International Elites and the Formation of Political Identity in Post Soviet Space

The first of two CEELBAS-funded workshops designed to explore the relationships between the formation of national identity and the structure of domestic and foreign elites, and to discover the role of such elites in defining identity and citizenship, took place on Friday November 27^th at the University of Cambridge. The workshop outlined domestic and external influences on identity formation. Papers addressed the ways in which internationalization of economics and politics interact with domestic interests to shape national identity.

The wider objectives of these two workshops are to study state formation in post Soviet space and to consider how the formation of states is linked to the creation of national identity; to stimulate students engaged in area studies, and to engage with others studying politics (citizenship), international relations (the role of external policy elites), sociology and anthropology (social identity, globalisation). The second workshop is planned for May/June 2010 and will concentrate on external influences on personal and state identity.

Programme from Workshop One

Workshop abstracts:

Magdalena Solska: "European dimension in the identity formation in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia"

Jan Drahokoupil: “The IMF is back: Conditionalities in crisis lending to post-communist countries in 2008-2009 and their impact on national strategies and political identities”

Ireneusz Pawel Karolewski “The European identity making: Internal and external challenges”

Mihails Rodins “The role of foreign elites in framing the ‘Russian Question’ in Latvia and Estonia”

Workshop One Presentation:

'Dimensions of Elites' Political 'Identity Formation in Central and Eastern Europe' (Heinrich Best, University of Jena)