CALL FOR PAPERS

Deadline: 31 December 2014

Quarter of a century ago, at the turn of 1989 and 1990, Central and Eastern Europe – then known as the ‘Soviet bloc’ – experienced an unprecedented socio-economic and political transformation. The hitherto existing system, known as ‘Actually Existing Socialism’, crumbled, and countries of the region started a transition towards a capitalist market economy and a political democracy.

The aim of the conference is to focus on the socio-legal aspects of the transformation. Whilst some areas, such as lustration and transitional justice, have been already thoroughly researched, others such as the impact of transformation upon private law, procedural law or general administrative law still remain to be analysed in more detail. In particular, an aspect which is generally neglected in contemporary scholarship are so-called ‘legal survivals’ of the socialist period, that is those legal institutions which have not been removed after transformation but still remain in place. Furthermore, some scholars argue that there is a strong continuity in legal culture, such as attitudes of judges and scholars to legal interpretation or generally held views on the place of law in society. Our aim is to invite a broad outlook upon the socio-legal aspects of transformation, including the role of law in the transformation of social conciousness, the construction of collective identities and the framing of social dialogue.

Specific topics that we encourage speakers to explore include the following:
• continuity of statehood both in domestic (constitutional) law and in international law (e.g. with regard to treaties, debts, etc.);
• the impact of transformation upon legal culture (with a particular focus on the continuity of legal culture despite the political and socio-economic changes);
• continuity of legal institutions introduced during the socialist period in various areas of the law (with a particular focus on the adaptation of those institutions to the new socio-economic and political order);
• continuity and discontinuity of the judiciary and legal profession (with a focus not only on lustration, but also the system of appointment of judges, corporate culture of the judiciary and the legal profession);
• continuity and discontinuity of legal education;
• role of law in the transformation of collective identities.

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Confirmed keynote speakers include:
• Prof. Dr. Adam Czarnota, Director of Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law. Spain
• Prof. Dr. hab. Leszek Koczanowicz, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Wrocław, Poland
• Judge Prof. Dr. Zdeněk Kühn, LL.M., S.J.D., Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic
• Prof. Dr. hab. Adam Sulikowski, University of Wrocław and University of Opole, Poland
• Assoc-Prof. Dr. Matej Avbelj, Graduate School of European Studies, Kranj, Slovenia

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• Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be sent to transformation2015@law.muni.cz no later than by 31 December 2014.
• The conveners will communicate the acceptance of abstracts by 15 January 2015. Participants will be expected to submit a preliminary draft of their paper (about 5,000 words) by 15 March 2015.
• The conference fee will amount to € 100 (standard fee)/€ 50 (reduced fee for PhD candidates and postgraduate students) and will be payable by 15 March 2015.
• Selected papers, following a peer-review process, will be published in book form with a reputable publisher. More details will be communicated at the conference.
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Organising commitee:
Martin Škop (Masaryk University), Leszek Koczanowicz (University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Faculty in Wrocław), Radim Polčák (Masaryk University), Rafał Mańko (University of Amsterdam), Markéta Klusoňová (Masaryk University)