Nuffield College, Members of the College,

George Georgiadis

ESRC Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Politics and Nuffield College, Oxford University

Nuffield College
New Road
Oxford, OX1 1NF
United Kingdom

Research Interests

Comparative politics
The politics of post-communist economic adjustment
Central and Eastern European politics
European enlargement and the future of European integration
The theory and practice of multi-level international negotiations

Current Research Interests

Research Projects

Workshop: 'Europe's Unfinished Transitions' (24-25 January 2008, Oxford)

Call for papers: ‘Europe’s Unfinished Political and Economic Transitions? The Convergence-Divergence Debate Revisited’

Workshop, 24-25 January 2008

European Studies Centre (ESC), Oxford University

South East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX)

Supported by: the Economic and Social Research Council

General
Almost two decades since the wave of political and economic transitions that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism, the landscape of transition outcomes among post-communist countries appears much clearer. Now, then, is a good time to revisit, evaluate, update and expand the debate that started and peaked in the 1990s on the question of the endpoint of political and economic change primarily in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) but also more generally in the post-communist world, in short the convergence-divergence debate. That debate centred on the issue of whether countries in transition converged towards a, more or less, common model of market-based liberal democracies or whether change was much more country- or region-specific, thus leading to diverging (or non-converging) patterns of transformation.

From an empirical point of view, it is a fact that democratization and marketization within the post-communist world have developed unevenly in the years since 1989, thus leading to a broad pattern of two ‘orbits’ of change. The first ‘orbit’ is followed by a group of ten CEE countries and is characterized by an accelerated domestic transformation that has led to their accession to major Western institutional structures, including the EU and NATO. The second trajectory is defined by transitions in Europe’s ‘near neighbourhood’, i.e. Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus – but also Georgia and Armenia) and South-eastern Europe (or Western Balkans), that are still largely viewed as unfinished. But within that second group variation is remarkably strong indeed. Two, then, are the key attributes of this second group: lagged yet diverse transitions. Understanding the causes behind the two key attributes of this broad pattern of variation within the second group sets the background for the theme of this workshop. Do these lags reflect different stages of the same type of transition or different types of transition altogether?

Workshop’s aims
The workshop aims to update and expand the convergence-divergence debate beyond the 1990s and the CEECs, by taking stock of the differential patterns of transition in Europe’s ‘near neighbourhood’ and by exploring the interplay between external and domestic causal factors that underlie and determine these patterns. An indicative list of areas where the organizers would welcome contributions includes:

• EU’s impact on South-eastern Europe.
• EU’s Neighbourhood Policy towards Eastern Europe.
• Russia’s influence on its European neighbours.
• The impact of (NATO-, EU-, or UN-led) international administrations on domestic transitions.
• The salience of the effects of conflict, state-building, corruption and criminal networks – domestic challenges all too commonly encountered in unfinished transitions – and ways in which existing domestic formal and informal institutions accommodate or oppose change.
• The functioning of domestic democratic institutions, such as political parties and systems, and civil society.

This is a research question-driven workshop, designed to attract and, if possible, synthesize different perspectives on the causes and consequences of Europe’s lagged and diverse transitions. Thus, a great degree of flexibility in terms of approaches and methods is possible. Of equal interest to the workshop are qualitative or quantitative approaches, and comparative or case studies on the topic. Comparative studies may be country-, sector-, or issue-based. Policy-relevant academic papers as well as empirically informed accounts from policy makers and practitioners that focus on lessons learned from the past and on future pathways to transition in Eastern and South-eastern Europe are particularly welcome.

Contact
Interested paper-givers should forward by Friday 15 November an abstract of no more than 300 words and a short bio to julie.adams@sant.ox.ac.uk or george.georgiadis@nuffield.ox.ac.uk. Papers from advanced doctoral students are welcome. Paper-givers have the obligation to prepare and forward their papers to the organizers at least two weeks before the event. A selection of accepted papers will likely form an edited book volume.

Subsistence (lunch, dinner, coffee breaks) will be provided by the organizers. Contributions towards travel and/or accommodation expenses will be made to paper-givers who do not expect to receive financial support from their departments or institutions. If you think you are eligible, please indicate so in your letter of interest.

Research Projects

Biographical Sketch

I am a post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Politics and Nuffield College, University of Oxford. Previously, I have been a visiting scholar at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (Harvard) and a research affiliate at the Department of Political Science at Yale University. In 2006 I worked for the United Nations in Geneva (UNECE – Aarhus Convention) as an Associate Economic Affairs Officer. I hold an MA in International Relations from Yale University and a PhD in Politics from the University of Cambridge (Department of Politics, faculty of Social and Political Sciences). My research and teaching interests include comparative politics, the determinants of and inter-linkages between democratization and economic liberalization, post-communist transition, European integration, and the theory and practice of international negotiations.

Workshop: 'Europe's Unfinished Transitions'

‘Europe’s Unfinished Political and Economic Transitions?

The Convergence-Divergence Debate Revisited’

Workshop, 24-25 January 2008

European Studies Centre (ESC), Oxford University

South East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX)

Supported by: the Economic and Social Research Council

Almost two decades since the wave of political and economic transitions that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism, the landscape of transition outcomes among post-communist countries appears much clearer. Now, then, is a good time to revisit, evaluate, update and expand the debate that started and peaked in the 1990s on the question of the endpoint of political and economic change primarily in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) but also more generally in the post-communist world, in short the convergence-divergence debate. That debate centred on the issue of whether countries in transition converged towards a, more or less, common model of market-based liberal democracies or whether change was much more country- or region-specific, thus leading to diverging (or non-converging) patterns of transformation.

From an empirical point of view, it is a fact that democratization and marketization within the post-communist world have developed unevenly in the years since 1989, thus leading to a broad pattern of two ‘orbits’ of change. The first ‘orbit’ is followed by a group of ten CEE countries and is characterized by an accelerated domestic transformation that has led to their accession to major Western institutional structures, including the EU and NATO. The second trajectory is defined by transitions in Europe’s ‘near neighbourhood’, i.e. Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus – but also Georgia and Armenia) and South-eastern Europe (or Western Balkans), that are still largely viewed as unfinished. But within that second group variation is remarkably strong indeed. Two, then, are the key attributes of this second group: lagged yet diverse transitions. Understanding the causes behind the two key attributes of this broad pattern of variation within the second group sets the background for the theme of this workshop. Do these lags reflect different stages of the same type of transition or different types of transition altogether?

The workshop aims to update and expand the convergence-divergence debate beyond the 1990s and the CEECs, by taking stock of the differential patterns of transition in Europe’s ‘near neighbourhood’ and by exploring the interplay between external and domestic causal factors that underlie and determine these patterns.

Programme

Thursday, 24 January 2007

2.00-2.10 Opening remarks

Kalypso Nikolaidis, Director, European Studies Centre (ESC)

Othon Anastasakis, Director, South-East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX)

2.10-2.30 Introduction

George Georgiadis, Oxford University

The Convergence-Divergence Debate Revisited: Framing the issues

2.30-4.00 Panel 1: The Big Picture of Convergence-Divergence

Martin Brusis, University of Munich and Bertelsmann Transformation Index (Germany)

Defect Patterns of Democracy? Mapping Regime Divergence in Europe's Peripheries

Roman Horvath, Czech National Bank, & Nauro Campos, Brunel University (UK)

Reform Redux: Measurement, Determinants and Reversals

Maciej Kisilowski, Yale University (USA)

The Story of a Damaging Metaphor

Chair/discussant: George Georgiadis, Oxford University

4.00-5.00 Coffee break

5.00-6.00 Keynote speech - ESC Core Seminar Series

Frank Schimmelfennig, Center for Comparative and International Studies (Switzerland)

Conditionality and Convergence: EU Promotion of Democracy and Human Rights in Eastern Europe

Friday, 25 January 2007

9.00-10.30 Panel 2: Cross-country, transnational issues

Svetlozar Andreev, Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales – CEPC (Spain)

The Quality of Sub-Regional Cooperation and the Expanding EU: the Balkans and Black Sea Area in a Comparative perspective

Laure Delcour, Institut des Relations Internationales et Stratégiques – IRIS (France)

EU migration and visa policies in NIS Countries: Adaptations and Ambivalent Dynamics

Vassilis Monastiriotis, LSE (UK) & George Petrakos, University of Thessaly (Greece)

Economic Transition and the convergence-divergence debate: theory and policy issues from the Balkan experience

Chair/discussant: Jens Bastian, European Agency for Reconstruction

10.30-11.00 Coffee break

11.00-12.30 Panel 3: Internal checks and ‘imbalances’

Brad Blitz, Oxford Brookes (UK)

Unfinished Transitions and the Justice Sector: the challenge of establishing a non-discriminatory regime and upholding human rights commitments in Eastern and South Eastern Europe

Andre Liebich, Graduate Institute of International Studies – HEI (Switzerland)

Converging Majorities, Diverging Minorities

Nasos Roussias, Yale University (USA)

Party System Stabilization in Eastern Europe: Institutions, Information and Learning

Chair/discussant: Kalypso Nikolaidis, Oxford University*

12.30-2.00 Lunch

2.20-3.45 Panel 4: External designs and conditionalities

Othon Anastasakis, Oxford University

Local reactions and compliance to Europeanisation and conditionality

Dimitry Kochenov, University of Groningen (Germany)

The Use and Uselessness of the Principle of Conditionality in the ENP Context: Some Lessons from the Pre-Accession

George Georgiadis, Oxford University

When differentiation by design matters: Comparing EU policy towards Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States

Chair/discussant: Nancy Bermeo, Oxford University

3.45-4.00 Coffee break

4.00-5.30 Panel 5: Hybrid transitions in the neighbourhood

David Lane, Cambridge University (UK)

Adjustment to, or Rejection of, Transformation? The Case of the 'Orange' Revolution

Inna Melnykovska, Kiel University (Germany)

Towards New Horizons through Different Paths: Colour Revolution or Soft Authoritarianism? Lessons for the EU

Amy Verdun, Victoria University (Canada) & Gabriella Chira, Victoria University (Canada)

Wearing my big Sister's clothes: Moldova's Persuasion Strategy towards the EU

Chair/discussant: Gwendolyn Sasse, Oxford University*

5.30-6.15 Summary and Conclusions

Dimitar Bechev, Oxford University

Summary and conclusions

Laurence Whitehead, Oxford University*

Concluding remarks on the comparative state of democratization

* Agreed to participate, subject to final confirmation of availability for specific panel/day.

Publications and conference presentations

2007, ‘Beyond accession conditionality and negotiations: Privatization, trade dynamics and the political economy of early post-communist economic transition’, Nuffield Working Paper Series in Politics, No. 2007-W7.

2007, Book review, Fishman, R. and Messina, A., (eds.), ‘The Year of the Euro: the Cultural, Social and Political Import of Europe's Common Currency’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 45(2): pp. 531-531.

2005, ‘Adapting by expectation: early EU policies in the CEE region and the consolidation of the two “orbits” of post-communist economic transformation’, Harvard Center for International Affairs (WCFIA) working paper No. 05-02.

2005, ‘Non-coercive external determinants of domestic change: the prospect of EU membership, domestic politics and the pace of economic reforms in the CEE countries’, paper to the 2005 Annual Conference of the American Political Science Association, Washington D.C. 1-4 September 2005.

2005, ‘External Determinants of Domestic Institutional Change: The Impact of EU Policies on the Patterns of Post-Communist Economic Transformation.’ Paper given at the 2004 Annual International Young Researchers Conference ‘Problems of the Post-communist State’, Havighurst Center, Miami University, 5-6 November 2004, Oxford/Ohio, USA.

2004, Book Review, ‘NATO, The European Union, and the Atlantic Community: The Transatlantic Bargain Reconsidered’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 42: 1063-1064.

2002, ‘Bridging Post-Communist Transition and EU Enlargement: In Search of Causality’. Paper given at the 32^nd Annual Conference of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies, 2-4 September 2002, Belfast, UK.2002.

2002, ‘International Affairs in the aftermath of September 11^th’, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 15: 179-181.

2001, ‘Expanding the Western Core: The Case of the Parallel Enlargements of NATO and the European Union’. Paper given at the UACES conference on ‘Enlarging Europe: The Enlargement of the European Union and NATO’, 10-13 May, 2001, Portaferry, Northern Ireland, UK.


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