More specific themes include the following:
1) Rule of Law and Democracy (democratization, decentralization and local governance, judicial reform, social inclusion, strengthening civil society and democratic law-making, other);
2) Economic Development and Social Change (social inclusion, inclusive market and value chain development, youth employability, migration and remittances, human capital, other);
3) "Managing Diversity” (national, ethnic and religious identities, gender, youth, minorities incl. Roma).
Papers to be presented can revolve around the region in general or focus on specific processes in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

Selected candidates will be able to present and discuss their work in one of the many methodological or thematic workshops to be defined based on participant selection.

All interested candidates should submit their Curriculum Vitae (1 page), an abstract of their proposed conference paper (max. 300 words) and a short letter of motivation (all merged into one pdf. file) by 18th December 2011, to both jasmina.opardija@unifr.ch and office@rrpp-westernbalkans.net.

Objectives

The objectives of the conference are three-fold:
1. To provide opportunities for researchers focusing on the region to present and discuss their research projects and papers, as well as to create networking opportunities and an environment fostering further cooperation and exchange of ideas within the region and beyond;
2. To improve skills and publishing opportunities for researchers from, and dealing with the region;
3. To discuss the current political and socio-economic situation in the region - this year will emphasize the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Selection Process

The selection process for abstracts will be completed by the end of January 2012. Selected candidates will then be invited to submit full papers (up to 5000 words) by 13th April 2012. Please note that selected participants will receive guidelines for the final conference papers together with the decision. After the conference, a team of editors will make the final selection of texts for a joint volume.

Costs

Approved participants will have their travel and accommodation expenses paid for by the RRPP Management and/or will be provided opportunities for co-financing if the costs in individual cases exceed the average expenses per participant attending the conference.

Programme

The selected participants will be informed about the programme and specific workshops at the conference, as well as technical details, as they become available. The conference tends to gather approximately one hundred participants - including students, professors, policy-makers, representatives of international organizations.

For more information about our previous conference held in 2011, please visit: http://www.rrpp-westernbalkans.net/conference-2011

Source: e-mail by organisers.