The crisis of the Left in post-Communist Europe: reasons and consequences

Conference Program

25th of April 2024

09h30 Opening Speech

Jean-Michel De Waele (CEVIPOL, Université Libre de Bruxelles)

09h45 Session 1 – Ethno-Nationalism and Conservatism from the Left

• Michel Perottino (Charles University, Prague) - At the Roots of the Current Transformation of the Czech Communist Party
• Gianmarco Bucci (Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa) - Political Cooperation and Ideological Convergence between the Bulgarian Left and Radical Right
• Alexis Chapelan (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris and University of Bucharest) - The Romanian left and the murky legacy of sexual nationalism: the case of the Social Democratic Party
• Liridona Sijarina (Central European University, Budapest) - Shifting Realities, Shifting Ideologies. Vetëvendosje’s Ideology between Ethno-nationalism, Anti-establishment and Neoliberalism

12h00 Lunch Break

13h30 Session 2 – Extra-Parliamentarian Left

• Alexandra Iancu (University of Bucharest), Cristian Preda (University of Bucharest) & Sorina Soare (Università degli Studi di Firenze) - New Progressive Agendas or Radical Left Populisms? Exploring the Ideological Features of the Romanian Extra-Parliamentary Left-Wing Parties
• Jordan Jorgji (Fan S. Noli University, Korçë) - Albanian centrist-left gap and progressive parties: a comparative approach of the Hashtag Initiative and the Movement Together
• Gleb Koran (University of Gothenburg) - (Post)-Soviet ressentiment in Russian Left YouTube – Between Hegemony and Counterhegemony

15h00 Coffee Break

15h15 Session 3 – New Left

• Ivaylo Dinev (Centre for East European and International Studies, Berlin) - Historical processes and the left in CEE
• Antony Todorov (New Bulgarian University) - Is There a Place for New Progressive Left in Bulgaria?
• Veronika Pfeilschifter (Institute for Caucasus Studies Jena/ZOiS Berlin) - The emergence of the new left in Georgia: An ethnographic portray of three ‘post-Soviet’ generations

17h00 End

26th of April 2024

09h30 Session 4 – Case Studies

• Liutauras Gudžinskas (University of Vilnius) - Are there any social-class differences between the left and the rest Lithuanian political parties’ parliamentary representatives?
• Bartosz M. Rydliński (UKSW, Warsaw) - Social democracy without the people. Case study of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD)
• Amer Kurtović & Sara Arslanagić (International Burch University, Bosnia and Herzegovina) - Economic Policies of Left-Wing and Right-Wing Political Parties in the Post-Yugoslav Space: A Quantitative Text Analysis
• Nemanja Stanimirovic (University of Belgrade) - With market against nationalism. Nebojša Popov and the ideological transformation of Serbian Left in the 1990s
• Adam Ostolski (University of Warsaw) - Anti-communist hegemony and the making of political cleavage in Poland

12h00 Lunch Break

13h30 Session 5 – Crisis of the Left

• Tomáš Cirhan & Mattia Collini (Charles University, Prague) - Between resilience and irreversible decline, the case of the crisis of the left in the Czech Republic (KSČM and ČSSD)
• Renata Treneska-Deskoska (University Ss Cyril and Methodius, Skopje) – From Success to the Crisis of the Left in North Macedonia after 2017
• Balázs Brucker (University of Pécs) - The Fourth Failure of the Hungarian Left: how is it still possible?

15h30 Discussion and Concluding Remarks