Comparative Southeast European Studies 72, no. 2, 2024, is an open issue with a certain focus on matters pertaining to Turkey.
Economists Christos Kollias (Volos) and Petros Messis (Thessaloniki) conduct a gender-centric convergence analysis based on data from the Varieties of Democracy project for the case of Turkey. Their research was prompted by Turkey's withdrawal from the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention and the socalled "Sofagate" incident and should be viewed in the broader context of Turkey’s democratic backsliding and de-Europeanization process.
Political Scientist Carlos Gonzáles-Villa (Toledo) displays an original analysis of how Slovenia's political and ideological–cultural bureaucracy as well as technocracy — as three distinct, often contrasting societal groups in 1980s' Yugoslavia — merged into one dominant sociopolitical class in the process of Slovenia's independence, a position it has successfully reproduced eversince.
Geographers Tomáš Hoch and Viktor Heinz (both Ostrava) explore the problems related to university teaching and academic research within de facto states in the context of their non-recognition via an analysis of the current situation in the higher education sector of Northern Cyprus.
Relying on the interdependence theory, International Relations scholar Pınar Akgül (Giresun) seeks to answer the question: “To what extent does energy ensure cooperation in Russian–Turkish relations, despite current tensions?”
The open section is dedicated to "Film in Focus", with literary and film scholar Dušan Radunović (Durham) reviewing Mila Turajlić's documentary film diptych The Labudović Reels.
In addition, the issue contains four book reviews, all of which are recommend to your attention.
Articles
Christos Kollias and Petros Messis The Istanbul Convention, Sofagate, and Turkey’s EU Candidacy: A Gender-Centric Convergence Analysis 163
Carlos González-Villa Mechanisms of Centralisation towards a Post-Yugoslav Dominant Class: The Case of Slovenia 185
Tomáš Hoch and Viktor Heinz Higher Education in Northern Cyprus: The Path from Isolation to Oversaturation 207
Pınar Akgül Understanding Cooperation in Russian–Turkish Energy Relations 232
Film in Focus
Dušan Radunović Time Never Regained: Film, Memory and History in Mila Turajlić’s Labudović Reels 256
Book Reviews
Adriana Zaharijević Gordana Subotić. Gender, Nation, and Women Politicians in Serbia and Kosovo. A Political Ethnography 270
Karlo Ruzicic-Kessler Nadège Ragaru. Bulgaria, the Jews, and the Holocaust. On the Origins of a Heroic Narrative 273
Andrija Filipović Irena Šentevska. Raspevani Beograd. Urbani identitet i muzički video 276
Ivana Dinić Koen Slootmaeckers. Coming In: Sexual Politics and EU Accession in Serbia 279