The blog views-from-central-and-balkan-countries.eu aims at diffusing information and analyses on political and social developments in Central and Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans. These analyses will be written by researchers and analysts with an expertise on the region or on specific States.

Indeed, analyses of this region are rare and remain confined to a fairly closed academic field. The public who wishes to be informed, researchers who are not specialized in the region and journalists, only receive descriptions of situations without follow-up, without a long-term perspective and without being able to understand the major issues involved

The blog also wants to help compare national developments. Researchers who work on the region often specialize in a national case. But to understand what is specific and what is general, we must be able to compare. “To understand, you have to compare” said political scientist Giovanni Sartori.

The blog will also attempt to publish thematic files with several voices on cross-cutting issues, such as the role of social networks, poverty, influences of the great powers, the quality of democracy, European integration, etc…

Many analyses are published in the countries of the region in the respective national languages. The blog could host translations or articles already published in newspapers or civil society sites in order to give them an echo in the scientific community in the broad sense.

The blog will therefore include analyses of a few pages, but also interviews, information on publications, conferences, seminars.

At the moment, a small team will manage the blog and ensure the quality of the articles and material offered. But the team is open. Any help, any suggestion is welcome. We will build together. The first circle of collaborators of this blog comes from the numerous relationships in the region, built over decades by the CEVIPOL of the ULB. And this circle is only waiting to get broader.

Jean-Michel De Waele