Two participants from Myanmar visited Austria and Italy
Winter School on Federalism and Governance 2019

U Aung Ye Htut and Nu Tsen Mun Hpaula in front of the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Innsbruck

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Week 1: Innsbruck

This year is the 10-year anniversary of the Winter School on Federalism and Governance, so far participants from over 150 countries have joined this program. After welcoming remarks, Prof. Anna Gamper gave a concrete introduction on the concepts of federalism and rule of law.

Topics of our discussions have been the democratic argument of federalism and rule of law, legal conflicts in federal systems and the role of courts, legal instruments of conflict prevention and resolution, federalism, rule of law and divided societies as well as comparative studies on different country experiences. More than 8 professors who focus on federalism from different universities and institutions such as International Association of Centres for federal studies (IACFS), Institute of Comparative Federalism, gave lectures. In addition to that, there was a panel discussion on “Secession as a breach of the rule of Law” by Prof. Francesco Palermo, Prof. Johanne Poirier, Dr. Mireia Grau Creus and Dr. Asanga Welikaka at the University of Innsbruck. The panelists shared on the different country’s experiences of secession and legal interpretation and procedure of Scotland, Catalonia, Quebec and Brexit experience of UK.

The participants of the Winter School at EURAC Research

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Furthermore, conducted the role play “Let’s go federal!” to learn how to create a federal state by defining how to ensure territorial representation in federal decision-making process. The role play was facilitated by the Institute for Comparative Federalism. We also discussed on how to construct revenue structure of the constituent units and how to balance between autonomy claims and solidarity concerns.

During the first week we had the great opportunity to meet political representatives like the mayor of Innsbruck and discuss federal issues with them and to get an insight into local administration in Tyrol. There was enough time for networking and other activities like a guided city tour or the visit of Nordkette Innsbruck. The organizers brought us to the mountain that is located just north of the city of Innsbruck. We reached the foot of the mountain where we accessed the ski area via cable car. The temperature was less than -2˚C.

Group work during the role play

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Week 2: Bolzano

The second week of winter school continued at EURAC research center in Bolzano. The participants were welcomed by EURAC research center and learned about the work of EURAC and the unique history of South Tyrol region which is, among 20 regions, granted a status of special autonomous region in Italy.

We visited the South Tyrolean Parliament on the second day including a discussion with provincial counsellors which was followed by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mrs Rita Mattei. This was followed by a beautiful city tour to the historical locations and buildings. Later on, the interactive workshops continued separately under the topics of fiscal relations, ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities, environment and secession referendums. Ye Htut was in the group of ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities and presented case studies about minority related issues in Myanmar. Fiscal relations in Myanmar were discussed by Nu Tsen Mun.

The participants during one of the seminars

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The second week focused on case studies from Asian countries and the European Union. We also learned about South East Europea, especially Bosnia and Herzegovina and about the historic as well as economic situation of Bolzano. The fruitful winter school was closed by the diploma ceremony at Prosel castle with the participants and alumni from the program. This two-week winter school program has been an incredibly good impact not only for meeting all the intellectual people around the world but the lectures from experts and critical discussions from diverse perspectives.

Yours
Nu Tsen Mun Hpaula and U Aung Ye Htut