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Call for papers

EUROPE BEFORE AND AFTER 1989
Trans-national and comparative perspectives on Eastern & Western Europe

Anniversary Conference
http://www.cee-socialscience.net/1989/ 

10-12 June 2009, University of Padua, Italy

The Europe-wide impact of 1989 deserves thorough examination. The year was a 
watershed for events, which came in its aftermath: European Union enlargement, trans-
national economics and changing values on both sides of the Berlin Wall. We seek to 
stimulate dialogue and new research projects that the examine changes for actors and 
organizations not just in the region formerly known as Eastern Europe, but equally in 
Western Europe. Indeed, we encourage the examination of the reconfigurations that 
occurred across the world, linking the ‘before’ and ‘after’ of 1989.
We have two aims in mind:
1. To showcase the best new work on the before and after of 1989, especially insofar as 
it enlarges our horizon by offering a comparative perspective, analysing regional 
interdependencies and tracing trans-national impact. Postdoctoral scholars and junior 
faculty are particularly encouraged to apply.
2. To garner continued public and academic attention beyond 2009 by selecting and 
promoting new research programmes that principally would be worthy of post-doc 
mobility stipends or principal investigator awards. In doing so, we suggest to feature 
panels on the trajectory and careers of actors as the preferred means of tracing change 
and continuity across the rupture of 1989.

Open call for panel proposals: Before and after 1989
Panel proposals are solicited on any topic of interest, preferably of trans-national and 
comparative focus. Proposal that demonstrate the significance of 1989 not just for CEE, 
but also for other European regions or for Europe in relation to the world, are welcome. 
Panel organisers should be aware that panels will last 100 minutes (3-5 speakers). 
Participants must hold a PhD (by 31.12.2008). Panel organisers may choose to contribute. 
Co-authored papers are welcome. Panel proposals must have a general abstract and 
provide an abstract for each contribution. The final deadline is 10 January 2009 for 
selection within two weeks. Invited participants will be required to submit a full and 
proofread paper by 30 April 2009. All papers will be distributed with the RN 1989 Working 
Paper Series (ISSN 1867-2833). Please submit your panel proposal as a single file to 
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Call for featured panels: Trajectories of development and adaptation of political, 
economic, and social actors and organizations
Proposals for featured panels are invited on how a) 1989 and subsequent developments 
impacted the position and trajectories of the actors in question b) the strategies 
aforementioned actors used in order to adapt to the new political and economic reality.
To stimulate the development of panel proposals, we pose the following questions:
1. Political actors: How can we assess the role(s) that communist successor parties have 
played in transition politics?  How has the agenda of leftist western parties changed in the 
post-1989 environment?  Conversely, what were the determinants of the political fortunes 
of the former anticommunist movements and how have they evolved throughout 
transition? What were the determinants and patterns of their collaboration with 
ideological allies at the supranational level? How does this play out at the European level, 
both in the European Union and beyond?
2. Economic actors: What were determinants of success or failure for former socialist 
enterprises in the post-1989 environment? What were the respective roles of the old 
social networks, the state, and the foreign investors in the adaptation of these actors? 
How did the business strategy, management and production process of firms located in 
Western Europe change? How have labour markets changed and what is the impact of 
mobility and migration? How do we judge the future sustainability of integrated European 
capital, labour and service markets?
3. Social actors: How have the communist-era labour unions, which were the 
‘transmission belts’ of the communist party, transformed themselves into fully-fledged 
labour unions? What are patterns of trans-national labour collaboration throughout the 
EU? How has civil society across Europe changed in the aftermath of the collapse of 
communism? What has the collapse of communism meant for gender relations across 
Europe? How have rising inequality and economic challenges throughout Europe altered 
the European political scene? 
N.B. With a focus on political, economic and social actors, panels examining other 
domains such as the state, the military, cultural sphere, the legal system and the 
European Union and other European institutions are also very welcome. Terms and 
conditions as above. Please send your single file to [log in to unmask]

Open call for posters: The best of doctoral research
The programme committee solicits poster proposals from doctoral students engaged in 
research that is related to the conference theme in the widest sense. The public 
conference will feature a dedicated poster sessions of two hours – to leave ample time 
for personal introductions and discussions. The purpose of the poster session is to bring 
together post-docs and doctoral researchers in the spirit of mutual exchange and in the 
spirit of fostering mentoring and research collaboration in future.
Doctoral students wishing to present a poster should submit an abstract and their full 
details to the programme committee by 10 January 2009. Please send your single file to 
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Publication, career advice and further research opportunities
- Participants will be invited to consider book and journal publication opportunities with 
the Research Network 1989, including a ‘digital collaboratory’ under development in 
conjunction with a network of European university presses. Further details will be 
available in spring 2009.
- Panel organisers (or a nominated substitute) will be able to participate in ‘Early 
Independence,’ the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme for Postdocs. 
The CPD programme is designed to prepare post-docs for applying to and holding 
principal investigator awards.
- The RN 1989 offers the opportunity to extend and expanded collaborative projects by 
means of a Working Group (also open to advanced PhD students). Seed money may be 
available.

Terms and conditions for RN 1989 membership, Working Group formation and the CPD 
programme are available on the website: http://www.cee-socialscience.net/1989/ 


Professor Antonio Pavan (Padua), Professor Andrzej Rychard (PAN), Professor Jacques 
Rupnik (Sciences Po), Ulrike Becker (GESIS), Dr Chris Armbruster (RN 1989)