Post-modern Nation - Montenegro one year after independence - 2007
With its mountainous geography and turbulent history Montenegro is a small Balkan. It is Europe’s youngest state, gaining independence in summer 2006. Since then it has not been in the news much. This is in itself remarkable for a country that was once feared to turn into a failed state in a troubled region. In recent months ESI has taken a closer look at this post-modern nation, from the mountainous North to the Adriatic coastline, to see what independence has brought. What explains the relative success and character of the Montenegrin state-building experience?
Tim Judah's Kosovo - 2007
It is the last piece of the jigsaw. Of all the issues that remain from the destruction of Yugoslavia, Kosovo still defies solution. Will it become independent? When? How? Will it be divided or will it, somehow, remain part of Serbia? We at ESI have long recognised the importance of the Kosovo issue. Now, as part of our series bringing you extracts of some of the best books on the region we have teamed up with Yale University Press to bring you Tim Judah's Kosovo: War and Revenge. We think it is the best book on Kosovo that there is. What make's Judah's Kosovo different from most other books on the region is that he combines a reporter's eye for colour and life but never lets up on the facts. Don't forget that you won't find the whole history of Kosovo in these extracts. They are here to give you a guide to its past. For the full story, you will have to read the book!
Realm of the Black Mountain - 2007
We at ESI have been working on Montenegro since 1999. In June 2006 it became Europe's newest state. But, if you want to know anything about the country, we realised that there are hardly any good, up to date and accessible books about it. And then, luckily, along came Elizabeth Roberts and her major work: Realm of the Black Mountain: A History of Montenegro. We think it is a very interesting and comprehensive work about one of Europe's least known countries and have teamed up with the publisher Hurst to bring you a series of extracts from it. Montenegro has an extraordinary amount of history, some of it pretty bloody, so our extracts are only snapshots. If you want the whole picture, you will need to read the book!
A Century of Feminism in Turkey - 2007
The women's movement in Turkey has its roots in the 19th century Ottoman society when educated urban women started to discuss and write about women's rights. At the time Islamic law was the source of family law. Women and their status in society were central to the reform agenda of the Turkish Republic which emerged in 1923. At the same time, tensions arose between republican leaders and women activists. It took more than 40 years before a new grass roots women's movement emerged again in Turkey. Led by academics and writers, the new movement of the 1980s was inspired by the experience of feminism in other countries.
15 Turkey facts - 2007
This picture story offers additional background information on our research on feminism and Islam in Turkey and highlights the report's main themes. Turkey has a long road ahead of it in narrowing its gender gap. In a recent international study, Turkey ranked an embarrassing 105th of 115 countries – far behind the worst-ranking EU member. Improving gender equality will involve tackling a series of deeply entrenched problems, from improving access to education in rural regions to removing the institutional and social barriers to women's participation in the workforce.
Capacity Building - 2007
Imagine that you are a group of 3 to 4 young people, with some relevant but still limited experience, sitting in a café in Tirana, Pristina or Skopje. You feel that public policy – both by your own government and by outside organisations having an impact on your government – is not based on an adequate understanding of what is going on in your country. You decide that instead of complaining you want to do something about this. What do you do? Since 2004 ESI has offered capacity building seminars for people interested in answering this question.
Robert Donia's Sarajevo - 2007
Sarajevo has a special place in our hearts. It was here in 1999 that ESI was founded. Now we have teamed up with British publishers Hurst to bring you something of the history of the city. Where others have long lost interest Hurst continue to publish many of the best books on our part of the world. In 2006 they published Robert Donia's Sarajevo: A Biography. We think it is a great book and a must read for anyone interested in this city, its history and its people. We have made a selection of extracts, which cover the whole breadth of the Sarajevo story from its Ottoman foundation to today. The idea is to bring you a flavour of the story - but it is not the whole story. For that you need to read the book!
On Mount Olympus - 2007
Between 1996 and 2002, UNMIBH ran a large police mission in Bosnia, the International Police Task Force (IPTF). One of the tasks it set itself was to rid the Bosnian police forces of inappropriate personnel through an exhaustive vetting procedure. These individuals were banned from serving as police for life. Yet the UN failed to offer the most basic procedural safeguards, which the UN Secretary-General himself has noted is the difference between legitimate vetting and "wholesale purges". What is most alarming, however, is that once the flaws in the process had become apparent the UN and other international institutions in Bosnia refused either to remedy them, or to allow Bosnians institutions to do so.
A future for Pristina's past - 2006
The story of old Pristina since 1945 is a story of destruction and wasted opportunities. In the early communist era, this destruction of the past was the result of deliberate policy. The slogan of "urban development" in the 1950s was "destroy the old, build the new".
Cutting the lifeline - 2006
Current policy debates in Kosovo fail to address what might well be the most important development issue facing Kosovo today: the impact of migration. As a result, one of the most destabilising changes to affect Kosovo society for generations – the end of the era of mass migration – risks being entirely overlooked by those responsible for promoting stability and prosperity in Kosovo.
Liberal imperialism - 2003
Since decolonisation in the 1960s the debate on the virtues of liberal imperialism and the limits of democracy has never appeared more contemporary than now. Here are some of the most relevant voices - both moderns and classics.
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