November 9, 2009 marks the 20 year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. A four day conference hosted by UC Irvine's Center for the Study of Democracy will bring together world renowned scholars and experts to examine the international political, economic, and social changes that have taken place since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the 1989 protests at Tiananmen in Beijing, China.  The conference will kick off with a keynote address from Poland's first post-communist Finance Minister, Leszek Balcerowicz.  
 
November 5-8, 2009  
University of California, Irvine  
Hotel Laguna, Laguna Beach, California (425 South Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, CA)

 
For questions or to RSVP, please contact faculty organizers Nina Bandelj, Department of Sociology, UC Irvine nbandelj@uci.edu or 949-824-8872; or Dorothy Solinger, Department of Political Science, UC Irvine, dorjsoli@uci.edu or 949-824-7521.  
 
Funding provided by: American Council of Learned Societies, UCI Office of Research, UC Multi-Campus Research Program in World History, UCI Center for the Study of Democracy, UCI Center for Asian Studies, UCI Departments of Sociology and Political Science, UCI Center for Research on International and Global Studies.

**A detailed printable schedule is available online at http://www.democ.uci.edu/research/conf.php. 
 
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Thursday, November 5, 2009  
UC Irvine, Social Science Plaza A, Room 1100  
 
3:30-5:00 p.m. Keynote Address  

 
• Leszek Balcerowicz (Warsaw School of Economics), The Institutional Change after Socialism

 

 
5:00-6:00 p.m. Reception  
 
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Friday, November 6, 2009  
Laguna Hotel, Laguna Beach  
 
9:00-10:45 a.m. Panel I: Political Institutions/Leaders  

 
• Valerie Bunce (Cornell) and Sharon Wolchik (George Washington), Democratizing Elections in Postcommunist Central and Eastern Europe: Echoes of 1989

 

• Joseph Fewsmith (Boston University) , Institutionalization and Quasi-Institutionalization in Post-Tiananmen Elite Politics

 

• Daniel Treisman (UCLA), The Popularity of Russia's Leaders During the Transition

 

• Discussants: Yuliya Tverdova (UCI), Dorothy Solinger (UCI)

 
10:45-11:00 a.m. Coffee Break  
 
11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Panel II: Political Economy  

 
• Antoni Kaminski (Institute of Political Studies, Warsaw) and Bartlomiej Kaminski (Maryland), Trajectories of Transition from Communism: Bumps, Exits and Deviations

 

• David Stark (Columbia) and Balazs Vedres (Central European University), Political Holes in the Economy: Blockage and Brokerage in Hungary

 

• Discussant: Marek Kaminski (UCI)

 
12:30-2:00 p.m. Lunch Break  
 
2:00-3:30 p.m. Panel III: State-Society Relations  

 
• Wang Feng (UCI) and Su Yang (UCI), Leaving Tiananmen: State-Society Relations in Post-1989 China

 

• Martin Dimitrov (Dartmouth), Mafia-State Networks and Economic Transformations in Post-Communist Europe and Asia

 

• Discussants: Discussants: Guang Lei (San Diego State) and Nina Bandelj (UCI)

 
3:30-3:50 p.m. Coffee Break  
 
3:50-5:20 p.m. Panel IV: State-Society Confrontations  

 
• Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom (UCI), Outliving the Leninist Extinction: The Curious Case of the CCP's Longevity

 

• Katherine Verdery (CUNY), Postsocialist Cleansing in Eastern Europe: Purity and Danger in Transitional Justice

 

• Discussant: Thomas Bernstein (Columbia)

 
6:15 p.m. Dinner  
 
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Saturday, November 7, 2009  
Laguna Hotel, Laguna Beach  
 
9:00-10:30 a.m. Panel V: Social Reconfigurations  

 
• Theodore Gerber (Wisconsin-Madison), Changing Family Formation Behavior in Post-socialist Countries: Similarities, Divergences, and Explanations in Comparative Perspective

 

• Ivan Szelenyi (Yale) and Katarzyna Wilk (Yale), From Socialist Workfare to Capitalist Welfare State: Competing Strategies and Outcomes of Transformation of Social Institutions in European Neo-patrimonial and Neo-liberal Post-communist Regimes during the Second Phase of Reforms

 

• Discussant: Barbara Heyns (NYU)

 
10:30-10:50 a.m. Coffee Break  
 
10:50 a.m.-12:20 p.m. Panel VI: Economic Transformations  

 
• Barry Naughton (UCSD), China: Economic and Social Transformation since 1989

 

• Akos Rona-Tas (UCSD), Consumer Credit in Post-Communist Countries

 

• Discussants: Dorothy Solinger (UCI), Ewa Balcerowicz (CASE-Warsaw)

 
12:20-2:00 p.m. Lunch Break  
 
2:00-3:30 p.m. Panel VII: GLobalization I, Religion and the World  

 
• Robert Weller (Boston University), Globalization and Blind-Eye Governance in China

 

• David Laitin (Stanford) and Amanda Robinson (Stanford), Did Leninism's Fall Pave the Way for Islamism's Rise?

 

• Discussant: Kate Merkel-Hess (UCI)

 
3:30-3:50 p.m. Coffee Break  
 
3:50-5:20 p.m. Panel VIII: Globalization II, Economy and the World  

 
• Jozsef Borocz (Rutgers), Reduction to the Absurd: The Geopolitical Economy of Post-State-Socialism

 

• Wade Jacoby (Brigham Young), Managing Globalization by Managing Eastern and Central Europe

 

• Discussant: Dave Smith

 
6:15 p.m. Dinner  
 
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Sunday, November 8, 2009  
Laguna Hotel, Laguna Beach  
 
9:30-11:30 a.m. Wrap-Up Discussion and Conference Volume Plans