We invite you to submit an abstract and/or a paper to attend the conference. We encourage authors to explore questions including (but not limited to):

Criticism of State Socialism – Still Relevant?

• State socialism: remnants or resurrection? A comparative perspective.

(transition and advanced economies; different trajectories of transition; signs of reversive transition; role of the state; populism and protectionism; environmentalism and anti-capitalism; fiscal and monetary policies;  structural reforms; property rights enforcement and the rule of law)

• European Union: accession and integration policies.

(the legal framework; decision-making rules; conditional transfers; sustainable immigration and welfare)

• Political competition and economic

(public versus private sector in health and education policies; regulation – too much, too little or bad regulation? socialist conceptions of the role of state in the democracy)

Business Environment and Corruption in Transition Economies

• Business environment, market drivers and ethics

(market frameworks; formal and informal practices; corruption; competition; digital economy; institutional upgrading; expertise and integrity of the judiciary; privacy and personal data protection; trade openness and foreign direct investment;)

• Legacy or not

(institutional traps that are not legacy of the past but have emerged from the transition process itself;  business elites and top management teams; clandestine networks; government sponsored crime; role of trade unions).

To be included in the Conference Programme and presented at the steep Conference, papers or abstracts have to be submitted on time and must be approved by reviewers.

Submitted papers must not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. All papers are refereed through a peer review process.

The Catholic Institute will publish the papers given at the Conference in its scientific journal Res Novae.  High quality papers will be considered for publication in Post-Communist Economies. At least one author of the abstract or a paper should participate at the conference and present the research within the conference programme. Conference participants are not obliged to publish their paper(s) in the Conference proceedings.