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Book Review 79 Book review 79 Book review Gustav N. Kristensen, Born into a Dream: EuroFaculty and the Council of the Baltic States, Die Ostseeregion: Nördliche Dimensionen – Europäische Perspektiven, Band 13, Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8305-1769-6 This book tells the story of the EuroFaculty, from its birth to its (premature) death. EuroFac- ulty was created in 1993 on the initiative of the then German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, and his Danish colleague, Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Uffe Elleman-Jensen. The objectives of EuroFaculty were to reform higher education in the fields of economics, public administration and law by establishing special EuroFaculty centres at the three principal universities of the region, Tartu, Riga and Vilnius, with the aim of up- grading the competence of the local faculty and to teach undergraduates and graduates. As a capacity building project, the Euro Faculty project was seen as a long-term commitment of universities and donors alike. Born into a Dream could be considered semi-autobiographical since the author served as what turned out to be the last director of EuroFaculty. The book starts in Denmark on a sunny Sunday afternoon in the mid 1950s when the author asks his mother whether Estonia, Lat- via and Lithuania are “real countries” (her answer was “yes”). From this stems what could be considered the author’s life-long interest in the Baltic States; in their struggle to regain independence; and once independence was regained in the development of the Baltic States as nations integrated in the European setting where they have always belonged. This is seen throughout the book and also provides the glasses through which the author analyzes the birth and life of EuroFaculty. The book benefits from the sympathy of the author combined with the fact that the author himself played a leading role in EuroFaculty. In many cases, this could have been a problem. However, Kristensen manages very well to present a balanced account of the life and death of EuroFaculty. The first part of the book provides the background to EuroFaculty, starting with free elections in Lithuania in early 1990 and what then turned out to be the road to the regained indepen- dence of the Baltic States after close to 50 years of Soviet occupation. It also puts the Baltic States in a Baltic Sea context where they have always belonged – an observation crucial to the understanding of EuroFaculty and the involvement of the donor countries. The first part ends with a description of how it all started and the political processes behind the launch of EuroFaculty. The remaining part of the book is organized in parts according to director. The build up phase filled with enthusiasm under the aegis of Toivo Miljan and the political game that forced him to leave the position. The consolidation phase and the continual struggle with the donors un- der Arild Saether. The phase of rescue efforts and eventual closure under the aegis of Gustav Kristensen. 80 Baltic Journal of Economics 10(2) (2010) 79-81 Each of these three parts could be seen as having a theme. The themes of the first two of these parts are common to many capacity building or technology transfer projects. The first being transition from the enthusiasm of the start-up phase into a sustainable organisation with well-functioning routines etc., while at the same time maintaining contacts with the donors to ensure funding for the coming year(s). The second being consolidation of activities and hard work or, to use the words of the author, “battles” to secure the financing necessary for further development, while at the same time being subject to political games that in many cases are played behind the scenes. In the EuroFaculty project, in particular, these games were played by the individual donor countries whose donations were subject to bilateral agreements which enabled them to act in the interest of the nation rather than in the interest of EuroFaculty as such. The last part of the book is naturally to a large extent devoted to (although the author does not put it in such a way) the donors’ betrayal of EuroFaculty and the heroic efforts to rescue at least part of what had been built up. Being very well narrated, making it exciting reading, the book will naturally find a reader- ship among those who were involved in EuroFaculty, be it as faculty and administrators or as students. They will enjoy the lucid writing and the pregnant characterisations of many of the persons involved – about one of the editors of this Journal it is said “In all his appearance he is more an Alf (Elf) than a Vanags (Latvian: Hawk)”. However, the book deserves a much wider readership than that. It provides a very good and illustrative case study on international coop- eration (involving nations as well as supranational organisations) when it comes to capacity building and the challenges that come with it – in particular once the enthusiasm of the first years is left behind. As such it provides a valuable contribution to the literature on academic capacity building in a post-Soviet, post-communist setting. In this context, the book provides a good complement to Richard E. Quandt’s book from 2002 “The Changing Landscape in Eastern Europe” discussing how institutions for economic education emerged in Central and Eastern Europe. To borrow words from the author: “In the pell-mell battle of EuroFaculty nothing was as prescribed in the text-book. Theoretical training can sharpen our judgment; but apart from this we cannot learn anything new from theory, only from life. EuroFaculty was life”. In this context, the book provides several lessons to be learnt. Firstly, the difficulties already discussed in the transition from the enthusiasm of the first years to the building of a sustain- able organisational and financing model. Secondly, the difficulty in changing, building and integrating something new within an existing structure, in particular when combined with the resistance and political power of the incumbents, hence providing evidence against the idea put forward by many policy makers that capacity building and technology transfer should take place within existing organisations rather than establishing new ones. Thirdly, the need for long term commitment from donors as well as other stakeholders, in particular when a project lasts longer than the political decision makers’ term in office. Finally, the failure of pan-Baltic cooperation (if such a concept has ever existed in reality) for the long-term benefit of all three Baltic States. What is missing in an otherwise well-written and interesting book is a discussion of “what happened then?” In particular what happened to the students after graduation and what do they do now? Based on the reviewer’s personal experience of encountering EuroFaculty graduates, it seems like the dream has just started. The highly talented graduates are seen in Book review 81 academia as well as the private and public sectors throughout the Baltic States and will con- tinue to build their nations in the years to come. Furthermore, not to be forgotten, the heritage of EuroFaculty is still alive through this Journal since it was born under its auspices. Finally, one cannot but wish that the donors as well as other stakeholders in the early 2000s would have remembered the words of the first director of EuroFaculty, Toivo Miljan, who in 1994 pointed out that EuroFaculty represents the “long term commitment of the Baltic universities and the donor countries to work toward substantial and permanent reform”. It is too bad that neither the governments nor the universities involved understood that somewhat more than ten years is not enough to build something as ambitious as EuroFaculty. Anders Paalzow Stockholm School of Economics in Riga References Miljan, T. (1994), EuroFaculty: Tartu-Riga-Vilnius Report, Baltic Studies Newsletter, no. 3, vol.18. Quandt, R.E. (2002), The Changing Landscape in Eastern Europe: A Personal Perspective on Philanthropy and Technology Transfer, Oxford University Press, Oxford. .
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