Civil Society in Southeast Europe (Blue Bird)
Blue Bird Project: Agenda for Civil Society in South-East Europe
Website of the Blue Bird Project
At the beginning of the 21st century the real challenge of reconstruction of Southeast Europe is the re-invention of Southeast Europe. The "Agenda for Civil Society in Southeast Europe" was a three-year long research project, starting in 2001 and finishing in 2004, co-funded and coordinated by the Center for Policy Studies at the CEU Budapest, and involving the Centre for Liberal Strategies, the Centre for Advanced Studies in Sofia, the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin, the New Europe College in Bucharest, and the United Nations Development Program's Bratislava Regional Center among others.
The project, surrealistically nicknamed Blue Bird, started with the assumption that the invention of the region requires the construction of a common regional vision and the emergence of a regional public debate. The Blue Bird was an attempt to formulate such a vision and to assist the emergence of civic regional debate in Southeast Europe.
Interdisciplinary Research
Research was organized into four interdisciplinary research groups, each consisting of up to six scholars from the region/or born in the region/, each focusing on a specific theme. The research work was coordinated by the Bulgarian scholar Ivan Krastev, who originally envisioned the project. In order to secure sufficient coherence and coordination of the project the Center for Policy Studies acted as the resource center and as the administrative coordinator of the project.
A series of public events took place and a several publications were released within the framework of the project.
Follow-up Network - the Blue Bird Club
In order to take forward the network established by the Blue Bird project a Blue Bird Club is currently in the planning stage. The Club is meant to be a reflection group on the Balkans that will continue and consolidate two major achievements of the Blue Bird project. It will take initiative in formulating some of the important questions for the region and will aim at introducing the next generation of intellectuals and the next generation of public debate on the region.
The Blue Bird Club will give excellent young scholars and intellectuals from the region, as well as outstanding journalists and political commentators working in European media, an opportunity to enter into discussion with one another.
The Blue Bird Club is initially planned to consist of some twenty participants, half of them scholars and intellectuals from southeast Europe and the other half select journalists from Europe at large. Participants will be invited to meet once or twice a year, members of the Blue Bird Club agreeing beforehand on a current issue to be discussed.
Closing Publication
In search of responsive government. State Building and Economic growth in the Balkans. Policy Studies Series, Center for Policy Studies, Central European Budapest. December 2003.
Contact Person - Andrea Krizsan, Krizsana@ceu.hu
