The role of national minorities in a national security – a conference in Vilnius

From the 28th to the 30th of April, 2016, the international interdisciplinary conference called ‘’National minorities – a chance, a challenge or a threat to national security?’’ will take place at the House of Polish Culture in Vilnius. The organizers of the event are:  the Association of Polish Scholars in Lithuania (SNPL), Faculty of Economics and IT in Vilnius University of Bialystok (UwB Branch in Vilnius) and the Institute of National security of Pomeranian Academy in Slupsk (APS).

‘’Due to the political, cultural and socio-economic changes in many regions of globalized world, violating the established status quo, migration processes, tendencies of radicalization of particular social groups, and other challenges and threats to regional and national security, there is a need not only for conducting a special analysis of these processes from the studies of security point of view but also a need to use achievements of philosophy, pedagogics, sociology, political science, history, law and many other disciplines of social science’’-the organizers wrote in the invitation. “In this context, what have a special meaning are the analysis of perceiving, modeling and organizing the integration processes in multinational societies, an ability to use a potential and opportunities of national minorities both inside the country and in contacts with their parent communities in other countries, and also, based on prognostic researches, noticing potential challenges and threats that might occur in multinational countries’’-the invitation continues.

The conference will refer to topics and issues that were discussed in 2014 at the conference called “The Family Europe. European political thoughts and the challenges of 21th century such as European countries security, role and meaning of national minorities’’ organized by Association of Polish Scholars in Lithuania and Polish Association of Political Thought. The purpose of the conference was not only the analysis of contemporary irritations and problems between the majority and national minorities, historical experience and determinants of contemporary stereotypes and complexes between them, but also an ambition of achieving a harmonious model of coexistence of different nations in common Europe.

 ‘’We deeply hope that a discourse caused by the conference and the confrontation of beliefs and presented ideas will contribute to a development of research positions that will be successfully enhanced in the further scientific process and will raise an understanding of rations and arguments, fears and stereotypes of the representatives of the country’s minority and members of national minorities and communities inhabiting in the country’’- the organizers announce.