IFDS Croatia 2001

	Seminar Participants in Mostar This testimonial was written by Dr. Beat Kernen, associate professor and acting department head, Department of Political Science, Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, MO. Dr. Kernen participated in Council's IFDS program in Croatia, May 30-June 8, 2001, entitled "The Evolution of South-Eastern Europe: The Croatian Perspective."
IFDS Participant Testimonial: Croatia

"The 10-day seminar began in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, where we spent the first three days and met with the two faculty leaders, Dr. Ivo Slaus, academician and member of the Croatian Parliament, and Dr. Katarina Ott, director of the Institute of Public Finance. Lectures in Zagreb included those on Croatia's political development, the history of the Balkans, post-communist and post-war reconstruction, the identification of war crime victims, and Croatia's foreign economic relations.

After three days in Zagreb, the group flew with the seminar leaders to Dubrovnik, a beautiful medieval port city on the Adriatic coast where the remainder of the seminar took place. Here, academics from the Inter-University Center in Dubrovnik presented lectures on unofficial activities in transition economies, poverty and social welfare in Croatia (including sexual attitudes among Croats), the Croatian tax system, privatization issues, and the evolution of Southeast Europe from a Croatian perspective.

On the last full day of the seminar, participants went on an excursion to Bosnia and the city of Mostar which turned out to be one of the highlights of the entire seminar. Not only is the border between the two former Yugoslav Republics (Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina) heavily fortified, the bus trip through Bosnia went along completely bombed or burned out villages with many side roads still impassable because of landmines. Mostar, a city of about 50,000 people, used to be populated by Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, but is now divided into Croat and Muslim parts after the Serbs were forced to flee from that part of Bosnia. Although the war in Bosnia ended in 1995/96, its remnants were still visible everywhere: every second building bombed out or burned down, each house front bullet- and grenade-riddled, collapsed bridges (including the famous arched bridge from the 16th century), and young men sitting idly in street cafes because of extremely high unemployment levels. The group met with the Deputy High Representative and Head of the Office of the High Representative in Mostar (former British Ambassador to Croatia), the Croat director of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and other officials from the international community administering the city, who provided a status report on political, economic, and social conditions in Mostar and Bosnia. Although the city of Mostar is alive again, it still revealed the folly and destructiveness of a war that was based upon ethnic and nationalistic hatred and the legacy of which may be felt for years to come.

Back in Croatia, which had experienced its own but relatively less destructive conflict, it was a relief to see the progress made since the end of the war in 1995. Tourism is in full swing and the economy is picking up, although it will still be a long time before that country will have fully recovered from the conflict.

Overall, the seminar was a well-organized and extremely valuable experience that I will fondly remember. It will help me provide students in my East-European politics class with a more vivid picture of post-war reconstruction and the present situation in Southeast Europe."