The 2nd Annual REDETE conference seeks to identify new paradigms able to accommodate the complexity of economic development and entrepreneurship in transition and developing economies.  In order to solve complex societal problems in these countries an integrated or holistic approach by two or more disciplines is needed. Generally speaking, one of the key aspects of the REDETE forum is, in fact, Interdisciplinarity.  The 1st REDETE conference clearly identified this need. Also, the most recent economic and financial crises have revealed all the key weaknesses that transitional countries, either inherited from the previous system or generated during the transformation process. In practice, those weaknesses and problems are different from those of developed countries.

Although papers on any aspect of entrepreneurship and economic development in transition economies will be considered, we are particularly interesting in research dealing with factors influencing or affecting economic development and development of entrepreneurship in transition economies since 1989.

Guiding research themes

• Economic development in the 21st century
• (Re)positioning of entrepreneurship: Back to the beginning or breaking with the Past
• Government and economic development
• Measuring entrepreneurial activities
• Emerging (new) class of entrepreneurs – elite entrepreneurship
• Universities and entrepreneurism
• Business incubators, small business centres, innovation centres, and other mechanisms provided by public sectors to stimulate economic development, small business development and innovation. How effective this popular policy is?
• Economic development and problems caused by structures of the socialist economy
• Entrepreneurship and “free market” ideology (e.g. problem of co-operation amongst entrepreneurs, business planning and strategic formulation; negative connotation of entrepreneurism  and private  business)
• The effect of the 2007-2009 global financial and economic crisis  
• Ownership structures and predominance of debt financing (e.g. current financial crisis has boosted high levels of risk evaluation and reduced availability of cheap credits)
• Gray markets in developing countries  - the role of the informal economy (e.g. corruptive influences diminish severely the expansion of entrepreneurship)
• Access to international markets (e.g. questions regarding the level of public support for small-scale entrepreneurs as well as the unwillingness of those entrepreneurs to co-operate with others in and self-help support organisations)
• Economic development and the Environment
• Tourism - sustainable development, regional development, entrepreneurship and innovation  
• EU assistance (all forms) – positive and negative aspects (e.g. dependency culture)
• Cross-border cooperation

At the beginning of the 21st century political as well as moral issues increasingly surround  entrepreneurship and economic development. This is even more apparent in transitional countries where wealth creation of private enterprise is not always transparent, and the role of government and transnational authorities, as some scholars believe is questionable.  This conference aims to bring together leading scholars from political studies to contribute to this debate.

More specifically, REDETE Politics aims at re-launching the debates and scholarly research on issues such as the relationship between the public and the private spheres, or the ways in which the crisis of globalisation and financialisation impacts upon transitional countries, particularly those from the Balkans and the Near East. How one could view and analyse economic and social development and democratic politics in the region after the twin collapse of Socialism in the East and the Euro-Atlantic economies in the West? How can democratic structures of conflict prevention be built under economic and political scarcity of means to achieve the desired aims of regulation and social welfare? Development is not a post-conflict strategy as seen by the West; rather, it is a conflict prevention strategy that has to flourish in conditions of peace. REDETE Politics examines all these issues, as well as the development of political democracy and pluralism, the interaction between the region and the European Union, NATO and other international organisations.

• Download Call For Papers 2012

• More information is available at the conference website.