More than forty scholars from the region and across Europe took part in the international conference After Wars: Consequences, Lessons, Interpretations, dedicated to examining the social, political, and cultural processes that shape post-war societies and their long-term challenges.
Organized by the journal Tragovi and the Institute of Social Sciences, the conference was held at the Serbian Cultural Center in Zagreb and brought together over 40 researchers who, through two keynote lectures and 11 thematic sessions, addressed the consequences of wars, collective (war-related) memories, geopolitical aspects of conflict, the impact of wars on identity, and other challenges faced by contemporary post-war societies.
The focus of the conference was not on wars themselves, but on what comes after them—social transformations, diverse cultures of memory, interpretations of the past, and challenges to peace. On behalf of the organizers, Dejan Jović, professor at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, and editor-in-chief of the journal Tragovi, together with Irena Ristić, research fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences, emphasized that the region has been living in a post-war condition for three decades. They warned of the dangers of a permanent “interwar period” and stressed the importance of understanding and continuously re-examining the causes of wars.
The keynote lectures were delivered by Prof. Siniša Malešević of University College Dublin, who spoke about the ethos of the warrior before and after war, and Prof. Stefano Bianchini of Università di Bologna, who analyzed the role of the European Union and nationalism as factors contributing to long-term instability.
Presentations by other participants underscored the importance of academic dialogue as a means of countering extremism, the need for comparative approaches, and the value of international and regional encounters and exchanges of perspectives. Particular attention was devoted to the politics of symbols, the reinterpretation of history, the role of youth, cultures of memory, and the economic consequences of wars.
