Politics and Society in Central and Eastern Europe

This course seeks to examine the establishment of the communist system in Central and Eastern Europe, its evolution, decay and collapse, the main political, economic and ethnic aspects of post-communist transition, the emerging fault-lines in the region and the integration of the post-communist states into the European economic and security structures. The course is divided into two sections. The first examines the collective experience of Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War, with the second analysing the post-communist transition to democracy. We will take a historical-thematic approach and seek to identify both the commonalties and differences in the development of the East European states. The course will cover the following:

Introduction
1. Where is Eastern Europe?
2. Eastern Europe between the Wars

Communist Politics and Society
3. The Communist Takeover of Eastern Europe
4. Stalinism and De-Stalinisation
5. Reform and Dissent: from the Prague Spring to Solidarity
6. The Revolutions of 1989
7. The Collapse of Communism

Post-Communist Politics
8. The New Constitutional Framework
9. Executive and Legislative Power
10. Voter Alignment and Party Systems
11. The Politics of Economic Transformation
12. Corruption and Political Finance

Post-Communist Society
13. Social Problems and Social Policy
14. Political Culture and Civil Society
15. The Politics of Ethnicity and Nationalism
16. Gender and transition

Return to Europe
17. The Eastward Enlargement of the European Union
18. East-West Migration
19. Security and Insecurity in Eastern Europe

This page last modified 26 August, 2010 by Richard C. M. Mole