Intensive course on implications of crises on the state of democracy, 11-17 September 2022

Call for Applications: “Implications of Crises on the State of Democracy: theoretical and methodological tools for studying the East of Europe” (5 ECTS). Intensive course, 11-17 September 2022

Are you interested in gaining a complex view of the key issues that determine the state of democracy in the Eastern parts of Europe? We have experienced in the past two years the Covid- 19 pandemic and most recently the war on Ukraine – all with devastating multiple consequences. Do you want to understand how a crisis affects the rule of law? Have you ever thought what is the impact of security perceptions on people’s trust in institutions or how the role of populism and biopolitics is changing in a crisis situation? How about comprehending the significance of the political use of history in everyday democracy?

If you like to learn more about these timely and extremely important topics – we offer you a course that combines four universities (the University of Helsinki, University of Latvia, University of Tartu, and Vilnius University) providing their top-notch expertise.

The course includes lectures on:

• The rule of crisis law: new and old alliances
• From biopolitics to necropolitics: from the “Russian world” to Russia's war(s)
• Erosion of democracy and economic impact of populism
• The memory of the Second World War and the Soviet era

This is an opportunity to learn to use a wide multidisciplinary toolkit and improve inter/transdisciplinary thinking. You will be a part of an international group of students and will improve your oral and teamwork skills, debating skills, interview techniques, and scientific writing.

You will experience that learning can be fun!

Structure and completion

The seven-day intensive course will consist of different study formats (e.g. lectures, workshops, NGO café, group work, individual work, and a field trip). Students are required to:

• study the preliminary reading
• attend the intensive week programme
• prepare and present NGO café poster in groups
• submit a short learning diary about the field trip
• prepare and present a group work
• submit an essay / blog text

Application procedure:

Master’s students and advanced bachelor’s students can apply. There are no tuition fees associated with participation in the course.

A letter of motivation (max. one page) together with a CV and academic transcript needs to be submitted in order to apply. Ten slots are allocated to students from Johan Skytte Institute.

Prospective students should send their application via email with the following title: “Tartu intensive course 2022 application”. The deadline for applications is August 8, 2022, and they should be emailed directly to Anna Beitane, anna.beitane@ut.ee

The course is part of the Nordplus-funded project “Baltic-Nordic Network for the Advancement of Methodology in Area Studies (BAMSE 2021)”. You can find more info at the BAMSE network website.