Annual Doctoral Conference Focuses on Democratic Erosion in Eastern Europe

CEU’s Doctoral School hosts its Annual Doctoral Conference on 20-21 April, featuring guest speakers Isabela Mares form Columbia University, and Mark Hallerberg from Hertie School of Governance. The two-day conference offers thirteen thematic panel sessions about political science, public policy and international relations, where CEU’s PhD candidates and a number of external panelists present and discuss their latest research projects.

Ukrainian crisis has prompted speculation about the need to contain Russia and thus led to renewed interest in the writings of George Kennan, the author of the original containment doctrine. However, even prior to the current discussion many had argued that containment attempted by the US in the early stages of the Cold War had little to do with Kennan`s original idea. Today, a closer look at that idea suggests that its practical implementation may be even more problematic.

Foreign governments frequently intervene in armed conflicts by providing support to rebel organizations against their adversaries. State sponsorship of rebel organizations is less costly than a direct military intervention, but rebels often defy orders, desert fighting or turn guns against their sponsors. Under what conditions do rebels turn against their sponsors? Drawing on principal-agent and organizational theories, I argue that the non-centralized structure of rebel organizations increases the length of the delegation chain from sponsors to rebels, leading to defection.

In this talk Natalia will present a general overview of the main arguments of her PhD Thesis, together with an illustration of findings from her research-sites. She will address the empirical puzzle of how to explain variation in ethnic reintegration levels across sub-national units, and provide arguments to answer the question of whether and how ethnic reintegration is possible in post-conflict divided societies.