Discussion Highlights:

Idemo!'s Mission: Building bridges between Austria and the Western Balkans.

Democratic Challenges: Addressing political instability and ethnic divisions in the region.

Diaspora Engagement: Mobilizing communities to support democratic initiatives.

"Speak Up!" Program: Empowering young leaders to collaborate across ethnic lines.

EU Integration: Navigating the path toward European Union membership.

Grassroots Activism: The role of civil society in promoting democratic values.

Transnational Cooperation: Leveraging networks to foster regional stability.

Inclusive Civic Spaces: Creating platforms for dialogue and collaboration.​

About Teresa Reiter

Teresa Reiter is a journalist and policy professional based in Vienna. She is a co-founder of Idemo!, an organization promoting civic engagement and cross-ethnic cooperation among Austria's Western Balkans diaspora. Most recently, Reiter worked as a political specialist at the U.S. Embassy in Vienna. Reiter previously led communications at the European Forum Alpbach, co-hosted The Defence Café podcast, and served as a foreign policy advisor for NEOS in the Austrian Parliament. She was a candidate in the 2019 European Parliament elections. Reiter was a 2020/21 Europe’s Futures Fellow of the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) and ERSTE Foundation.

Learn more about Idemo! at idemo.jetzt.​

Further Reading & Resources

Idemo!'s Initiatives: idemo.jetzt

Facebook: IDEMO

X: @idemomedia

LinkedIn: Idemo Social Media

Ivan Vejvoda  is Head of the Europe's Futures program at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM Vienna) implemented in partnership with ERSTE Foundation. The program is dedicated to the cultivation of knowledge and the generation of ideas addressing pivotal challenges confronting Europe and the European Union: nexus of borders and migration, deterioration in rule of law and democracy and European Union’s enlargement prospects.

The Institute for Human Sciences is an institute of advanced studies in the humanities and social sciences. Founded as a place of encounter in 1982 by a young Polish philosopher, Krzysztof Michalski, and two German colleagues in neutral Austria, its initial mission was to create a meeting place for dissenting thinkers of Eastern Europe and prominent scholars from the West.

Since then it has promoted intellectual exchange across disciplines, between academia and society, and among regions that now embrace the Global South and North. The IWM is an independent and non-partisan institution, and proudly so. All of our fellows, visiting and permanent, pursue their own research in an environment designed to enrich their work and to render it more accessible within and beyond academia.

For further information about the Institute:

https://www.iwm.at/