My Hero Your Enemy:
Way Forward in the CEE SEE Region
Rationale
Through sharing experience in the V4 region, the initiative aims to discuss the impact of historical experiences towards searching for understanding of historical processes within bilateral dynamics of the SEE region. National mythologies built on the key events of the 20th century still have significant impact on the dynamic of bilateral as well as regional relations.
These events are extensively operationalized and instrumentalized in national political discourses without the aim of searching to understand “the other side”. The disputes between North Macedonia and Bulgaria as well as Kosovo and Serbia are complex and deep, and the situation may easily escalate due to provocation or even with a lack of misunderstanding.
Sustainability of difficult bilateral compromises entail at least tacit approval by societies in large. Learning from the past experience with other bilateral and regional disputes and agreements such as the V4 collaboration is an important contribution for better understanding of processes in the region and creating space for mutual understanding. As a result, within bilateral and regional relations, there has been a general lack of dialogue and its facilitation. At the same time, a sensitive approach is a must to achieve basic elements of trust.
The initiative aims to provide a space for facilitating dialogue and restoring trust in the context of bilateral relations, particularly within the V4 and SEE region. Without assessing similar cases and their lessons learned from a wide spectrum of initiatives, ranging from grassroots efforts to major political narratives, that have successfully fostered dialogue and rebuilt trust among communities and nations. By examining what has worked and analyzing the reasons for their success, the initiative is designed to gain insights into the mechanics of effective reconciliation and cooperation.
By drawing from a historical perspective, it will explore the current state of bilateral relations within the CEE and SEE region. This reflection will not only help in understanding the dynamic nature of international relations and confidence building efforts but also in identifying adaptable strategies that can respond to changing political and social landscapes. The initiative seeks to offer valuable lessons and demonstrate good practices that can inspire and guide future efforts in restoring trust and facilitating dialogue in the complexity of bilateral relations.
OBjective
To support confidence building measures in the CEE and SEE region with emphasis on bilateral relations by creating social and political spaces and practices conducive to promotion of good neighbourly in line with European values and best practices.
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To foster and maintain communication and dialogue channels between relevant stakeholders (e.g. civil society actors, experts, journalists and political stakeholders) across the region on challenging and possibly divisive topics).
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To identify a civil society led mechanism for political/legal binding documents aiming to support confidence building processes in bilateral issues (based on data and carried out research on state of play and progress of implementation)
The conference in Ohrid
held on April 16 - 18 2024
The conference in Ohrid, held from April 16 - 18, 2024, addressed historical challenges, political development, and social resilience. The event featured expert panels, fostering international cooperation and knowledge sharing among participants from various view points.
Photo Gallery: Google Drive Link
Prague Conference
held on June 19th 2024
The Prague part, held on June 19, 2024 summarized key takeaways from the Ohrid event as provided new perspectives for the follow up activities relevant for the My Hero Your Enemy initiative.
Photo Gallery: Google Drive Link
The project is a follow up of the My Hero Your Enemy initiative under title "National Identities in Central Europe in the Light of Changing European Geopolitics 1918-1948" that took place in 2015 at Masaryk University (CZE).
Special thank to our partners: Villa Decius Institute for Culture (PL), Slovak Debate Association (SK), Foundation for Humanities and Social Studies - Sofia (BG), NGO Aktiv (RKS), Institute of European Studies (SRB), Eurothink (NMK), Institute of Political History (HU).
Videos of the event are accessible here
Based on two previous editions (2011 and 2015) ibidem Verlag published a collected volume publication " Transregional versus National Perspectives on Contemporary Central European History".
Details here
The initiative was initiated by the International Visegrad Fund and thanks to its generous support the idea still resonates in areas that matter.
Currently, the initiative is run by following consortium:
