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Significant changes have taken place in Bosnia and Herzegovina in recent weeks. In early May, High Representative Christian Schmidt, who served as the representative of the principal international body overseeing state-building, resigned. The Office of the High Representative was originally entrusted by the members of the Peace Implementation Council with extensive oversight and monitoring responsibilities, but over the past few decades its role has gradually been stripped of much of its authority. Schmidt’s resignation was preceded by pressure from the United States, which has not only brought about changes in Bosnia and Herzegovina but may also affect relations between the United States and the European Union.

The BASEES annual conference was held from April 10 to 12, 2026, hosted this year by the University of Birmingham. The aim of this three-day international conference, featuring a rich program, was to provide a forum for the most significant current research examining the history and present of Central and Eastern Europe. Participating researchers, university students, and faculty members presented their projects and discussed the most important issues concerning the region’s past, present, and future within the framework of an interdisciplinary dialogue.

In Europe, it is only in recent years that academic conferences and workshops have begun to be organized with the aim of giving diplomatic corps, think tanks, and various foreign ministries and background organizations dealing with security policy direct access to historical knowledge.

What are the limits of liberal humanitarian state-building? Drawing on the Bosnian experience, László Márkusz examines the tension between state-building and nation-building, and argues that without international consensus and long-term commitment, even successful peace projects reach their limits.

At the invitation of the ELTE Institute of Political and International Studies, László Márkusz delivered a lecture entitled „State-Building and International Administration in the Post-Cold War Balkans” on October 10, 2025, at the ELTE Faculty of Social Sciences campus.

The XIth ICCEES World Congress was held between July 21 and 25, 2025, hosted this year by University College London. The aim of the five-day international congress, offering a rich program, was to provide a forum for the most important current research examining the history and present of Central and Eastern Europe. Researchers, senior research fellows, university professors, representatives of political and economic stake-holders presented their projects and discussed the most important issues of the region’s past, present, and future in an interdisciplinary dialogue.