The Balkans in the Cold War

International Conference 26-29 May. Athens

Conference Academic Committee

Konstantina E. Botsiou, University of Peloponnese
Vesselin Dimitrov, LSE
Evanthis Hatzivassiliou, University of Athens
John O. Iatrides, Connecticut State University
Eirini Karamouzi, LSE
Svetozar Rajak, LSE
Odd Arne Westad, LSE

Conference organisers

Anastasia Aritzi, Konstantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy
Eirini Karamouzi, LSE
Antonis Klapsis, Konstantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy
Antonio Moneo, LSE IDEAS

Thursday, May 26th

17:00 - 20:30   Registration

20:30                Welcome dinner

Welcome remarks: Konstantina E. Botsiou (University of Peloponnese), Evathis Hatzivassiliou (University of Athens), Svetozar Rajak (LSE)

Friday, May 27th

09:00 - 09:30   Morning coffee

09:30 - 11:00   Panel I - Balkans and the creation of the Cold War World Order

Chair/Discussant: Svetozar Rajak (LSE)

• Anton Mioara ('Nicolae Iorga' Institute of History, Romanian Academy), The Coming Storm. The Great Powers and the clash over the Balkans and the Black Sea (1944-1946)
• Nur Cetinoglu (Dogus University), Order in the Balkans during the 1950s: An Analysis from Turkish Perspective
• Ana Lalaj (Albanological Study Centre, Institute of History), Albania's implications in the Greek Civil War
• Mark Kramer (Harvard University), Stalin, the Soviet-Yugoslav Split, and Soviet Efforts to Reassess Control: A Reassessment.

11:00-11:30       Coffee Break

11:30-13:00       Panel II - Ideology

Chair/Discussant: Vesselin Dimitrov (LSE)

• Ivo Banac (Yale), We did not quarrel, we did not curse: The Price of Yugoslav Independence after the Soviet Intervention in Czechoslovakia.
• Elidor Mehilli (Princeton), Eating Grass for Marxism: Albania and the Sino-Soviet Split.
• Jan Adamec (Charles University Prague), The Rebirth of 'Ideological Little Entente'? Romania, Czechoslovakia and the Hungarian Uprising 1956.

13:00-14:00       Lunch

14:00-15:30       Panel III - Security and Military Alliances

Chair/Discussant: Christian Ostermann (Woodrow Wilson International Centre)

• Jordan Baev (Racovsky Defence and Staff College), Warsaw Pact vs. NATO in the Balkans: Mutual Perceptions, War Games, Nuclear Proliferation and Nuclear- Free Zones.
• Dionusis Chourchoulis (Queen Mary University),A Nominal Defence? NATO threat perception and responses in the Balkan Area, 1951-1967.
• Elena Dragomir (University of Helsinki), The Beginning of Romania's Opposition in the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance (1960-1964).
• Aysegul Sever(Marmara University), Turkey's Regional Security Iniciatives in Comparative Perspective during the early Cold War.

15:30-16:00       Coffee Break

16:00-17:30       Plenary Session I - The Balkans in the Global Cold War: A Reassessment

Discussants: Mark Kramer (Harvard University), Michalis Psalidopoulos (The Fletcher School-Tufts University), Odd Arne Westad (LSE)

Chair: Odd Arne Westad

Saturday, May 28th

09:00-09:30       Morning coffee

09:30-11:00       Panel IV - Culture, Perceptions, Identity

Chair/Discussant: George Prevelakis (Panthéon-Sorbonne University)

• Thanassis Sfikas (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), An almost unique islet in the Sea of Democratic Europe: Greek Communist Perceptions of International Realities, 1944-1949.
• Miroslav Perisic (Historical Archives of Belgrade), Great Cultural Turn in Yugoslavia in 1950.
• Francesca Rolandi (University of Turin), Western Popular Culture and the Iron Curtain. Cultural Relationships between Italy and Yugoslavia: A case study.
• Iakovos Mixailidis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), The Macedonia Question during the Cold War: Aspects of Politics and History.

11:00-11:30       Coffee Break

11:30-13:00       Panel V - Uneasy Relations With Superpowers

Chair/Discussant: George Th. Mavrogordatos (University of Athens)

• Lorraine Lees (Old Dominion University), Yugoslavia and the United States during the early Cold War.
• Konstantina Maragkou (Yale), The US and Greece, 1967-1979: A Superpower and its Balkan Cold War Ally.
• Sarah Snyder (University College London), Causing US Real Trouble: The 1967 Coup in Greece and United States Human Rights Policy.

13:00-14:00       Lunch

14:00-15:30       Panel VI - Good and Not-so-good Neighbours

Chair/Discussant: Evangelos Kofos (ELIAMEP) 

• Joze Pirjevec (University of Primorska), The Trieste Question and Tito's Policy in1944-1954.
• Milan Ristovic (University of Belgrade), Distrustful Neighbourhood: Yugoslavia and Greek Colonels, 1967-1974.
• Spyridon Sfetas (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), The Bulgarian-Yugoslav Dispute on the Macedonian Issue as reflection of the Yugoslav-Soviet Controversy 1968-1980.
• Tvrto Jakovina (University of Zagreb), Yugoslav-Albanian Relations in the late 1970s and 1980s.

15:30-16:00       Coffee Break

16:00-17:30       Panel VII - From Détente to the End of the Cold War

Chair/Discussant: Arne Hofmann (LSE)

• Lykourgos Kourkouvelas (University of Athens), Detente as a Strategy: Greece and the Communist World, 1974-1979.
• Effie Pedaliu (UWE Bristol), The US, the Balkans and the Cold War Mediterranean under the Shadow of Detente.
• Marietta Stankova (LSE), Bulgaria at the Centre of the Balkan Cold War: the Beginning and the End.

20:00       Farewell dinner

Sunday, May 29th

10:00-10:30       Morning coffee

10:30-12:00       Closing Plenary Session - Summary and Way Forward

Discussants: Konstantina Botsiou (University of Peloponnese), Vesselin Dimitrov (LSE), Evanthis Hatzivassiliou (University of Athens), Svetozar Rajak (LSE), Stathis Kalyvas (Yale University)

Chair: Konstantina E. Botsiou (University of Peloponnese)