Dušan Janjić, President of the Forum for Ethnic Relation’s Board – djanjic@gmail.com

Dusan Janjic is the founder and president of the Board of the Forum for Ethnic Relations. He is also the founder and president of the political party “Active Serbia”, as well as the founder and vice-president of the Association of Serbian-Chinese Cooperation. He was born in Vranje in 1950 and completed his BA and MA studies at the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade, where he also received his Ph.D. with thesis “Relations between the nation and the state and the definition of nation”. He specializes in sociology and research of the theory of nationalism, ethnic relations and the protection of minorities. He is the author of over 100 publications (books, articles, etc.) in the country and abroad. Among them are: An Open Question about Nation, Vocabulary of a Nationalist, What is a Nation?, Bosnia and Herzegovina from War and Peace, Serb-Albanian Relations and Integration of  Balkans, Conflict of dialogue, Serbia between the Past and the Future, Notes from Serbia, Essays on Kosovo, politics and violence and challenges of normalization. He is a member of numerous professional associations, including the Serbian Sociological Association, Serbian Associations For Political Sciences, International Association for Minorities and Regional Study, International Society for the Study of European Ideas (ISSEI), the International Network of Europe and the Balkans, Bologna, Italy, Nordic International Studies Association (NISA), International Association for Conflict Management (IACM), Ethnic Studies Network (ESN). Janjic is also the founder and first general secretary of the European Movement in Serbia, member of the Council of Ethnic Accord – Ethnic Relations Project (Princeton, USA), Helsinki Citizens Assembly. He has been a principal research fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences since 1990. He was also a member of SK Serbia (1968-1988), Founder and Vice President of Socialdemocracy Party (1997-1999), as well as editor of numerous professional journals.

Mila Tolstoj, Board member – forumbgd@gmail.com

After graduating from the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade, she worked at Tigar Pirat branch office as in-reporter. She worked in France at Cegetel, a French IT company. After returning to the country, she starts working on the USAID project SLGRP “Serbia: Local Government Reform Project”, as administrative assistant. The project is related to the reform of local self-government in Serbia. After completing the SLGRP project, she went to another USAID project, MEGA “Municipal Economic Growth Activity” where she worked on organizing travel and lecture arrangements of visiting consultants on the MEGA project. For a short period she worked for at Miss Edi marketing agency in Belgrade. Since the end of 2016 she has been employed in the Forum for Ethnic Relations as Executive Director.

Nada Raduški, Board member – nadaraduski@gmail.com

Nada Raduški graduated from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Belgrade and received her PhD at the same faculty in the field of rights and position of national minorities, ethnic processes and demographic developments in Serbia. She is a member of the expert team and the Board of the Forum for Ethnic Relations. She is employed as a senior research associate at the Institute for Political Studies; she is a member of the Institute’s scientific council, Board of Directors and the editorial staff of two journals. She has published several monographs and studies, as well as scientific papers, and participated in numerous national and international conferences and lectured at seminars and summer schools.

Danilo Šuković, Board member – danilo.b.sukovic@gmail.com

Danilo Šuković was born in 1948 in Dašinovac, municipality of Dečane, Kosovo and Metohija. He graduated at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade in 1971. He received his master’s and doctoral degree in economics at the same faculty. His doctoral thesis was “Economic system reform in the domain of distribution: transformation of wages and personal income in the profit and salary system”. Since 1980 he has been working at the Institute of Social Sciences in Belgrade, where he was appointed director in 1986 or Head of the Center for Economic Research. In the same period, he was the Secretary General of the Serbian Association of Economists, as well as a member of the Anti-Corruption Council of the Government of the Republic of Serbia. He headed privatization and capital assessment projects of the leading and most successful companies in Serbia, among which Energoprojekt, Tehnogas, Beocin cement factory, Apatin brewery, Merima. He published over 100 scientific papers, including two independent monographs: “Labor Market and Economic Inequalities” (2006) and “Inequalities, Unemployment and Crisis” (2013). He took part in numerous scientific conferences in the country and abroad.

Zoran Milivojević – Board member – zoki27@yahoo.com

Dr. Zoran Milivojević, was born in Belgrade, where he graduated from the Faculty of Law in the field of international law and relations, and completed his postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Political Sciences – Diplomacy and international relations. From 1978 to 2014 he was a career diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of former Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia, engaged on important duties in the country and abroad: Belgium, USA, France and Croatia. From 2004-2007, he was the Head of the International Relations Sector of the Assembly of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro and the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, and advisor to the President. He was a member of the FRY negotiating teams in negotiations with the IMF on debt settlement with the Paris Club of Creditors, and negotiations with the EU and the Danube Commission on the opening of the Danube and the rehabilitation of bridges in Novi Sad after the NATO intervention in 1999. In addition, he was also a member of several government Work groups in different areas of foreign policy and several state delegations at home and abroad. He took part in a number of scientific and international meetings. Most important publications are certainly monographs: “Interparliamentary Union – Parliamentary United Nations” and “Serbia, Europe, World” (analyzes and comments). He is currently lecturing at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and is the vice-president of the Serbian-French Friendship Society, member of the Forum for International Relations of the European Movement in Serbia, Board member of the Forum for Ethnic Relations and research associate at the Center for Strategic Alternatives.

Katarina Antić – Programski asistent

Katarina Antić diplomirala je na Fakultetu bezbednosti u Beogradu, a potom završila i master studije pri Univerzitetu u Beogradu na programu Terorizam, organizovani kriminal i bezbednost. Svoje osnovno iskustvo stekla je tokom obavljanja stručne prakse pri Ministarstvu spoljnih poslova Republike Srbije, u sektoru za Bezbednosnu politiku i Odeljenju za kontrolu naoružanja. Osnovne oblasti njenog akademskog interesovanja su terorizam, migracije i etničke manjine. Polaznica je Forumove Akademije interetničkog, interkulturalnog i interkonfesionalnog dijaloga, a nakon uspešno završenog programa postaje član Forumovog tima u maju 2018. godine kao mladi istraživač i programski asistent na projektima nacionalnih manjina. Učestvovala je na raznim seminarima i konferencijama iz oblasti nacionalnih manjina.

Verka Jovanović – Project coordinator

Verka Jovanović is an activist in the field of human and minority rights with many years of experience on the territory of Kosovo in organizations such as the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the European Center for Minority Issues (ECMI), the EU EOM Kosovo 2013, 2014 and 2017. As a volunteer, she participated in the implementation of numerous humanitarian aid activities for vulnerable groups. In May 2017, she completed her master studies at the “American University” in Washington, in the field of international peace and conflict resolution, focusing on human rights. Since the beginning of her career in 2013, she has worked to transform the conflict in Kosovo by increasing interethnic communication and cooperation, by activities to increase employment among young people, as well as by observing electoral processes with the European Union mission. Occasionally she writes about the problems of the Serbian community in Kosovo for “New Perspective” and “Pristina Insight”. She is currently engaged as a program assistant at the Forum for Ethnic Relations in Belgrade.

CONTRIBUTORS

Dr. Dragomir Radenković

Dr. Dragomir Radenković, Doctor of Economics. His work is primarily focused on the issues of rights and position of national minorities in Serbia and rights and position of Serbs in the region. He was assistant professor in socio-economic courses at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Belgrade; he worked at the Institute for International Politics and Economy, the Secretariat for Foreign Relations of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he had the status of ambassador. He was the Consul General of the Republic of Serbia in Timisoara, a member of intergovernmental mixed commissions for national minorities with Hungary, Romania and Croatia, and a member of the Joint Monitoring Committee for Cross-Border Cooperation with Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. He published the book “Economic Concepts of European Communism”, and was the editor-in-chief of the journal “Documentation from Contemporary Socialism”. He took part in several scientific meetings in the country and abroad and published over 60 papers in professional socio-political and economic literature on topics of contemporary international relations, the process of European integration, national minorities, social democrats, Eurocommunism, etc.

Boris Krivokapić

Boris Krivokapić was born in Belgrade in 1958. He is a professor at the Union University – Nikola Tesla, Belgrade. He went through all the ranks at the Institute for Comparative Law (in 1999 he was appointed Principal research fellow – equivalent to university professor). He is a visiting professor at the Faculty of Law, Samara National Research University “SP Korolev“ (Samara, Russia). He is a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (RAEN) and a prominent expert on international public law and human rights. He took part in several international conferences, symposiums, seminars (as a participant and lecturer), and study visits in Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Great Britain, Greece, Yugoslavia, South Korea, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Serbia, the Soviet Union, Spain, Tanzania, France, Croatia. He was the editor of 4 books and editor-in-chief in two top scientific journals of the national relevance (“Foreign Legal Life”, 1994-1998 and 2001-2007 and “Megatrend Review”, 2012-2014). He published 42 books, of which 21 as author and 21 as co-author (for of which as editor). He also published about 200 scientific papers, four translations of foreign constitutions and laws. Works of Dr. Krivokapic were published in 22 countries of Europe, America and Asia (Germany, Italy, Russia, Austria, Spain, Great Britain, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, USA, Canada, South Korea, etc.). Most important books as the single author: Leksikon međunarodnog prava, Zaštita manjina: istorijski razvoj, osnovna pitanja i zaštita u okviru UN, Zaštita manjina u regionalnim okvirima i putem bilateralnih sporazuma, Zaštita manjina u nacionalnim porecima država, Enciklopedijski rečnik međunarodnog prava i međunarodnih odnosa, Aktuelni problemi međunarodnog prava, Međunarodno javno pravo, 3. izm. i dop. Izdanje IMir i rat u međunarodnim odnosima i pravu.

Predrag Milidrag

Predrag Milidrag (1969) received his PhD in Philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. He was active in the student, civic and anti-war movement during the 1990s. From 2001 to 2007, he worked as a web journalist at B92 media; in the period 2008-2009 he was the web editor of the magazine Ekonomist; in the period 2015-2017 he worked as a web journalist for TV N1. He contributed to the creation of the documentary “The past lasts forever” (2006) on the experiences of the attitude of Germans towards the Nazi past, produced by B92. He is a senior research associate at the Institute of Philosophy and Social Theory. Main areas of  interest include the history of early modern philosophy and its late scholastic sources and, in recent years, metaphysics of Tom Akvinsky. In addition to scientific papers, he also wrote on the subject of Matrix film trilogy, as well as about the experience of the French on the role of the president in the process of making peace with the past.

Duško Lopandić

Ambassador Dusko Lopandic graduated from the Faculty of Law in Belgrade, and received his PhD from the University of Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne) in the field of European law. He was the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to Portugal, as well as to the European Union (Brussels). He served as Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and Assistant Minister for Foreign Economic Relations in the governments of the Republic of Serbia. Dr. Lopandić has worked with numerous research institutions and faculties in the country and abroad and has published over a hundred books, expert and scientific papers on EU topics, regional cooperation and international relations. Dusko Lopandic also publishes in the field of history and genealogy.

Vladimir Rusić

Vladimir Rusić graduated from the University of Belgrade with theses “Bosnia and Herzegovina in the geopolitical plans of the great powers and local ethnic communities”. He later received master’s degree from the same university with theses “Regionalization in the function of cross-border cooperation in the Western Balkans“. He is one of the founders of the Head Committee of the Student Protest of ’96, and later of the democratically elected Student Parliament of the University of Belgrade in 1997. Over the years he has gained experience in the area of democratization of institutions, reintegration of refugees and inclusion of minorities, by working for international organizations in Serbia such as IRC (International Rescue Committee ), NDI (National Democratic Institute for International Affairs), OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe), GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit). He is the author of several scientific analyzes in the field of geopolitical and anthropogeographical systems in the Western Balkans, as well as organizer and lecturer at numerous seminars and training on minority inclusion policies.

Eva Vukašinović

Eva Vukašinović, lawyer. In the period from 2009 to 2017, she served as Deputy Provincial Protector of Citizens – The National Minorities’ Rights Protection Deputy Ombudswoman. She the author and co-author of several surveys and the editor of scientific journals on the protection of the rights of national minorities. She lectures at domestic and international expert meetings in the field of human rights protection.

INTERNATIONAL CONTRIBUTORS

Siniša Tatalović, Hrvatska, sinisa.tatalovic@fpzg.hr

Siniša Tatalović, Ph.D., Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb (FPZG); area of expertise: international relations and national security; ethnic studies; rights of national minorities.

From 1999 to 2002 he was a vice-dean of the FPZG. From 2008 to 2012 he was the head of the Graduate studies of Political Science at the FPZG. From 2006 to 2016 he was the head of the Center for International and Security Studies of the FPZG. Since 2016 he is the Head of the Department for International Relations and Security Studies of the FPZG. From 2003 to 2005 he was vice-president of the Council for National Minorities of the Republic of Croatia. From 2005 to 2010 he was an Advisor to the President of the Republic of Croatia for matters concerning political system, and from 2010 to 1015 Advisor to the President of the Republic of Croatia for Internal Policies. He has published several books: Globalna sigurnost i etnički sukobi (Global Security and Ethnic Conflicts), Politička kultura (Political Culture), Zagreb, 2010; Suvremene sigurnosne politike (Contemporary Security Policy) (Co-author), Zagreb, 2009; Nacionalna i međunarodna sigurnost (National and International Security), Politička kultura (Political Culture), Zagreb, 2005; Suvremeni sustavi nacionalne sigurnosti (Contemporary national security systems) (Co-author), Zagreb, 2000; Manjinski narodi i manjine (Minority peoples and minorities), Prosvjeta, Zagreb, 1997.1997. He published dozens of scientific articles and studies in domestic and international scientific journals. From 2000 to 2011 he was the Executive editor of the international scientific journal International Studies. He was a member of the Editorial Board of the Politička misao magazine from 2009 to 2013 and from 2016. He was on study visits to the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Slovenia, Macedonia and Serbia. Since 1997 he is organizing the international scientific conference on National minorities in democratic societies. From 2006 to 2014 he was the head of a scientific research project: the Republic of Croatia in the European security architecture implemented at the FPZG. He was the Croatian leader of three regional research projects. The first was the National security systems in Southeast Europe and the change in threats. The project was realized by FPZG and the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Ljubljana (2007-2009); the second project was Security and co-operation in South East Europe (2009-2011), and the third project Bilateral cooperation and protection of national minorities (2011-2013). The second and the third project were realized between the FPZG and the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Belgrade. He teaches undergraduate, graduate and doctoral studies at FPZG in international relations, national security and ethnic studies. He was the head of graduate studies of Political science from 2009 to 2011. He was a visiting professor at the University of Ljubljana from 2001 to 2004, and is a visiting professor at the University of Belgrade since 2011.

Radovan Vukadinović, Croatia, radovanvukadinovic@hotmail.com

Radovan Vukadinović was born in Bitola and attended school in Zadar. He graduated from the Faculty of Law in Zagreb, where he also received master’s degree in International Public and Private Law and International Relations. He received PhD from the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb (FPZg), where he was a lecturer, assistant professor, associate professor and professor. He lectured at the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb in the field of international political relations and foreign policy theory. He teaches at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia and at the Military Diplomatic School. He lectures postgraduate courses at Florida State University, where he is a visiting professor. He lectured at universities in Warsaw, Budapest, Vienna, Moscow, London, Paris, The Hague, Utrecht, Groningen, Amsterdam, Helsinki, Athens, Beijing, Shanghai, Berlin, Hamburg, Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Seoul, Tehran and numerous US universities, among others Columbia, George Mason University, UCLA, Princeton, Denver University, and Arizona University. He is currently participating in several international projects. He has received several national and international awards and recognitions, among others European Circle for scientific contribution to the promotion of European idea in Croatia.

Mitja Žagar, Slovenia, mitja.zagar@guest.arnes.si

Mitja Žagar, Ph.D. is a Research Adviser at the Institute for Ethnic Studies in Ljubljana and full-time professor (law, political science and ethnic studies) at the University of Ljubljana and University of Primorska. He was a visiting lecturer at higher education institutions and research institutes in Australia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, New Zealand, Serbia, South Africa, USA, etc. He is a lawyer and politician whose academic and professional work focuses on human rights and minority protection, international law, comparative constitutional law, comparative politics and government, transformation and transition, democratic reforms, democratization, institution building and governance, federalism, citizenship, civic education (education for active democratic citizenship), ethnic relations, diversity management, prevention, management and resolution of crises and conflicts, migration, inclusion and integration in Europe and the world. He is involved with several international and national organizations and institutions as an expert.  His full biography and bibliography is available at: www.inv.si.

Ana Krasteva, Bulgaria, ana.krasteva@gmail.com

Anna Krasteva is professor of Political Science, with Honorary Degree from University of Lille 3, France, founder and director of CERMES (Center for Refugees, Migration and Ethnic Studies) at the New Bulgarian University, Department of Political Science. She is the author and editor of 29 books and has published numerous articles in twenty countries. Her main fields of research and teaching are migration policies and politics; extreme right-wing populism; civil mobility and citizenship. Last year she headed the project “Securitization and its impact on human rights and human security”, and this year she is heading a project on labor migration in the Western Balkans. She is currently participating in two Horizon 2020 projects: “Presentation of crisis and crisis of presentation” and “Eval¬u¬ation of the Com¬mon European Asylum Sys¬tem un¬der Pres¬sure and Re¬com¬mend¬a¬tions for Fur¬ther De¬vel¬op¬ment (CEA¬SEVAL)”. She participated in the World Forum for Democracy (2017). She was a visiting professor at the Institute for Political Studies in Paris and Lille, the Institute for European Studies at the University of Paris 8, École Normale supérieure de Lyon, Université Laval, Quebec, Metz University, The Nantes Institute for Advanced Study and lectured at numerous European universities. She is the editor-in-chief of South East Europe (Brill), editorial board member at Nationalism and Ethnic Politics (Routledge) and Europeana (Shanghai and Paris). She is a Borad member of the Diplomatic Institute and numerous international scientific committees.

Sašo Ordanoski, Macedonia, s.ordanoski@edu.mk

Sašo Ordanovski is a Macedonian journalist and political analyst. He was born in Skopje and earned his degree in Journalism Studies at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. His interest in journalism started in early 1980s, and his first article was published in 1984 in the newspaper “Young fighter / Mladi borac”. During his professional career he was the director and editor-in-chief of Macedonian Television, editor of the “Forum” magazine and director of TV Alsat M. He was also the president of NGO “Transparency Macedonia”. He has interviewed several world politicians, including US President Bill Clinton. He is currently teaching the “Language, culture, and communication” course at the South Eastern European University in Tetovo.

Marco Puleri, Italy, marco.puleri2@unibo.it

Current position:
Research Fellow in Post-Soviet Studies – University of Bologna (2015-)
Adjunct Professor – History of Eastern Europe – University of Bologna (2015-)

Academic degrees:
2015: PhD, University of Florence – Comparative Languages, Literatures and Cultures (Slavic Studies) – Title of the dissertation: ‘Post-Soviet Hybrid Writings. Toward a Ukrainian Literature in Russian’. Supervisor: Professor Marcello Garzaniti.

2011: MA, University of Bologna, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures (Slavic Studies). Title of the dissertation: ‘Literature as Autobiographical Narcissism in Eduard Limonov’s prose’. Supervisor: Professor Gabriella Imposti.

Post-doctoral Research Fellow – Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna (1 August 2016-31 January 2018 – 18 months): “The political debate in the Russian Federation. Neo-Conservatorism, Modernization and benchmark values under Putin: Between Post-Soviet and European Integrations”. Member of the International Research Project: “Russia and China in the Global World. State and Society between internal dynamics and external projections” (Tutor: prof. Stefano Bianchini). Dip. L. 240/2010 Scienze Politiche e Sociali – Polo scientifico didattico di Forlì. Area scientifico disciplinare: 11. Settore scientifico-disciplinare: M-STO/03.

Balázs Visy, Hungary

Balázs Visy graduated from the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest and obtained a PhD in Political Science from the KU Leuven. He is specialized in international minority rights and human rights law. He Balázs Visy is engaged with the Institute for Minority Studies, Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Science (from 2002 to the present). He manages the Department of International Law at the Faculty of International and European Studies of the National University of Public Services (Budapest), and is a non-resident Senior Researcher at the European Centre for Minority Issues (Flensburg).  He has authored several publications on minority issues in the context of European integration and co-editor of several books on the protection of minority rights.

Stefano Bianchini, Italy

Stefano Bianchini is Professor of East European Politics and History at the School of Political Science, University of Bologna, Forlì Campus and co-director of the European Regional Master’s in Democracy and Human Rights in SEE (which awards a double degree of the Universities of Sarajevo and Bologna). From 2004 to 2015 he was the coordinator of the two-years Master in Interdisciplinary Research and Studies on Eastern Studies (MIREES), an international MA in English awarding a joint diploma of the Universities of Bologna, Vytautas Magnus (Kaunas), St. Petersburg, and Corvinus of Budapest.

As an expert of Balkan issues, particularly on Yugoslavia and its successor states in politics, contemporary history and international relations, he published several books and articles in Italian, French, English and other languages. He was an advisor of the ICTY, in the Hague. Editor in Chief of the English Series on the Balkan and East-Central Europe (Longo Publ., Ravenna), he is the Executive Editor of «Southeastern Europe», Brill, Leiden.

Co-Director of 15 editions of ERMA, the European Regional Master in Democracy and Human Rights in South East Europe, based in Sarajevo and awarding a double diploma of the Universities of Bologna and Sarajevo under the sponsorship of the EU, the European Parliament and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (from 2001 to the present).

Director of 22 editions of the CEI International Summer School (from 1995 to the present).

Leader or partner in international research project at the National and international (EU) level (see below).

Executive Editor of the blind peer review journal “South-eastern Europe” (indexed in Scopus, Web of Science-ESCI, PubMed etc).