Between National, Regional, and Transregional Interdependencies
ReCentGlobe Annual Conference 2025: Social Cohesion (Un)Bound
This year, ReCentGlobe's annual conference interrogates the question: "Regions in transition, national entities, and transregional interdependencies: What does social cohesion refer to?"
The rise of populist-nationalist and far-right movements in Europe, Trump's authoritarian-isolationist political style, and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East pose a massive challenge at the international political level and raise the question of what we identify with and which version of social cohesion we advocate for.
Historically, this is by no means entirely new, and yet we face the acute awareness of a turning point that is accentuating lines of conflict within society. Populist discourses give the impression of simple solutions and link these with a retreat into national borders, while at the same time regional differentiation and cross-border interdependencies are not diminishing, but rather increasing.
Against this background, this year's ReCentGlobe conference poses the question of how regions are reacting to increasing social fragmentation and an international policy that is once again increasingly characterized by nationalism and isolationism. The conference aims to shed light on how diverse social actors and organizations - from trade unions and environmental activists to nationalist and populist movements - are each developing their own forms of cohesion in order to meet the challenges of an increasingly globalized world.
The contributions to the conference are intended to facilitate comparison and link observations on current developments with historical analyses.
Programme
Wednesday, 7 May 2025
- 09:45 - 10:00
Opening - 10:00 - 12:00
Round Table | Gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt und die Handlungskompetenz von Kommunen am Beispiel ausgewählter Städte in Sachsen und Sachsen-Anhalt (in German)
Lena Freyer (kommunales Innovationsmanagement, Eilenburg)
Markus Maier (Leipzig University/SEPT Competence Centre)
Sven Lehmann (SL Marketing & Management as well as board of #TGVeb, Eilenburg)
Thomas Beukert (Kompetenzzentrum für öffentliche Wirtschaft, Infrastruktur und Daseinsvorsorge e.V.)
Ninja Steinbach-Hüther (Leipzig University/ReCentGlobe) - 12:00 - 13:00
- Lunch Break - - 13:00 - 15:00
Panel 1 | Social cohesion lost and found: sense of belonging in the post-Soviet Ukraine, 1991-2025 (convened by Alexandr Osipian, GWZO)
Simon Schlegel (Director of the Ukraine Program at the Zentrum Liberale Moderne, Berlin)
Wilfried Jilge (Associate Fellow at the Center for Order and Governance in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia (DGAP))
Vlad Mykhnenko (Oxford University)
Oksana Myshlovska (University of Bern)
Oksana Mikheieva (Ukrainian Catholic University Lviv)
Alexandr Osipian (GWZO, Leipzig) - 15:00 - 15:30
- Coffee Break - - 15:30 - 17:00
Member Meeting - 17:00 - 17:30
- Small Break - - 17:30 - 19:00
Keynote | Daniel Hedinger (Universität Leipzig): „Trump and the Global Rise of Fascism“
Thursday 8 May 2025
- 10:00 - 12:00
Panel 2 | Far-Right and Anti-Genderism: Gender as the Glue of Social Cohesion? A Balkan Perspective (convened by Katarina Ristic, GWZO, Leipzig)
Kathleen Zeidler (Leipzig University)
Jelena Ćeriman and Marija Mandić (Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade)
Jovana Mihalovic-Trbovc (Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts)
Katarina Ristić (Global and European Studies Institute (GESI), Leipzig University)
Sina Arnold (TU Berlin and Forschungsinstitut Gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhalt)
Jovana Mihajlović Trbovc (Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts) - 12:00 - 13:00
- Lunch Break - - 13:00 - 15:00
Panel 3 | Rebuilding Social Cohesion in Syria (convened by Katrin Köster, ReCentGlobe, Leipzig)
Mohammad Maghout (Free University, Berlin)
Felix Wessel (Berlin Graduate School for Muslim Cultures and Societies (BGSMCS), Freie Universität Berlin)
Rahaf Aldoughli (Lancaster University)
Katharina Lange (Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin) - 15:00 - 15:30
- Small Break - - 15:30 - 17:30
Panel 4 | Finding Hope in the Downturn? Social Cohesion, Industrial Decline, and the Ecological Crisis (convened by Daniela Ruß and Julia Kaiser, ReCentGlobe, Leipzig University)
Nora Räthzel (Umeå University)
Julia Kaiser (Global Studies Institute, University of Leipzig)
Jacob Blumenfeld (Center for Social Critique, Humboldt-Universität Berlin)