Interview with Florian Bieber, lecturer in East European Politics at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England. Interview conducted in Ithaca, NY on March 13, 2009.Dr. Bieber has worked in Belgrade (Serbia) and Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina) for the European Centre for Minority Issues and has taught at the Central European University, at the University of Sarajevo and at the University of Bologna. He is also the author of a book about Serbian nationalism, entitled Nationalism in Serbia from the Death of Tito to the Fall of Milošević (Münster: Lit Verlag, 2005, in German), and another book, Post-War Bosnia: Ethnic Structure, Inequality and Governance of the Public Sector (London: Palgrave, 2006). He’s at Cornell this spring semester of 2009 as the Luigi Einaudi Chair in European and International Studies.
Interview Themes
Bieber's current book project (01:30)
Bieber's reflections on the 20th anniversary of 1989 (02:00)
On Bieber's background in political science and history (03:19)
When interdisciplinarity works best (5:22)
On the "ghettoization" of the Balkans and its causes/possible solutions (06:30)
Unique contribution of our field to other fields (09:38)
Addressing the ongoing perception of a division of Europe into "East" and "West" (12:04)
On Bieber's interest in the study of nationalism (16:17)
Is there such a thing as "good nationalism"? (19:12)
On Bieber's "European" upbringing and early education (21:34)
Bieber on experiences/opportunities all Europeans should ideally have (24:56)
On the future of Southeastern Europe (26:17)
To access interview, click here: http://hdl.handle.net/1813/12110
