The first project of the program- “The New Anti-Americanism: Policy Risks and Policy Solutions on the Balkans” (April 2002-April 2003) was a reaction to the rise of anti-American sentiments as a new and most radical expression of anti-western sentiments. The specific focus of the program was anti-American sentiments seen as a set of security and policy risks, as well as a problem requiring specific policy actions to the effect of reducing those risks on the Balkans. The result of the project was a set of policy recommendations advanced to the effect of reducing political risk associated with the phenomenon of anti-Americanism.
The second project- “Responding to Anti-Americanism on the Balkans” (April 2003-April 2004) was focused on a spectrum of political and, in particular, institutional ways for responding to the challenges of anti-Americanism in the region of South Eastern Europe. The main subject thus shifted from describing and attempting to understand the roots of anti-Americanism to working out an analytic framework for shaping a common, if possible integrated policy against this disturbing socio-political phenomenon. The Programs major goal was to reach out to and influence the political elites in a number of South-East European countries to the effect of creating and developing institutional mechanisms for countering anti-Americanism.
The third project- “Facing Anti-Americanism on the Balkans” (April 2004-April 2005) focused on the costs of anti-Americanism for local societies and local politics as the main concern of the project was the examination and possible policy response to anti-Americanism as a political resource for new post-transitional types of nationalism. The main goals of CLS were to raise the awareness of both, the general public and the political elites on the Balkans about the risks and dangers involved in the spread of anti-Americanism for their own societies and political institutions and to develop strategies for countering various types of anti-Americanism in local contexts, especially in the public realm of Bulgaria, Macedonia and Serbia.
Period: April 2002 - April 2005
Coordinators: Ivan Krastev
Financing Organisations: German Marshal Fund of the United States