The course will focus on the former communist part of Europe (Central and Eastern Europe, Western Balkans and former Soviet Republics). It draws upon students’ knowledge of comparative politics and analyzes how these concepts are applicable to the region.
Compulsory readings
Part 1. General overview
Kundera M. (1984), “The Tragedy of Central Europe”, New York Review of Books, 31(7), available at: http://www.bisla.sk/english/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Kundera_tragedy_of_Central_Europe.pdf
Delanty G. (2013), Formations of European Modernity. A Historical and Political Sociology of Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 195-215 (early version available at: http://historicalsociology.cz/cele-texty/1-2-2012/delanty.pdf)
Todorova N. T. (2011) “Hierarchies of Eastern Europe: East-Central Europe versus the Balkans”, Occasional Papers Wilson Center, available at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/46-hierarchies-eastern-europe-east-central-europe-versus-the-balkans
Part 2. What Was Communism, and Why Did it Collapse?
Szelenyi I. and B. Szelenyi (1994), “Why Socialism failed: towards a theory of system breakdown,” Theory and Society 23(2), pp. 211-232.
Kitschelt, H., Z. Manfeldova, R. Markowski, and G. Toka (1999). Post-Communist Party Systems: Competition, Representation, and Inter-Party Cooperation. Cambridge,: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-94.
Pop-Eleches, G., and J. A. Tucker (2011), “Communism's Shadow: Postcommunist Legacies, Values, and Behavior”. Comparative Politics, 43(4), pp. 379-408, early version available at: https://www.princeton.edu/~gpop/Comparative%20Politics%20_09-122_full%20doc.pdf
Part 3: Transition to democracy
Offe, C. (2004), "Capitalism by Democratic Design? Democratic Theory Facing the Triple Transition in East Central Europe”, Social Research,71 (3), available at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.397.8468&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Beissinger M. (2013), “The Semblance of Democratic Revolution: Coalitions in Ukraine’s Orange Revolution”, APSR, 107 (3), available at: http://www.princeton.edu/~mbeissin/beissinger.APSR.pdf
Part 4: State building and democracy-building
Kuzio T. (2001), “Transition in Post-Communist States: Triple or Quadruple?”, Politics, 21(3), 168–17, available at: http://www.taraskuzio.net/Economic%20Transition_files/economics-transition.pdf
Taylor A. (2013), “The European Union and State Building in the Western Balkans” Politics and Governance, 1(2), pp. 183–195
Vachudova M. A. (2013), “EU Leverage and National Interests in the Balkans: The Puzzles of Enlargement Ten Years On”, JCMS, pp. 1-17.
Denti D. (2014), “The Europeanisation of candidate countries: the case for a shift to the concept of EU member-state building”, Contemporary Southeastern Europe 2014, 1(1), 9-32, available at: http://www.suedosteuropa.uni-graz.at/cse/sites/default/files/papers/Denti_The_Europeanisation_of_candidate_countries.pdf
Part 5: Political Parties
Iancu A. and S. Soare (2016), Political Activism: Post-communist Challenges and Opportunities in East Central Europe, Partecipazione & Conflitto, (9) 1, available at: http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/paco/article/view/15896
Grzymala-Busse, A. (2002). Redeeming the Communist Past : the Regeneration of Communist Parties in East Central Europe. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press., Introduction and Ch.1, p.1-68. (partial version http://www-personal.umich.edu/~abusse/CPCStudies.pdf)
Casal Bértoa F. and I. van Biezen (2014), "Party regulation and party politics in post-communist Europe", East European Politics, 30(3), pp.295-314,
Central and Eastern populism
Pop-Eleches, G. (2010), “Throwing out the Bums: Protest Voting and Anti-Establishment Parties after Communism”, World Politics 62, no. 2 (April 2010), 221–60, available at: https://www.princeton.edu/~gpop/Throwing_out_the_Bums%20WP%202010.pdf
Andrea L.P. Pirro (2014). Populist Radical Right Parties in Central and Eastern Europe: The Different Context and Issues of the Prophets of the Patria. Government and Opposition, 49, pp 600-629
Optional texts:
Balázs P. et al. (2014), « 25 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain. The state of integration of East and West in the European Union”, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation Inclusive, Innovative and Reflective Societies, available at: https://ec.europa.eu/research/social-sciences/pdf/policy_reviews/east-west_integration.pdf
Nations in Transit 2015: Democracy on the Defensive in Europe and Eurasia, available at: https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/FH_NIT2015_06.06.15_FINAL.pdf
Tanja A. Börzel and Thomas Risse (2009), The Transformative Power of Europe The European Union and the Diffusion of Ideas: http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/kfgeu/kfgwp/wpseries/WorkingPaperKFG_1.pdf
Gherghina S. and S. Soare (2015),« A test of European Union postaccession influence: comparing reactions to political instability in Romania » Democratization, 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2015.1020792 (online first))
Learning Objectives
- Increased understanding of the historical foundations of post-communist politics;
- Broaden exposure to issues on the comparative politics;
- A learning environment that encourages critical thinking (critical evaluation of the scholarly literature, skills to conduct research and produce work-papers, increased oral communication skills, etc.)
Prerequisites
Comparative politics + Political Sciences BA courses.
Teaching Methods
The course consists of lectures and seminars
Further information
The course focuses on the major social, political, and economic dynamics shaping contemporary post-communist European politics.
The course will begin with a discussion of the conceptual and historical definition of the area. In the following part, the course turns to an in-depth examination of the essentials of comparative politics applied to the geographic area under scrutiny: the development of democracy and the nation-state, the features of political and party systems, and the role of the European Union.
The third and last part will focus on students research papers based on topics discussed throughout
the course: democracy and process of democratization, European integration, foreign policy, state and nation-state, parties, forms of government, etc.
Type of Assessment
Students with (more than) 75% attendance
Students who actively participate in classes (75% attendance + 1 critical review of an article + 1 draft presentation of his/her seminar paper) have to write a seminar paper (max. 5000 words, notes, tables and bibliography included). Each student is required to provide S. Soare with both an electronic and hard copy of the seminar paper. The final seminar paper is due at least 10 days before the date of the exam.
Penalties for late submission (applicable to all students):
● One point per working day. Papers handed in more than 5 days late will receive a zero.
● If you submit an overlong essay, points will be deducted;
Note that this seminar paper is supposed to comply with the basic requirements of a research paper: clear identification of a point of view, a research question or thesis the student seeks to support through the use of both primary and secondary sources. Each paper is expected to provide a critical assessment of the secondary sources (evaluation of the arguments provided, biases, points of contention). It is expected to mention at least 10 scientific sources.
Students with less than 75% attendance:
Students who cannot take part to the course/have an attendance inferior to 75% are evaluated in two steps.
Step 1: a written paper (max. 5000 words, notes, tables and bibliography included) on a topic previously decided with S. Soare. Each student is required to provide S. Soare with both an electronic and hard copy of the seminar paper. The final seminar paper is due at least 10 days before the date of the exam.
Penalties for late submission (applicable to all students):
● One point per working day. Papers handed in more than 5 days late will receive a zero.
● If you submit an overlong essay, points will be deducted;
Note that this seminar paper is supposed to comply with the basic requirements of a research paper: clear identification of a point of view, a research question or thesis the student seeks to support through the use of both primary and secondary sources. Each paper is expected to provide a critical assessment of the secondary sources (evaluation of the arguments provided, biases, points of contention). It is expected to mention at least 10 scientific sources.
Step 2: a written exam (3 open questions based on the list of compulsory readings)
Requirements of all written assignments
- Assignments are expected to be well-written and concise.
- All material submitted must be the student's own work, written specifically for this course.
-All material submitted has to include:
* A Title Page with a title reflecting your topic
* A header with your name on every page + page numbers
* A clearly identified introduction (the main argument of the paper), a literature review, a short historical overview, the assessment of the research question, conclusions.
* Scientific references based on Chicago Manual of Style + bibliography (at end). Sources drawn from the Internet should include the URL and the date accessed.
* All of the above should be provided in a unique file.
* All of the above should be provided both in electronic and paper version. The name of the file should contain the student's surname
Course program
The main topics covered are:
- conceptual and historical definition of the region
- post-communist process of democratization
- post-communist party development
- Eu enlargement and the European Neighborhood Policy .