The Balkan Debate Forum (BDF) is aimed at bringing together students from the Balkan region in an atmosphere of openness and intellectual challenge. Whereas the national, ethnic, linguistic and religious groups they represent vary greatly, it is only through an active exchange of ideas that these future leaders can adequately assess their own preconceptions and stereotypes about themselves and their neighbors.  The debate format not only develops academic skills, stressing logic and factual documentation over emotion and generalization, but also is an appropriate catalytic method for addressing recurrent, but often unexamined, arguments associated with the Balkan region.  The international makeup of the teams forces students to "cross borders" and analyze their own views even before the debates begin. Not knowing whether they will argue for or against a proposition ensures that students perform balanced research and discover a wider perspective on a given problem. Student participants at the previous Forums responded positively and often developed greater empathy for and a better understanding of their neighbors in the region.  

About the 2003 BDF
About the 2002 BDF
Topics Debated  at the BDFs