The Conflict and Security Research Group (CONSEC)
cordially invites you to a presentation by
Dane Taleski, PhD
From Armed Boots to Polished Suits:
Transformation of war-time networks into political parties in Western Balkans post-conflict countries
Wednesday, November 4, 2:00 – 3:30 pm
Popper Room (102), Monument Building
Couple of decades after the inter-ethnic conflicts in the Western Balkans, many of the war-time structures are politically active and relevant. For example, Ali Ahmeti and DUI in Macedonia, Hashim Thaci and PDK and Ramush Haradinaj and AAK in Kosovo, Vojislav Stanimirovic and SDSS in Croatia, and different actors and parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They have varying electoral success, some are governing on national or local level, while others are in opposition. It is unclear what accounts for their electoral success and more important, it is unclear what consequences did their inclusion in politics had on peace-building and democratization? The presentation offers research findings from a fieldwork done in Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. Parties based on war-time networks entered minority politics in Croatia and Macedonia, and became the main political parties in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The presentation offers a classification of the links between political parties and war-time networks in the different Western Balkan countries. The tentative conclusions point out that the institutionalization of the conflict's legacies played an important role in explaining the electoral success of parties from rebels. On the other hand, while parties from rebels contributed positively toward peace-building, they impeded the democratization process.
Dane Taleski received his PhD in Political Science from the Central European University in Budapest. His major research interests are: post-conflict democratization, transformation of rebel groups, political parties and ethnic politics. From October, 2015 he is a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Southeast European Studies at the University in Graz.
