How do the legacies of violent conflict shape democratic competition decades after the guns fall silent? This lecture examines the enduring imprint of war on electoral politics in Southeast Europe, summing up insights from the ERC-funded research project ELWar and more than five years of fieldwork, archival research, and quantitative analysis. The lecture will explore how political actors mobilize historical narratives and collective memories of conflict to structure competition, consolidate support, and marginalize rivals. Far from fading with time, war memories are routinely reactivated in campaigns, shaping voter alignments and polarizing political arenas. By tracing patterns across this region, this research challenges conventional theories that prioritize economic performance or institutional design, demonstrating instead how the past persists as a potent electoral resource. In unpacking the political afterlife of war, the lecture offers a broader reflection on the fragility of democratic contestation in post-conflict settings and the deep roots of political division.

Online-Lecture by Josip Glaurdic (University of Luxembourg)

The Web Lecture Series “Transregional Histories of the Yugoslav Wars” is part of the research project “Reordering Yugoslavia, Rethinking Europe”, which is organized by the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History together with the Humboldt University of Berlin and the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies.

LOCATION
You are invited to join the lecture and discussion via Zoom.

REGISTRATION
No pre-registration is required for participation.