The Tenth International Summer School for Democracy, entitled
Transition, Islam and Democracy was held in Belgrade, Serbia, from 28th August till 7th September 2007

Lecturers and participants:

The School gathered prominent political scientists from Britain, Croatia, Hungary, the United States of America and Serbia. Seven lecturers came from Britain: Prof. Christopher Coker of the London School of Economics, Prof. Margaret Blunden, professor emeritus at the University of Westminster, Dr. Maria Holt from the Centre for the Study of Democracy, London, Dr. Spyros Economides from the London School of Economics, Dr. Dimitar Bechev from the University of Oxford, Prof. Ali Paya from the Centre for the Study of Democracy, London, and Dr. Abdelwahab El-Affendi from the Centre for the Study of Democracy, London.

The School was opened by the addresses of HE Rasim Ljajic, Minister of Labour and Social Policy in the Government of Serbia, HE Stephen Wordsworth, HM Ambassador in Serbia, and, HE Cameron Munter, Ambassador of the United States of America in Serbia. The opening was covered by all major digital and print media in Serbia.

            Among twenty-four participants 11 were from Serbia and the other 13 from the region of SEE: two from (FYR) Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Bulgaria and the Hellenic Republic, and one from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Hungary. One participant from Albania did not get a Serbian visa in time in spite of repeated requests by AnSeS to the Embassy of Serbia in Tirana and therefore could not take part in the Summer School.

            Selection of participants


As a result of the advertising the Anglo-Serbian Society received around 60 applications from South-East Europe and Serbia and Montenegro. This means that we there were more than 2 applications per place. It is less than in 2006 and it should be attributed to the specificity of the topic.

The Selection Committee consisting of Prof. Vojislav Stanovcic, Prof. Vukasin Pavlovic and Dr. Slobodan Markovich, reviewed all applications. All the applicants were requested to submit further documents:

The nationals of the following countries have applied: Albania – 7, Britain – 1, Bulgaria – 3, Bosnia and Herzegovia – 3, Croatia – 2, Greece/Hellas – 2, Hungary – 1, Lithuania – 1, (FYR) Macedonia – 4, Poland – 2, Romania – 5, Serbia – 23,  and Turkey – 2.

Selected participants included five persons with PhD degrees, 6 had MA degrees, 5 were MA students, and 8 had a BA degree. Half of the students had teaching positions and many of them a rich experience in both governmental and civil sector.

The list of lecturers and participants             of the School is available in the brochure that has been published by the School and at the web-site of the Anglo-Serbian Society: www.ays.org.yu. It is also enclosed in this report.

Due to the insufficient funding the School selected 25 instead of 28 participants as originally planned.            
Twenty-four participants took part in the Summer School since one selected participant could get a Serbian          visa in time.

 

 

Photo 1: Dr. Slobodan G. Markovich, HE                                  
And Prof. Vukasin Pavlovic

School Organisers and Staff

The School was organised by the Anglo-Serbian Society, Belgrade, and the Centre for the Study of Democracy of the University of Westminster, London.

In academic terms the School was managed by its Co-Directors, Prof. Vukasin Pavlovic, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Political Science, Belgrade and Prof. Margaret Blunden, professor emeritus at the University of Westminster. In organisational terms the School was managed by Dr. Slobodan Markovich, Executive Director of the School. The Secretary of the School was Ms. Milica Bogdanovic, Programme Co-ordinator at the Anglo-Serbian Society.

The School as a Regional (South-East European) Project

During the previous nine years the School has persistently endeavoured to gather prominent young specialists and activists from the region of South-East Europe. Even under very difficult political circumstances prior to the downfall of the regime of Slobodan Milosevic (in 1998, 1999 and 2000), the School was able to gather young specialists from the region.
Each summer school for democracy gathered between 25 and 30 participants (up to 15 from Serbia and Montenegro, and the equal number from the region of South-East Europe). This means that during the previous nine years approx. 130 young scholars and activists from the region and the equal number from Serbia and Montenegro participated in the project.
In this way the School has been able to create a network of young specialists dealing with the problems of democratisation of the region and to establish mutual links between them. A practical result of the School is that there are many web-groups created by School’s alumni enabling constant contact between scholars from the region. Alumni stay in touch and continue to co-operate and invite other alumni to the conferences that they organise. 
An important aspect of the School is that it serves as a forum where young scholars from the region are able to exchange their views and learn to view social problems through regional perspectives. In this way the School offers its contribution to the democratisation of the region and to overcoming national preconceptions and stereotypes. For this sole purpose afternoon workshops were introduced in 2003.

Publication of the Proceedings of the International Summer School for Democracy

The Anglo-Serbian Society published two Proceedings of the Summer School in the previous years: Challenges to New Democracies in the Balkans in 2004, and Problems of Identities in the Balkans in 2006. AnSeS plans to publish in 2008 the third volume as a result of the Tenth Summer School, entitled Dilemmas of Nationalism in the Balkans. The usual circulation is 550 copies (150 in hard back and 400 in paper back edition). Editors are Prof. Vukasin Pavlovic, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Political Science, Mr. Eric Becket Weaver, DPhil (Oxon), and Dr. Slobodan G. Markovich, Assistant Professor at the University of Belgrade.

The Proceedings are sent to all major libraries in Britain and the United States, to all departments dealing with the Balkans and to School’s alumni. Proceedings will also be available in PDF format through the web site of the Anglo-Serbian Society. Due to insufficient funding in 2007 AnSeS has found a private sponsor to cover expenses of the publication of the Proceedings.

School's Programme

The School lasted eleven days of which nine were working days and two days were dedicated to a study trip in Novi Pazar. Due to financial constraints the Scholl lasted one day less than originally planned (eleven instead of twelve days). Each of the nine working days had two morning lectures (lasting 90 minutes each), one afternoon lecture, and an additional session dedicated to Afternoon Discussions. While the first week was dedicated to the relations between Islam and democracy, the second week dealt with transition in general and transition of particular countries of the Balkans.

At sessions of afternoon discussions country reports were presented dealing either with the relations between Islam and democracy or with transition of particular Balkan countries. Two documentary films were watched and discussed: Once they were Neighbours, a documentary film on memories of Holocaust in the Hungarian town of Koszeg in whose preparation one of the participants took place (Bori Kriza), and Whose Song is This?, a Bulgarian documentary on shared cultural heritage in the Balkans and otherness.

Lecturers at the School:
The following lecturers took part in the Tenth International Summer School for Democracy:

Special events

Visit to Novi Pazar was organised on September 1 and 2, and four events took place during this study visit. Participants were accommodated at Hotel Taj.

1.    An evening session with NGO leaders and young political leaders from Novi Pazar. Panellists included: Zibija Dervishalitovic-Sarenkapic from Cultural Centre Damad, Mr. Mirsad Jusufovic, Secretary-General of the Sanjak Democratic Party, Ms. Dzeneta Agovic from NGO Impuls in Tutin, and, Mr. Samid Sarenkapic, student at Bard College, New York. The session included open discussion on the problems of Novi Pazar and the region of Sanjak, on political situation, inter-ethnic relations in the region on Sanjak, and on the prospects of young people in the region.

Before the group visited Novi Pazar, Dr. Ali Abuzaakuk and Dr. Dr. Abdelwahab El-Affendi had visited mufti of Belgrade Mr. Jusufspahic and Belgrade’s Bajrakli mosque and disuscessed issues of Islam in Serbia.

Twenty-two participants took part in the visit to Novi Pazar as well as Prof. Blunden, Dr. El-Affendi and Dr. Markovich and Ms. Bogdanovic from AnSeS.

Photo 2: Visit of participants to the University of Novi Pazar

 

Visit to Serbian monasteries of Studenitsa and Zhicha. On September 1, a visit to the Serbian monastery of Studenitsa was organised and Dr. Markovich gave a historical explonations. On September 2, the group visit the monatery of Zhicha on their way back to Belgrade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo 3: Visit of participants to the Monastery of Studenitsa

Special lecture organised at the National Library of Serbia

A special panel discussion entitled “Islam and Democracy” was organised at the National Library of Serbia on August 27 with the participation of Dr. Aly Abuzaakuk, Centre for the Study of Islam and Democracy, Washington, Dr. Abdelwahab El-Affendi, Centre for the Study of Democracy, London and Prof. Ali Paya, Centre for the Study of Democracy, London. In their introductory presentations Dr. Abuzaakuk spoke about “Islam and Democracy: the American Muslim Experience”, Dr. El. Affendi on “Democracy Promotion as an Anti-Terrorist Strategy”, and Prof. Ali Paya on “Relations between Iran and the West after September 11”. The event was co-organised by the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence – BFPE. It was attended by one hundred persons from political and cultural life of Belgrade and several diplomats were also present. The panel discussion had been recorded by BFPE and a DVD copies of the panel discussion are available. BFPE organised a dinner in honour of the participants of the panel discussion and one day later Belgrade businessman Tahir Hasanovic organised another dinner in their honour.

Opening of the School and Media Coverage

The opening of the Tenth International Summer School for Democracy had the best media coverage in the history of the School. This is a product of a very high profile of the four panellists who opened the School. The panellists included HE Rasim Ljajic, Minister of Labour and Social Policy in the government of Serbia and president of the Sanjak Democratic Party, HE Stephen Wordsworth, HM Ambassador to Serbia, Prof. Vukasin Pavlovic, Director of the International Summer School for Democracy, and the US Ambassador to Serbia HE Cameron Munter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo 4: HE Rasim Ljajic, Minister of Labor and Social Policy, UK Ambassador to Serbia HE Stephen Wordsworth, Prof. Vukasin Pavlovic, Director of the International Summer School for Democracy; He U.S. Ambassador to Serbia Cameron Munter

HE Rasim Ljajic delivered a lecture on the relations between Islam and democracy in today’s world. He spoke about two groups of causes why democracy is in crisis in Islamic world. These are internal and external. Internal causes include: differences between conservative ulema and secularists, high corruptibility, high illiteracy rates in Muslim countries, law level of democratic traditions, emergence of extremism in the interpretation of Koran and economic backwardness. External reasons include: unresolved Palestinian question, fight against terrorism and fight against Islam and Islamophobia. He insisted that a sincere dialogue was needed between Islamic World and the West. 

           

The U.S. Ambassador to Serbia Cameron Munter took part in the opening of the School. This was his first public appearance in Serbia. In his remarks, Ambassador Munter stated that, "The voices of Islam join all others to strengthen the United States' civic values of equality, tolerance, and pluralism." He emphasized the U.S. commitment to ethnic and religious diversity, both at home and abroad, and noted that the U.S. Embassy was proud of its support to the rebuilding of the Islamic Community Center in Belgrade and the rebuilding of a historic Mehteb in Novi Pazar. The Ambassador praised the organizers of the International Summer School for Democracy for selecting one of the most challenging topics of our time for their program.

The opening of the School was covered by all major TV stations in Serbia including RTS, B92 and The Voice of America (through TV Avala and local media) had a lengthy coverage of the opening of the School. All leading quality dailies including Politika, Danas and Privredni pregled covered the event. News agency TANJUG and Fonet also covered the event. Both British and American embassies in Serbia reported on the opening on embassies’ web-sites. The site of the US Department of State also covers the School within “Public diplomacy at home and in Europe” section and it was also covered in its Newsletter: Did You Know? Public Diplomacy at Home and in Europe (November 2007).

The visit to Novi Pazar was covered by the Media Centre of the Islamic Community in Serbia.  Several student web-sites, NGO web-sites and web-site of the City of Belgrade also announced information on the Summer School.

EVALUATION 2007

Seventeen out of twenty three participants filled in questionnaires and evaluated all the lecturers on September 7, 2006, according to five criteria: 1. Preparedness, 2. Clarity, 3. Inter-Activity, 4. Interest, 5. General Impression. Marks were between 1 (the lowest mark), and 5 (the highest mark). Written evaluation was followed by a session of oral evaluation where each participant had an opportunity to assess the School.

The participants also evaluated afternoon discussions where participants presented problems of transition in their native countries. Two documentary films were performed during afternoon discussions: Whose song is this?, and a documentary on memories of holocaust in Koszeg in Western Hungary.

Comparison of the average marks for the last five summer schools demonstrates that the Summer School 2007 has maintained the high level that was achieved during the previous summer schools. Actually averages in 2007 are the highest in school’s history.

Organisation of the School has traditionally been one of the best evaluated aspects of the School and this year has demonstrated slightly poorer results mainly due to the lack of extracurricular activities this year. This came as a result of insufficient funding. Food has been evaluated with slightly smaller average than in 2006, although accommodation got quite favourable score. Accommodation that was the weakest point of the School in the period 2003-2005 significantly improved in the period 2006-2007 and is the highest this year for the  period under consideration 2003-2007.

This is the second School organized in Belgrade. In 2006 the first sightseeing tour was organized in Belgrade. In 2007 there was a special visit to Novi Pazar and the monastery of Studenitsa. Special dinner was not organized in 2007 due to insufficient funding. In both oral and written evaluation the visit to Novi Pazar got excellent marks.

Due to a very specific topic of the first week of the school that dealt with Islam and democracy a new question was put on how much the school has contributed to overcoming participants’ stereotypes on Islam. The result of 4,18 demonstrates that the School has had a good effect in this field.

Another question was asked on how much the School contributed to improving regional contacts. In this regard participants demonstrated quite high satisfaction giving an average mark of 4,73.

All participants were asked on whether they would recommend the school to other potential participants. Five replies were offered:

Majority of participants 57,1% noted that they would highly recommend the School, while 42,9% said they would recommend the School. Not a single respondent replied they he/she was not sure or would not recommend the School. This is a very good result although somewhat less impressive than in 2005.

In order to improve advertisement of the School the participants were asked to respond on how they found out about the School.

Four answers were offered:

Most of participants (43%) found out about the School from mailing lists in particular “Balkan Academic News”. One seventh of them found out about it from alumni. Organisers (AnSeS and CSD) and previous lecturers were the source for 32% of participants. The remaining 10,7% found out from e-mails of their friends who mentioned the School to them.

This year the main source of participants’ information remain mailing lists in particular Balkan Academic News yahoo group.

CONCLUSIONS

Evaluation of the Tenth International Summer School for Democracy 2007 demonstrates that the participants were very satisfied with the quality of the School and its lecturers. The organisation has also received very high average mark and the readiness to recommend the School is rather high. Accommodation was assessed with high marks while food got good marks.

Oral evaluation indicated that participants were very satisfied about the School and compared it favourably with other similar experiences. What was especially appreciated by participants was the quality of lectures. Oral evaluation demonstrated that some participants thought that the programme was very demanding and they felt a bit exhausted at the end. They also gave preference to lectures that with practical examples and did not show much appreciation for theoretical approaches. The lack of extracurricular activities was noticed by many participants with regret.

Participants from other countries than Serbia and outside of Belgrade liked the fact that the School was held in Belgrade while participants from Belgrade preferred some other location in Serbia.

Overall evaluation indicates that the International Summer School for Democracy 2007 has been successfully conducted and organised both in academic and logistical terms. 

PARTICIPANTS:

Abbreviations: s – student, c – candidate, U – University, UB – University of Belgrade, PS – political science, NS – nationalism studies, TA –teaching assistant, Lec. - lecturer

Sponsors of the School

The Tenth International Summer School for Democracy was supported by three sponsors:

The British Embassy, Belgrade
The Balkan Trust for Democracy, Belgrade
The Centre for the Study of Democracy, London

Photo 5: Participants of the School during visit to Novi Pazar