This talk examines the role of Kosovo in Albanian – Yugoslav relations from the foundation of the Albanian communist party during the Second World War until the defeat of the Albanian communists in the march 1992 elections. It seeks to explain Albania’s often ambivalent attitude to Kosovo. It concludes with a discussion of unification tendencies that emerged in the 1990s and after.
About the lecturer:
Robert Clegg Austin (PhD, University of Toronto) is a specialist on East Central and Southeastern Europe in historic and contemporary perspective. In the past, Austin was a Tirana-based correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; a Slovak-based correspondent with The Economist Group of Publications; and a news writer with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto. Austin has written articles for The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, Southeast European Times, Orbis, East European Politics and Societies and East European Quarterly along with numerous book chapters and two books published separately in Tirana and Prishtina.
He has lectured widely in Europe and North America and was a Guest Professor in 2009 – 2010 at the University of Graz’s Centre for Southeast European Studies. His most recent book, Founding a Balkan State, was published by University of Toronto Press in October 2012. At U of T's Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (CERES), he coordinates the Undergraduate European Studies Program, the Hellenic Studies Program and the Hungarian Studies Program.