On 29th May 2015 the Group held a one day workshop in London with the theme ‘ Post Socialist Economies, Nationalist Conflicts and Labour in Central Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union’. The workshop focused on ethno-national conflicts in CEE and the FSU countries and the political economy of the region, exploring links between emergent neoliberal forms of capitalism and the rise of radical nationalism. Guest speakers included practitioners in labour and industrial relations and economic policy from the region as well as academic specialists and labour representatives from countries gravely affected by present and past conflicts such as Ukraine, Russia, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The event was jointly sponsored by the Royal Economic Society, the London Region of BUIRA and Middlesex University Business School (MUBS).The programme for the event was as follows (click on name to find details of abstract, presentation or paper):

9.30 – 10.00 Registration and coffee
Welcome by Professor Richard Croucher (MUBS Director of Research) and Dr Claudio Morrison (PLSG Convenor)

10.00 – 11.45
Session 1: Protests and Trade Unions in Post-Socialist Europe: what prospects for Labour?
Chair: Olga Cretu
o Ukraine: between competing nationalisms and competing imperialisms, Volodymyr Ishenko (Centre for Social and Labour Research, Kiev);
o Social Protests between Spontaneity and Organisation: the case of the 2014 Bosnia Uprising’ Goran Markovic (East Sarajevo University, Sarajevo Plenum) ,Goran_Abstract for London 2015 ;
o Labour protests in Russia: protection of labour rights or revolt against the power?, Petr Bizyukov (Centre for Social and Labour rights, Moscow); PetrNew
o Trade unions in Poland: Pathways into the 21st century, Dr Vera Trappman (University of Leeds)Vera

11.45 – 12.00 Coffee break

12.00 – 13.20
Session 2: Post-Socialist Europe between crises and conflict: The Politics of Nationalism
Chair: Hanna Danilovich
o Passive Revolutions of the XXI Century: capitalist restoration and nationalist conflicts in post-socialist Europe, Dr Claudio Morrison (Middlesex University)May Workshop 2015 CM 2
o Conflict in the post-communist Yugoslavia: the case of Serbia: An examination of the consequences of the varying political discourse of nationalism from Tito through to the neoliberal order of today, Dr. Jelena Timotijevic (University of Brighton)
o Russian external threats and the ‘enemy within’: government policies and public responses, Veronika Biziukova (Levada Analytical Centre, Moscow)

13.20 – 14.20 Lunch break

14.20 – 15.45
Session 3: The Political Economy of Post-Socialism: Economics, Debt and Conflict (1)
Chair: Marian Rizov
o How Can We Explain Continuing Dysfunction in Post Socialist Economies?, Professor Martin Upchurch (Middlesex University);May29thMU
o The Polish “beggar imperialism” and uneven development of the Eastern Europe, Dr Filip Ilkowski (Institute of Political Science, Warsaw)Filip

15.45 – 16.00 Coffee break

16.00 – 17.00
Session 4: The Political Economy of Post-Socialism: Economics, Debt and Conflict (2)
Chair: Martin Upchurch
o Ukraine’s Economy of Debt, Professor John Grahl (economics, Middlesex University)25 yearsJG
o The Russian Federation and its ‘neighbourhood’: A Eurasian Economic Space?, Dr Hanna Danilovich (LWO, Middlesex University)The Russian Federation and Its Neighbourhood

17.00 – 17.40
Plenary Session:
The way forward: Prospects and challenges for future research and social impact
Discussant: Richard Croucher

Facebook link here, including videos of some presentations.