The scientific-professional meeting “Political Dialogues” was held in Topola, from July 2 to 4, 2021. The conference is part of a wider project of the RESECO initiative with the intention of putting current political research into the context of wider social and political applicability. The gathering included several panels. The first panel discussed the process of disciplining democracy, effective ways of measuring democratic and authoritarian tendencies, as well as the contemporary reading of Hobbes’ concept of representation. The second panel was dedicated to sustainable development and reform capacities of public administration institutions with the aim of depoliticizing functions and more efficient operation of services for citizens. The third panel was dedicated to the contemporary challenges of violence, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the global scope of the peace and state building process, as well as the continuous growth and establishment of hybrid regimes. Also, special attention was paid to the influence of religion and diplomatic consequences in the history of Yugoslav/Serbian-Italian relations. In the end, the final panel was dedicated to economic development, with an emphasis on the global role of China and the effects of Chinese investments in the Balkans, the scope of local self-government reform in Serbia and the application of IT in public administration.
