Cognitive Neuroscience Cultural Learning, Imitation, and Articraft Understanding: A Comparative Perspective July 4 - 15, 2005

Course Director:

Josep Call, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology György Gergely, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Developmental Research Institute for Psychological Research, Budapest

Faculty:

Paul Bloom, Yale University, Department of Psychology
Malinda Carpenter, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Gergely Csibra, Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, School of Psychology, Birkbeck College
Tim German, University of California, Department of Psychology
Ádám Miklósi, ELTE, Department of Ethology
Csaba Pleh, University of Szeged, Department of General Psychology
Johannes Roessler, University of Warwick, Department of Philosophy
József Topál, ELTE, Department of Ethology

Brief course description

The aim of the summer school is to survey recent theoretical models (coming from memetics, cultural theory, evolutionary psychology, developmental psychology of social and causal cognition, comparative ethology, cognitive neuroscience and philosophy of mind) and empirical work on imitative learning vs. emulation learning in humans as well as in different animal species (such as non-human primates, birds, domesticated dogs, and wolves). The course will provide an interdisciplinary overview of some of the puzzles raised by cultural phenomena and the related empirical and theoretical considerations that led to different theoretical proposals concerning the nature and role of imitation vs. other forms of social learning in the transmission and stabilization of cultural forms in humans versus other animal species.

The other major focus of the course will be on the origins and nature of understanding artifacts in terms of functions and physical-causal accordances in non-human versus human cultures and development, the development of understanding the 'design stance' and its relation to naive essentialism in categorization, and to naive teleo-functionalism in understanding goal-directed actions and artifact use in early childhood.

 

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Bookish Traditions: Authority and the Book in Scripturalist Religions

July 4- 15, 2005

As this course is supported by a grant from INTAS, which covers the participation costs of selected applicants from NIS countries (New Independent States of the former Soviet Union) applications from these countries are encouraged.

NIS countries are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Grant recipients are expected to be of 35 years of age or less at the starting date of the course and must be permanently living in one of the NIS and be NIS citizens. (NIS scientists with a permanent residence outside the NIS or with a temporary research position lasting longer than 6 months outside the NIS at the time of the summer school are not eligible to receive INTAS support.)

The INTAS grant includes tuition fee, accommodation, subsistence and travel costs at the cheapest possible price (APEX, PEX or "excursion" must be used). Visa and travel insurance expenses may be included in the travel costs.

Course Directors:

Aziz Al-Azmeh, Central European University, Budapest Nadia Al-Bagdadi, Central European University, Budapest

 

Faculty:

Mohammed Haddad, University of Tunis

Daniel Madigan, Institutio di Studi su Religioni e Culture, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome

Jonathan Sheehan, Indiana University, Bloomington

Guy Stroumsa, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Brian Stock, Department of English, University of Toronto

 

Brief course description

It is one of the ironies of the modern age that the advent of modernity reinforced the status and the authority of the Book in scriptural religions, and facilitated the rigors of its literal reading. Even at the present transitional moment, which with Information Technology is acquiring yet another epochal revolution with results still unforeseeable, the authority of the Book seems smoothly to accommodate the new means and tastes in the transmission of knowledge, religious and profane, and its modes of communication and easy generalization. The return to the textual foundation of the religion does not, however, relate to the Book as divine or otherwise hallowed word alone. It has very determinate consequences for the Book as text definitively established, for the text as physical object, and for the Book as a concept, not least a concept that in the modern redaction is in a sense de-traditionalized, rid of the techniques of medieval glossators and commentators.

 

The purpose of the Summer School is to scrutinize the pre-modern conceptions of the canonical texts, the techniques of reading involved in its elaboration and use, and subsequently to examine the transformations from the pre-modern to the early modern and modern periods in the textual formation of major religions. This calls for considering the imprint of modern modes of text production (the definitively fixed physical text), modern styles of text arrangements (refashioning the canon and regimes of intertextuality), and the very notion of canonical text (hermeneutics and techniques of reading). It would also be a desideratum to develop a vocabulary which allows for communication among scholars, who will come from the various domains relevant to this issue and address studies from these respective fields.

 

Students are encouraged to apply from the following disciplines: patristics; medieval Judaism, Christianity and Islam; the Reformation; religion in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; Humanist antiquarianism and philology; historiography; hermeneutics, as well as from various regions reflecting different styles of dealing with these traditions.

 

Conflict and the Law in Medieval Europe

 July 18-29, 2005

 

Course directors:

Warren C. Brown, California Institute of Technology Piotr Górecki, University of California, Riverside

Faculty:

John Hudson, University of St Andrews, Scotland
Paul Hyams, Cornell University, History Department/Law &Society Program
Krzysztof Kowalewski, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw
Yuriy Zazuliak, National Academy of Sciences, Lviv, Ukraine

Brief course description

The course seeks to introduce a group of advanced students to several innovative directions of inquiry into conflict and the law in medieval societies. Conflict is understood as a range of interpersonal tension and related behavior encompassing disputing, threats, uses of force and eruptions of violence, negotiation, peacemaking, and the associated range of emotions, above all fear and anger. Law is understood as an (at least largely) autonomous system of norms, rules, or expectations, that works as one factor in conflict thus defined.

The course will address a wide range of issues currently important in the study of medieval conflict and the law. It will be based on readings, a very moderate lecture component, and, above all, discussion. Each of the six instructors will run a short sequence of classroom sessions. A session will begin with a relatively short background lecture, and then turn into a discussion of two kinds of pre-circulated documents: one or more primary sources of short or moderate length, either translated into English or in the original Latin; and a secondary text, also of moderate length, such as a substantial article or a book chapter. The primary and the secondary materials used for each session will be selected so as to allow the students insight into the sources, methods, and substantive issues that are relevant to its topic, interesting to its instructor, and currently important in the field.

Apart from the sessions run by the six instructors, the course will introduce an overall framework in two ways: by means of the first, introductory session, which will be given jointly by all six instructors; and by means of three roundtable discussions, to be moderated by one or more instructors. The roundtables will identify crucial issues common to our subject that emerge during different phases of the course. The students will be evaluated on the basis of their attendance and discussion participation.

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Ethnopolitics in Eurasia and the Middle East

July 4 - 15, 2005

As this course is supported by a grant from INTAS, which covers the participation costs of selected applicants from NIS countries (New Independent States of the former Soviet Union) applications from these countries are encouraged.

NIS countries are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Grant recipients are expected to be of 35 years of age or less at the starting date of the course and must be permanently living in one of the NIS and be NIS citizens. (NIS scientists with a permanent residence outside the NIS or with a temporary research position lasting longer than 6 months outside the NIS at the time of the summer school are not eligible to receive INTAS support.)

The INTAS grant includes tuition fee, accommodation, subsistence and travel costs at the cheapest possible price (APEX, PEX or "excursion" must be used). Visa and travel insurance expenses may be included in the travel costs.

Course Director:

Erin Jenne, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary

Faculty:

Florian Bieber, Central European University, Hungary
Jonathan Fox, Bar Ilan University, Israel
Carolyn James, St. Stephen’s College, USA
Patrick James, University of Missouri-Columbia, USA
Stephen Saideman, McGill University, Canada

Brief course description

In the 1970s, civil wars began to outpace inter-state wars in both duration and intensity. The number of ongoing civil wars now dwarfs that of inter-state wars; organized violence has effectively shifted from the international to the sub-state level. In a vast majority of these conflicts, at least one of the combatants was an armed militia or ethnic group. Given the growing salience of sectarian conflict, it is important to sort out their general causes as a why of understanding the growing prevalence of civil or ethnic wars around the world.

This class is composed of three modules. In the first module, students will explore the interaction between ethnopolitics and intra-state conflict as well as different methods for conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction. In the second and third modules, students apply these theories to Eurasia and the Middle East—two regions particularly driven by sectarian violence. Doing so will demonstrate how theoretical frameworks may be applied to actual cases of conflict in order to understand why these regions are so turbulent as well as assess the record of previous and ongoing mediation efforts.

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Globalization, Governance and International Relations Theory

July 11-22, 2005
with distance learning modules before and after

Course director:

Roger A. Coate, University of South Carolina/United Nations University, USA

Faculty:

Nicole Lindstrom, Central European University, Hungary
James H. Mittelman, American University, USA
James N. Rosenau, George Washington University, USA
Timothy G. Shaw, University of London, Great Britain

Brief course description

"Globalization" has become a topic of the day. Our library shelves are lined with books dealing with globalization and anti-globalization processes, and more are being written. Many examine globalization in combination with another topic of the day, "global governance." Global governance seems to be evolving in response to globalization as people and their governments and communities strive to attain "security" as well as other basic needs, values and interests. Presently however, these concepts *"globalization," "global governance" and "security"* remain rather murky. There are no widely accepted definitions: "global governance" means different things to different analysts, as does "globalization" and "security," and the theoretical confusion surrounding globalization, global governance and security and their interrelationships is presently hampering our practical dealings with all of them. Resolving this theoretical confusion and creating new knowledge and perspectives for guiding research and practice are the principal objectives of this course.

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History and Nationalism in Central Asia

July 4-15, 2005

As this course is supported by a grant from INTAS, which covers the participation costs of selected applicants from NIS countries (New Independent States of the former Soviet Union) applications from these countries are encouraged.

NIS countries are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Grant recipients are expected to be of 35 years of age or less at the starting date of the course and must be permanently living in one of the NIS and be NIS citizens. (NIS scientists with a permanent residence outside the NIS or with a temporary research position lasting longer than 6 months outside the NIS at the time of the summer school are not eligible to receive INTAS support.)

The INTAS grant includes tuition fee, accommodation, subsistence and travel costs at the cheapest possible price (APEX, PEX or "excursion" must be used). Visa and travel insurance expenses may be included in the travel costs.

Course Director:

Ablet Kamalov, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Institute of Oriental Studies, Almaty, Kazakhstan

 

 Faculty:

Touraj Atabaki, International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam

Ágnes Birtalan, ELTE University, Budapest

Mihály Dobrovits, Central Asian Studies, Miskolc University

Vincent Fourniau, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris

Colin Mackerras, Griffith University, Australia

Catherine Poujol, National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO), Paris

Brief course description

The course will use interdisciplinary perspective to examine the phenomenon of Revising and Rewriting of the History in Central Asia. It will examine the roots of this phenomenon going back to the colonial time of print-capitalism, which fostered the emergence of 'imagined communities' in Central Asia and look at the problem from a theoretical point of view placing it rightly within the theoretical concepts existing in Historical Anthropology, Post-Colonial Studies and Area Studies.

The course will focus, among others, on such problems as the complex interplay between Invention and Mythologization of the History and Ethno-Nationalism as well as emerging new national Identities. It will introduce the multifaceted debate on the nature of invention of the History and reveal its correlation with state building process, politics, and political regimes and show the role of History Writing in social and cultural life of societies during the transition period. The comparative analysis of the History Writing process in Central Asian states with those in other post-Communist societies (Caucasus, Mongolia) as well as Chinese Central Asia (Xinjiang) will enable to reveal general tendencies in the process of Rewriting of the History and describe it as a natural phenomenon for the contemporary post-colonial societies. The course will give participants the skills necessary to apply academic theories, concepts and methodology to their own researches and teaching curricula.

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Ethnicity and Nationalism

July 18-29, 2005

Course Director:

Ashutosh Varshney, Department of Political Science, University of Michigan, USA

 

 Faculty:

Zvi Gitelman, Department of Political Science, University of Michigan

Vibha Pingle, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex

Prem Rajaram, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, CEU, Budapest

Brief course description

What is ethnicity? What does it share with nationalism and in what respects is it different? Why do ethnic groups fight, especially after living peacefully for a long time? Under what conditions do they manage their relations peacefully? Does civic integration (as opposed to segregation) between ethnic groups promote or moderate ethnic conflict? Does ethnic conflict mark the politics of less developed countries only, or is it a wider phenomenon? Will ethnic groups disappear as modernity proceeds further? Will it, for example, cease to exist if, as some people think, the world does become a global market, national barriers between economies drop, people migrate across borders in ever larger numbers, and capital moves about freely?

This course is envisioned as an advanced seminar, and is organized around the questions above. Participants will be introduced to the classic theoretical texts on ethnicity and nationalism. They will also be expected to familiarize themselves with empirical materials from different parts of the world: North America, Europe, the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Enrollments will be limited to 25, so that the atmosphere of a seminar is maintained, participation is maximized, and discussion is vigorous.

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Political science, public policy and administration X. European Summer School in Local Government Studies Leadership and Local Democracy: Does Leadership Make a Difference? In co-operation with the EUROLOC Network and co-funded by the European Consortium for Political Research and the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative of the Open Society Institute, Budapest July 4-15, 2005

 

Course director:

Paweł Swianiewicz, Warsaw University

 

Faculty:

Harald Baldersheim, University of Oslo

Robin Hambleton, University of Illinois at Chicago

Hubert Heinelt, Darmstadt University of Technology

Vincent Hoffmann-Martinot, CNRS Bordeaux

Michal Illner, Czech Academy of Science

Annick Magnier, University of Florence

Katalin Pallai, Urban Specialist, Budapest

Nirmala Rao, London University, Goldsmith College

Larry Rose, University of Oslo

Brief course description

During last years there has been a lot of discussion on local leadership in several European countries. The most visible dimension of on-going changes is in institutional reforms initiated in several countries. Examples of such reforms include change of traditional collective leadership based on a consensus into a form of the "parliamentary model" (in several Scandinavian cities) and experiments with the direct election of mayors in countries like: Germany, Italy, Greece, Norway, England, Ireland or Belgium. Budapest seems to be an excellent place to discuss this topic, since the same trend is wide-spread in several countries of Central and Eastern Europe, including: Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and recently also in Poland.

But our discussion is not going to stop on institutional changes. We will ask how the change in institutional position of the leader influences the style of leadership. This includes a changing relationship between the leader and other actors, so it modifies community power structure, role of parties in local governance and last but not least, leader-residents relationship, which may often result in a different mode of community involvement in local politics.

We want to stress that in discussing practical experience of various European countries we will include experiences of reforming Central and East European local governments, with a special focus on New Member States of the EU. It does not mean that we will disregard experiences of Western Europe and "old" EU members, but we want to have a more even geographical coverage of the whole Europe, than it used to be on most of the previous EUROLOC Summer Schools.

The course invites applications primarily from political science students, but it is also open for students of public administration, economics, sociology, and geography who are working on local government issues.

The agenda will include lectures in the morning and workshops during the afternoons. The workshops will be organized around discussion of topics presented during lectures and papers prepared by School participants. Each of the participants will prepare a paper, which will be sent in advance to organizers and will be available for downloading by other participants. Each of the participants will also act as a discussant of the paper prepared by another participant.

Additional course-specific information

Applications on a fee-paying basis are still invited  until April 26, 2005.

Elibility: This course expects applications from students of advanced standing (primarily PhD students) within the field of local government studies and related fields, such as political science, sociology, etc. The recommendation letter supporting the application should be sent by a professor from the applicant’s home institution.

Funding: All participants will be required to pay a course fee of 300 EUR for the two weeks. Free accommodation, meals and course materials will be provided by the organizers. Travel costs have to be covered by participants.

Financial aid is available for:

a) participants from developed countries: those in need of financial assistance for travel may apply for an ECPR mobility grant, if their institution is a member of ECPR.

b) participants from emerging democracies: those in need of financial assistance may apply for a SUN scholarship. For travel, they can also apply for an ECPR mobility grant, if their institution is a member of ECPR.

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Transnational Flows, Structures, Agents and the Idea of Development

July 4 - 15, 2005

 

Course Directors:

Judit Bodnár, Central European University, Department of History/Sociology, Budapest Ayse Çaglar, Central European University, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Budapest Shalini Randeria, University of Zurich, Department of Anthropology

 

Faculty:

Gerhard Anders, Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Zurich

Patrick Bond, Centre for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban

Kaveh Ehsani, Jomhur Social Research Association and Goft-o-Gu Quarterly, Teheran and Chicago

Ivan Krastev, Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia

Norma Moruzzi, University of Illinois at Chicago, Dept. of Political Science

Vinh-Kim Nguyen, McGill University, Dept. of Social Studies of Medicine, Montreal

Brief course description

Globalization has superseded development, authors of globalization claim almost consensually. This course is a serious attempt to bring globalization and development discourse into a dialogue with each other and to explore the meaning of development in the age of globalization. Can it be used in a non-evolutionary and non-arrogant manner that is sensitive to difference and grassroots initiatives? The idea of public good is a key to this endeavor. The course examines some strategic sites and structures that condition transnational flows of commodities, labor and ideas, and looks at how the welfare of different social groups is promoted in these strategic sites by actors such as supranational organizations, NGOs and private capital along with the reconfigured (nation) state. In the selection of topics and their treatment a conscious effort is made to introduce non-western perspectives and to scrutinize the interaction of research, policy-making and social theory. Due to its multiple geographical foci and the diversity of resource people, the course is well-suited to offer a challenging perspective to students from both the region and outside.

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ERRA – International Training Program on Energy Regulatory Practices

Co-sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development

July 18 – 22, 2005

 

Course Director:

Péter Kaderják, Former Chairman of Energy Regulators Regional Association (ERRA), Regional Center for Energy Policy Research, Budapest Corvinus University

 

Faculty:

Lajos Bokros, Central European University

Gabriella Pál, Regional Center for Energy Policy Research (REKK), Budapest, Hungary

György Békés, Hungarian Energy Office, Budapest, Hungary

Gábor Szörényi, Director of Licensing Department, Hungarian Energy Office (HEO), Budapest, Hungary, Member of the ERRA Presidium, Chairman of the ERRA Licensing/Competition Committee

Vidmantas Jankauskas, Chairman, National Control Commission for Energy and Prices, Vilnius, Lithuania

Wolfgang Urbantschitsch, Head of the Legal Service, E-Control, Vienna, Austria

Valerii Tsaplin, Head of Strategic Planning Department, National Electricity Regulatory Commission of Ukraine (NERC), Kiev, Ukraine

Adrian Borotea, Vice-President, National Electricity and Heat Regulatory Authority, Bucharest, Romania, Member of the ERRA Presidium, Member of the ERRA Tariff/Pricing Committee

László Varró, MOL Plc., Budapest, Hungary

Marko Sencar, Deputy managing director, Energy Agency of the Republic of Slovenia, Maribor, Slovenia

Luca Lo Schiavo, AEEG, Italy

Jacques de Jong, Senior Fellow, Clingendael International Energy Program, The Hague, Netherlands

Hasan Özkoc, Energy Expert, Energy Market Regulatory Authority of Turkey (EMRA), Ankara, Turkey

Brief course description

 

The Course on Energy Regulatory Practices is organized by the Energy Regulators Regional Association (ERRA).

Professional development in energy regulation requires a working knowledge of regulatory economics, an understanding of policy impacts and the ability to navigate national policy processes, and effective agency management of the legal and organizational processes necessary for adequate "due-process" protection in regulatory activities.

The course curricula in 2004 included the following main regulatory topics: Theory and principles of regulation, Energy Sector liberalization and Market reform - Global trends and developments in the EU countries, Role and functions of the regulator, Basics on the legal aspects of regulatory work, Parallel and opposing regulatory trends in the EU and the ERRA countries, Public involvement and dispute resolution techniques at regulatory authorities , Restructuring of the gas industry: basic elements and models, Restructuring of the electricity industry: basic elements and models, Regulation of unbundled networks in electricity: access rules, investment and access pricing, System operation, Service quality regulation in the network industry, Energy wholesale and balancing markets Long term contracts, Cross-border trading and regional market initiatives - South East European market, Benchmarking of regulatory commissions, Licensing: regulating entry, supervision and enforcement, Economics of open markets / Basics of price and cost, Rate-of-return and incentive based price regulations and the role for benchmarking, Basic elements of tariff design, Network tariffs: transmission and distribution, End-user tariffs, Tariff solutions for low income consumers, Gas network and product pricing, Pricing electricity from renewable sources and co-generation.

Target audience: junior and newer energy regulatory commissioners/staff who are current and future policy makers in their countries and whose employment should be no more than 2 years at the regulatory organization. In addition, we expect researchers, PhD students and/or professors. The maximum number of available slots for this latter group is 5.

The level of education is advanced academic.

The course is organized bilingually, with simultaneous Russian interpretation provided.

Please note that the application deadline for this course is April 30, 2005.
Click here to download ERRA application form.
For further information please contact Krisztina Kasza.

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In co-operation with Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, New York and Hamline University School of Law, Minnesota

July 4-15, 2005

As this course is supported by a grant from INTAS, which covers the participation costs of selected applicants from NIS countries (New Independent States of the former Soviet Union) applications from these countries are encouraged.

NIS countries are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Grant recipients are expected to be of 35 years of age or less at the starting date of the course and must be permanently living in one of the NIS and be NIS citizens. (NIS scientists with a permanent residence outside the NIS or with a temporary research position lasting longer than 6 months outside the NIS at the time of the summer school are not eligible to receive INTAS support.)

The INTAS grant includes tuition fee, accommodation, subsistence and travel costs at the cheapest possible price (APEX, PEX or "excursion" must be used). Visa and travel insurance expenses may be included in the travel costs.

Course Directors:

Lela P. Love, Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law/Yeshiva University James R. Coben, Dispute Resolution Institute at Hamline University School of Law

 

Introductory Track (for students without prior course experience in mediation) Mediation and Other Methods to Foster Democratic Dialogue Faculty: James R. Coben, Dispute Resolution Institute at Hamline University School of Law Kinga Göncz, Ministry of Health, Social and Family Affairs, Hungary Csilla Kollonay Lehoczky, Legal Studies Department, Central European University Lela Love, Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law/Yeshiva University Dana Potockova, Conflict Management International, Prague

Advanced Track (for students with theory and practice background in mediation or with a special interest in restorative justice) A Chance to Reform, a Chance to Heal: Exploring the Potential of Restorative Justice Faculty: Olga Botcharova, National Conference for Community and Justice, Boston, Massachusetts Howard Vogel, Hamline University School of Law

 

Brief course descriptions

These courses are designed to facilitate the exchange of ideas and cooperative projects among academics, professionals and students in the East and West who are pursuing the study of conflict and conflict resolution processes. The program, set in the context of Central and Eastern Europe’s emerging democracies, will focus both on mediation (introductory track) and restorative justice (advanced track), both courses exploring consensual methods for addressing and resolving conflict and promoting understanding between peoples.

CEU SUN participants will be joined by approximately thirty American law students and scholars to explore these subjects. All of the offerings will include multi-national perspectives and examples. This program will enable students to critically examine the challenges of the design and delivery of ADR initiatives in multiple contexts, including countries where the "rule of law" still is being established.

Introductory Track
Mediation and Other Methods to Foster Democratic Dialogue
(for students without prior course experience in mediation)

Through lecture, discussion, demonstration and role-play, students will be introduced to mediation theory and skills and examine the impact of culture and context on the mediation approach adopted. Examples will focus on mediation models and scenarios from both the United States and Central and Eastern Europe. The task of translating hostile and adversarial communication into building blocks of collaborative dialogue will be explored, as well as the mediator's role in identifying, framing, and ordering the issues in dispute. Analysis will highlight persuasive techniques for moving parties from impasse to settlement. Special attention will be directed to the ethical dilemmas faced by mediators, particularly challenges to a mediator's impartiality, and the potential for abuse of discretion and power. The course also will examine a variety of strategies to foster and support democratic and constructive dialogue, particularly focusing on "high-conflict" situations involving inter-ethnic tensions. Students will study efforts in Central and Eastern Europe to promote meaningful democratic dialogue in times of national and international crisis. Participants should come prepared for a highly interactive learning experience.

Advanced Track
A Chance to Reform, A Chance to Heal: Exploring the Potential of Restorative Justice
(for students with theory and practice background in mediation or with a special interest in restorative justice)

Restorative justice offers a refreshingly different framework for thinking about wrongdoing. It moves beyond the confines of traditional justice systems to embrace social justice principles. Restorative justice acknowledges the damaged relationships that result from any wrongdoing and focuses on healing for all those involved. This course will offer students an opportunity to study the four leading restorative justice practices and explore the possibilities restorative justice offers to move beyond the limitations of retributive justice towards embracing the importance of forgiveness, reconciliation and social healing. The first week of the course will concentrate on the potential for restorative justice practices to encourage reform of judicial systems. The second week of the course will examine the tremendous opportunities restorative justice practices and principles offer to address the individual and collective pain associated with profound ethnic conflict. Through case study and dialogue exercises students will be invited to draw on their own experience of conflict as they explore the dynamics of cultural conflict. The class will be highly experiential in nature with the practice of the talking circle serving as a core modality for class discussion. In a talking circle participants speak only when holding the talking piece. The practice encourages participants to listen deeply and respectfully to each other and reminds them that each has a valued contribution to offer.

Please note that participation in the advanced track is on a fee-paying basis, however, a limited number of scholarships are available for participants from countries of emerging democracies.

Applicants have the option to apply to:

1. Introductory Track: for students without prior course experience in mediation, or
2. Advanced Track: for students with theory and practice background in mediation or with a special interest in restorative justice

Please clearly indicate in your application:

1. if your educational background and/or professional experience have included any dispute resolution work, training or other experience.
2. which Track you are applying for

[Schedule-Introductory] [Schedule-Advanced] [Syllabus - Introductory Track] [Syllabus - Advanced Track] [detailed description] [back to the course list 2005]

Strategic Corruption Control and Organizational Integrity

A course in strategic implementation

In co-operation with The Tiri Network, London and the Center for Policy Studies, Central European University, Budapest

July 4 – 15, 2005

 

Course Director:

Fredrik Galtung, The Tiri Network, London

 

Faculty:

Giorgio Blundo, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris

Jean Cartier Bresson, Universite de Versailles

Wes Cragg, York University

Helen Darbishire, Open Society Institute Justice Initiative, New York

Warren Krafchik, International Budget Project, Washington

Ivan Krastev, Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia

Josip Kregar, School of Law, Zagreb University

Mark Pieth, University of Basel

Jeremy Pope, The Tiri Network, London

Ornit Shani, Tel Aviv University

Howard Whitton, OECD/SIGMA

Brief course description

 

Corruption is widely recognized as a major obstacle to development and legitimate democratic governance. This course meets a need for critical and strategic approaches that straddle the exigencies of corruption control and organizational integrity. Corruption control refers here in particular to external control variables (e.g. by the executive or on an institution and profession) and organizational integrity refers in large measure to internal processes of control and value-driven reform.

The course will explore the myriad challenges of effectively implementing elements of a corruption control and organizational integrity strategy that is both effective and sustainable. This course is aimed at operational line managers, internal control specialists (e.g. investigators, compliance officers, inspectors, etc.) as well as external change agents (e.g. media, NGOs, think tanks, etc.). It will also be open to academics developing similar courses at their own universities.

Course costs: Please note that all fee-paying participants will be required to pay a course fee of 800 EUR.

Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations and Local Financial Management

Co-sponsored by the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative of the Open Society Institute, Budapest and the World Bank Institute, Washington

July 4 – 15, 2005

with distance learning module

As this course is supported by a grant from INTAS, which covers the participation costs of selected applicants from NIS countries (New Independent States of the former Soviet Union) applications from these countries are encouraged.

NIS countries are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Grant recipients are expected to be of 35 years of age or less at the starting date of the course and must be permanently living in one of the NIS and be NIS citizens. (NIS scientists with a permanent residence outside the NIS or with a temporary research position lasting longer than 6 months outside the NIS at the time of the summer school are not eligible to receive INTAS support.)

The INTAS grant includes tuition fee, accommodation, subsistence and travel costs at the cheapest possible price (APEX, PEX or "excursion" must be used). Visa and travel insurance expenses may be included in the travel costs.

Course Directors:

József Hegedüs, Metropolitan Research Institute, Budapest Adrian Ionescu, Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (LGI) of the Open Society Institute, Budapest Serdar Yilmaz, World Bank Institute, Washington

 

Faculty:

Kenneth Davey, University of Birmingham

Anthony Levitas, Development Alternatives, Inc.

Nicolas Levrat, Geneva University

Brief course description

 

This course offers an analytical framework for understanding and implementing fiscal decentralization: improving assignment of functions and responsibilities and the fiscal relations between the central, regional, and local governments.

Fiscal decentralization is closely related to the "restructuring of the public economy", meaning rethinking the role of the state in different sectors, such as social policy, education, housing, communal services, etc. The process of restructuring took much more time than it was originally planned. Furthermore, the process involved little if no coordination at all among the sectors, and therefore has not taken into consideration the effect this may have on fiscal decentralization. In fact sectoral reform has often not organized itself along the lines of fiscal decentralization principles at all.

The course will start with six distance learning modules introducing participants to the principles and legal framework of decentralization, expenditure and revenue assignment and intergovernmental transfer.

The two-week workshop style course will include an advanced discussion and analysis through exercises and case studies from the region, in the following areas: 1) worldwide trends in fiscal decentralization and the concept and practice of the assignment of expenditure responsibilities and revenue authority; 2) the design of various forms of central to sub-national transfers and local own-source revenues; creditworthiness and the financial risks of local authorities; and 3) the emerging topic of budgeting and local public management.

Attuned to new teaching techniques, the workshop aims to achieve the right mix of exercises, lectures, and interactive learning methods. This includes the dissemination of materials prior to the course presentation (in paper form and electronically). The course will use distance learning techniques to teach the basics, and during the course the group will focus more on the case studies and exercises.

Through the generous funding of the course received from the World Bank Institute and the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative of the Open Society Institute, applicants from all countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and Mongolia, as well as from countries of emerging democracies worldwide are eligible for travel grants.

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Civil Society Organizations: Promoting Pro-Poor Policy and Social Inclusion

In co-operation with the Overseas Development Institute (UK) and the Center for Policy Studies at CEU, Budapest with sponsorship of the European Commission FP6 "Structuring the European Research Area"

July 11 - 15, 2005

 

Course Directors:

Diane Stone, Center for Policy Studies, Central European University, Budapest John Young, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), London

 

Faculty:

Julius Court, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), London

Erik Johnson, World Bank, Washington

Stella Ladi, Department of Politics, University of Sheffield; Institut Barcelona d́ Estudis Internationals

Uwe Puetter, Center for Policy Studies, Central European University, Budapest

Viola Zentai, Center for Policy Studies, Central European University, Budapest

Brief course description

The poor and marginalized tend to benefit when civil society organizations (CSOs) are engaged in shaping policy, particularly when engagement is well-informed and leads to evidence-based policy. Often, however, CSO’s policy engagement fails to do justice both to the complexity of policy processes as well as to the quality of the research and analysis that is available to help CSOs inform policy.

The course is designed to help CSOs make their engagement with policy processes and policy actors more effective and legitimate by cultivating improved understanding of policy entrepreneurship and policy making at local, national and international levels. The central objective is to improve the quality, and utilization, of policy research produced by experts in CSOs to help ensure that their analysis is provided to policymakers at the time important issues are under deliberation.

This 1-week course is designed for mid-level managers, researchers and communications officers from think tanks, university policy centers and NGOs that are attempting to influence the policy process in emerging democracies. The organizers also welcome doctoral candidates interested in communicating the policy applications of their research on poverty and/or social inclusion.

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Strategic Approach to Urban Challenges

Co-sponsored by the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (LGI) of the Open Society Institute, Budapest

July 4 - 15, 2005

Course Directors:

Liviu Ianasi, "Ion Mincu" University of Architecture and Planning, Bucharest Katalin Pallai, Urban Specialist, Budapest

 

Course Manager:

Masa Djordjevic, Consultant, Open Society Institute, Budapest

Faculty:

Kalman Buzas, Budapest University of Technology and Economics

Kenneth Davey, University of Birmingham

John Driscoll, Harvard University, Cambridge

Diane Stone, Center for Policy Studies, Central European University, Budapest

Katalin Tánczos, Budapest University of Technology and Economics

Brief course description

 

The course will focus on the urban and city policy related processes (analysis, formulation, acceptance and implementation) and strategic planning and implementation methodologies. It will start from the review of the context where local governments operate and the available strategic planning approaches, after it will single out specific issues related to financial and sector policies, and in the closing block it will reconnect issues through the discussion of some integrated urban strategies. The course will cover issues like decentralization, strategic planning methodology and practice and will have discussions on municipal finance and service delivery with special attention to local financial management and different partnership arrangements. The sectors like transportation, utilities, as well as programs and projects of urban rehabilitation, local economic development and urban development will be analyzed in detail. On the other hand, issues such as social inclusion, environment and urban economy will be treated as cross-cutting issues and discussed through their implication and relevance to the various key topics. Overall, the course will be specifically tailored around the crucial issues of local governance in the post-socialist region but will include methodology and analysis suitable for all countries involved in the globalization processes as well as case studies from different parts of the world.

Course-specific application requirement

Course applicants will be asked to submit a case study as the equivalent of one of the general application requirements listed in Section VIII. Attachments of the application form ("An English language article/research paper in progress, which you would like to develop for publishing as the outcome of the course").

The study should be a maximum three-page long description of a case proposed to be developed. The case subject should be from the problematics of urban management – urban planning, urban policies, public services, urban expansion, inter-communal cooperation, urban programs and projects. According to the quality of pre-course work, the developed case might be considered for presentation during the course, or for later publication. Both the description and, later, the cases will be in English language.

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