conceptualised as a set of legacies, too. What types of trajectories have emerged, and how have the choices and experiences of the early post-1989 or post-1991 period shaped subsequent developments?

The ZOiS Conference 2019 will explore these legacies of post-socialism, with a particular focus on the role of youth and generational change, liberal values and conceptions of Europe, as well as city architecture and everyday life in urban settings. Additionally, a panel discussion will concentrate on conceptual issues arising from the experiences of Eastern Europe over the last thirty years, including the terminology “post-socialism“, “post-communism“, and “Global East”. As in previous years, each panel and interactive discussion at the ZOiS Conference will bring together perspectives from different academic disciplines.

The ZOiS Conference will culminate in a keynote lecture by Ivan Krastev from the Centre of Liberal Strategies, Sofia.

 EVENT RECORDING KEYNOTE 

9.00 am Registration

9.30 am Welcome

9.45–11.15 am Panel 1

Post-Socialist European Identity –
Hopes and Disillusionment

Poland and Europe: the Dynamics of Memory
Joanna Wawrzyniak (University of Warsaw)
Social Impacts of Post-Socialist Transition
Mitchell Orenstein (University of Pennsylvania)
Russia and the European Promise
Regina Heller (Universität Hamburg)

Discussant: Jörg Forbrig (German Marshall Fund, Berlin)
Chair: Regina Elsner (ZOiS)

11.15–11.45 am Coffee Break

11.45 am–1.15 pm Panel 2

Youth and Authoritarian Regimes –
Eastern Europe in Comparative Perspective

Legislative and Institutional Backgrounds of Public Policy
for Patriotic Education in Contemporary Russia
Anna Sanina (HSE, Saint Petersburg)
A New Generation? Comparing the Political and
Social Values of Youth in Eastern Europe
Félix Krawatzek (ZOiS)
Protests Without Politics? Young People’s Perspectives on
‘the Political’ in North Africa and West Asia (NAWA) since 2011
Christoph Schwarz (Philipps-Universität Marburg)

Discussant: Stefan Kirmse (Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient ZMO)

1.15–2.00 pm Lunch

2.00–3.30 pm Parallel Discussion Sessions: The Post-Socialist City

Room 1
City of the Future?

Astana (Nur-Sultan) as an Example of the “Eurasian City”
Philipp Meuser (Architect and publisher, Berlin)
The Trials to Achieve Modernity and Middle-Class-ness
in Astana’s New Housing Projects
Alima Bissenova (Nazarbayev University)

Chairs: Tsypylma Darieva and Beate Eschment (both ZOiS)

Room 2
Lviv – A Borderland City?

Jimi Hendrix – Or Literary Perspectives on Lviv
Andrey Kurkov (Ukrainian novelist and scriptwriter, Kyiv)
Lingering Legacies, or: Why Post-Communism Is Not Enough
Tarik Cyril Amar (Koç University, Istanbul)

Chairs: Nina Frieß and Sabine von Löwis (both ZOiS)

Room 3
Post-Soviet Monocities

Slavutych – The Last Soviet Nuclear City’s Promises
Ievgeniia Gubkina (NGO Urban Forms Center, Kharkiv)
Visaginas – Expiring Identity of a Nuclear Town. What’s Next?
Marija Dremaite (Vilnius University)

Chairs: Nadja Douglas and Sabine von Löwis (both ZOiS)

3.30–4.00 pm Coffee Break

4.00–5.00 pm Panel Discussion

Post-Socialism, Post-Communist Transition, Global East? –
Conceptualizing Legacies of Change since 1989

Margarita Balmaceda (Seton Hall University)
Juliane Fürst (ZZF Potsdam)
Tatjana Thelen (Universität Wien)

Chair: Gwendolyn Sasse (ZOiS)

5.00–6.00 pm Poster Session: Postgraduate Student Projects

6.30–8.00 pm Keynote Lecture

Imitation and its Discontents ‒
Reflections on the Politics of Resentment in Eastern Europe

Ivan Krastev (Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia)

8.00–9.30 pm Reception