The panel session BK4 brought three members of the Macedonian team of CONNEKT which presented their findings on meso-level drivers of radicalisation and violent extremism in North Macedonia. Prof. Dr. Lidija Georgieva, Asst. Dr Elena Mujoska Trpevska and Dr. Naum Trajanovski from the CONNEKT national team participated in the 27th annual ASN Convention that took place from May 18 to 20, 2023, at Columbia University in New York, USA.

The Harriman Institute’s ASN (Association for the Study of Nationalities) Convention is undoubtedly the most important international and interdisciplinary scientific collection, with a strong emphasis on the Balkans, but also includes entire sections on MENA, extremism and violence.

Disciplines represented include law and political science, history, anthropology, sociology, international studies, security studies, fields, economics, geography, literature and other areas of the humanities and social sciences. Hence, as the largest gathering of its kind, it represents
an excellent opportunity to connect with the most relevant scientists in the field.

All three presentations dealt with the northwestern region of the state and the city of Tetovo: Lidija Georgieva looked at the football fan scene in the city, Naum Trajanovski discussed the commemorative activities related to the 2001 armed conflict and Elena Mujoska Trpevska focused on the prisons and Correctional educational facility Volkovija.

The panel was moderated by Bojana Zorić from Masaryk University and it also had Goran Tepšić, from the Belgrade University and CONNEKT’s sister H2020 project PREVEX, who discussed state, clientelism and radicalisation in Serbia. The general discussion was focused on the cross-national comparison of the macro- and meso-level drivers of radicalisation and violent extremism, the regional challenges related to PCVE, radicalisation and extremism posed by the Russian aggression in Ukraine and the possible future scenarios for deradicalisation in the Balkans.

The panel session was part of the 27th Association for the Study of Nationalities’ Annual World Convention which took place at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute. Hosting close to 150 discussions, book presentations and panel sessions related to inter alia nationalism, identity, ethnic mobilization and radicalisation in different corners of the globe, the ASN Convention proved that not only it is one of the largest such events in the world, but also one of the most relevant. This year, the Convention was held onsite for the first time in four years, while its thematic scopes resonated with the most pressing issues: the Russian aggression in Ukraine, the global reactions to the war and the wartime activism, among the other topics. The Balkan region had a specific accent as in the past years.