Slovenian sociologist Rizman to address human rights Sept. 29

Political sociologist Rudolph Rizman will deliver a talk titled "Human Rights and Democratic Transitions: A European View" on Sept. 29 at 3:30 p.m. at the Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. The room will be posted. The talk, free and open to the public, is hosted by the Human Rights and Human Diversity Initiative at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Rizman is from Slovenia, one of the new European states that emerged from the old federal Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Slovenia is one of few European states to have successfully made a transition from authoritarian rule under communism to stable liberal democracy after 1991.

A leading critic of communism in old federal Yugoslavia, Rizman runs a think tank supported by the George Soros Open Society Network.

Rizman is professor of sociology and political science at the philosophical faculty and director of its Scientific and Research Institute at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. At the University of Bologna in Italy he teaches a post-graduate course, "Nationalism and Globalization," and at the University of Sarajevo in Yugoslavia he teaches "Human Rights in An Era of Globalization."

The range of Rizman's research and teaching interests includes: the history of social thought, sociology of nationalism, nation-state and globalization, democratic transitions and consolidations, sociology of national identity and the sociological relevance of human rights and genocide. Rizman, who earned doctorates in sociology from Ljubljana and Harvard, is a member of the international research team on globalization and autonomy at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

He has published several books about Yugoslavia, on political ideas such as anarchism, liberalism, and nationalism and human rights. He has three books in print: "From Authoritarianism to Democracy and Independence-The Case of Slovenia," "Uncertain Path: The Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation in Slovenia," and "The Paradoxes of Globalization."

CONTACT: David Forsythe, University Professor, Political Science, (402) 472-1690