Gábor Demeter, senior research fellow of our institute, was invited by the Institute of Advanced Studies (iASK) of Kőszeg to give a lecture in English on the current political situation in the Balkans and historical analogies on 26 June 2024 in Kőszeg.

The programme was organised in cooperation with the UNESCO Chair for Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainability, Bibó István College for Advanced Studies of ELTE University, the University of Pannonia and the Institute for Social and European Studies Foundation (ISES).

The section entitled Echoes of Europe's Past: Historic and Cultural Perspectives on Contemporary Conflicts in the lecture series entitled Europa and the Minotaur: Geopolitics Between Myths and Reality, was chaired by Attila Pók. The invited speakers were Catherine Horel and Ahmet Evin, along with Gábor Demeter.

The theme of the lecture was to identify the cultural heritage of the Balkans and to examine the experiences of past conflicts and how they can be compared to today's events. Among the questions the speakers sought to answer were: whether 19th century conflict management methods are applicable today; the likelihood of a domino effect in a conflict; how the geopolitical situation of the peninsula in the 19th century has changed; and what are the permanent features of the peninsula's situation.