Lecture: “The Not-So-Frozen Conflicts at Russia’s Borders” by Bob Deen

Sometimes it just seems like there are endless disputes in some of the former Balkan States. The OSCE Secretary General recently mentioned that the crisis in Ukraine is showing signs of a frozen conflict, but what does this mean? What happens when a conflict becomes “frozen”? How can a minority influence a frozen conflict? And what can we learn from current frozen conflicts? Bob Deen, currently working at the OSCE and former EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, has more than enough information to answer these questions for you.

Bob Deen currently works with the OSCE’s High Commissioner on National Minorities by providing political advice on conflict prevention and national minority issues in Ukraine and Moldova. Previously he did the same on South-Eastern and Central Europe. In 2008 he was a EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, based in Georgia. He also worked for ACTED and Conflict Research Unit (CRU) and went to Moldova as a observer in Transnistria. He has become a specialist in conflicts in Post-Soviet states and will help provide us with the vast knowledge he has acquired in the recent years.