Oslo, 26-27 September 2024
Contact person: Eirinn Larsen (eirinn.larsen@iakh.uio.no)
Charles University, Prague, 17-18 October 2024
Small nations and states during the 19th and 20th centuries often perceived themselves as peripheries which were struggling to secure or maintain their cultural and political autonomy in the concert of nations. These balancing acts contained various forms of national strategies, but also seeking contacts and reference points in a larger European context. Particularly, we aim to explore strategies to overcome cultural hierarchies and asymmetrical power relations as well as to investigate entanglements, transfers, and relations between these cultural spaces.
Focusing specifically on the Nordic and central European semi-peripheries, the seminar seeks to facilitate networking between scholars specializing in exploring cultural and political relations between central Europe and Norden. What kind of relations both culturally and politically has been and are currently established? What is the relationship to Europe’s core and “the idea of Europe” seen from Nordic and Central European perspectives?
Potential topics that could be addressed, but are not limited to:
Organizers: Peter Stadius and Jana Lainto (University of Helsinki), Helena Březinová, Tomáš Masař and Jaroslav Ira (Charles University)
Contact person: Jana Lainto (jana.lainto@helsinki.fi)
Copenhagen, 2024
Studying and analysing civil societies has been a permanent part of the research agenda in the Nordic countries the last 30-40 years. Many scholars have brought different theories and methods into this field of study in order to investigate the importance of civil society in a
Nordic context including the role of civil society in the development of the welfare state. Different traditions such as functionalist approaches, system theory or theories embedded in a rationalist conception of action can be found in the Nordic civil society traditions. Others have focused on the concept of civil society. Some has been looking into conceptual historical perspectives and others have chosen a more pragmatist approach. This workshop will investigate some of the different theoretical traditions we can trace in the
Nordic civil society research. We will discuss three issues: 1) What does ‘theorizing’ actually means in different civil society conceptualization and different theories?; 2) Is research in the Nordic countries dominated by one strong paradigm or are different theories competing providing different explanations? Can we even talk about an ‘orthodox consensus’?; 3) What are the consequences for ‘civil society’ that we use different ways of theorizing? Does it have any implications for politics and/or the day-to-day life of ordinary people? Contact: Lars Bo Kaspersen, lbk.mpp@cbs.dk.
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