(Politics 214 and Sociology 230)
Spring 2004 M, W, F: 3.30-4.20
Professors Crowley and Vujačić
Prof. Vujačić King 305A Prof. Crowley, Rice 211
e-mail: Veljko.Vujacic@oberlin.edu e-mail: steve.crowley@oberlin.edu
Office hours: Wed., 11-12.30, Fr., 12-1.30 Office hours: Wed. 1.30-3 and by
appointment
Social Change and Political Transformation in Eastern Europe
This course focuses on Eastern Europe as the first “relatively backward” region in the world capitalist system. We will begin with a historical introduction to the region that raises questions about the causes and consequences of this relative backwardness. Next, we will turn to communist revolutions, Stalinism, reform communism, the rise of dissent, and the revolutions of 1989. Finally, we will discuss the problems of the post-communist era, including attempts to build democracy and capitalism, the rise of nationalism, and social problems such as increasing inequalities and the shifting politics of gender and labor.
It is our hope that in studying the developmental history of Eastern Europe, students will acquire not only historical knowledge of the region and its problems, but also develop new conceptual tools for studying social change in the non-Western world. As a region which has undergone several cycles of economic and political transformation and tried out a variety of different developmental models, but which still faces the challenge of modernization, Eastern Europe provides a good starting point for analyzing the problems of social change and political transformation generally.
Plan of the Course
The course is divided into three parts.
In the first part of the course, we will explore how Eastern Europe became the “other Europe.” Specifically, we will examine some of the main factors that impeded the growth of capitalism and liberal institutions in Eastern Europe, relegating its peoples to a “peripheral” status in the world capitalist system. What were the reasons for the “relative backwardness” of Eastern Europe vis-à-vis the Western countries and what were the political consequences of its economic lag? We will also take a look at the developmental problems faced by the predominantly peasant societies of inter-war Eastern Europe.
In part two, we will explore the rise of Communism as a developmental alternative to Western capitalism, beginning with an examination of the social base of communist movements and the sources of its attraction to intellectual elites. We will then move on to the reasons of discontent with the Stalinist model which led to the Polish and Hungarian revolts of 1956 and the Prague Spring of 1968. Why did so many intellectuals become disillusioned with “real, existing socialism” and why did they become dissidents? How was it that a multi-million working-class movement (Solidarity) arose in a socialist country ruled in the name of the interests of that very working class? Finally, how did communism collapse so quickly throughout Eastern Europe?
In part three, we explore the dilemmas posed by the demise of communism as an alternative to Western capitalism and liberal democracy. In particular, we focus on three distinct challenges which face post-communist Eastern Europe: building democracy, market transformation, and the construction of viable nation-states. More specifically, we try to show that these goals are not always compatible and are sometimes contradictory, with the consequence of exacerbating national and social tensions in the region. One tragic example of the obstacles which nationalism has posed to socio-economic and political transformation along liberal lines is the tragic war in former Yugoslavia whose roots and course we explore in some detail. We then move on to a consideration of post-communist social problems, especially those relating to gender relations and the politics of labor.
Finally, we conclude with some theoretically and historically grounded speculation on the future of this troubled and fascinating region of the world.
Required Books
Andrew Janos, East Central Europe in the Modern World (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000). ISBN: 0804737436
Vladimir Tismaneanu, Reinventing Politics. Eastern Europe from Stalin to Havel (New York: Free Press, 1993). ISBN: 0-02-932606-0
Gale Stokes, From Stalinism to Pluralism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996)
ISBN: 0-19-509446-8.
Chuck Sudetic, Blood and Vengeance. One Family’s Story of the War in Bosnia (London and New York, Penguin Books, 1998) ISBN: 0-14-028681-0
All other readings will be on E-Res, Oberlin’s electronic reserve system. In addition, hard copies of the books will be available at the reserve room in Mudd Library.
Course Requirements
Requirements for this class include regular attendance in class, mandatory attendance at film screenings outside of regular class time, a mid-term quiz, two 6-7 page papers, and a final examination. Grading will be done on the following basis:
Mandatory attendance in class and
Film screenings 15%
Mid-term quiz 15%
First paper 20%
Second paper 20%
Final examination 30%
Part One: Theories of Social Change and Eastern Europe
Week One: What is Eastern Europe?
Andrew Janos, East Central Europe in the Modern World, 1-10, 29-53.
Stanislaw Baranczak, “E.E.: The Extraterritorial,” Breathing Under Water and Other East European Essays, 9-15.
Week Two: The World System, Relative Backwardness, and Eastern Europe
Immanuel Wallerstein, “Three Paths of National Development: Sixteenth Century Europe,” 37-48 in Wallerstein, The Capitalist World Economy.
Janos, East Central Europe in the Modern World, 10-28, 54-99.
Gale Stokes, “Dependency and the Rise of Nationalism in Southeastern Europe” in Three Eras of Political Change in Eastern Europe, 23-36.
Jaroslav Hašek, The Good Soldier Švejk, 5-34.
Week Three: Eastern Europe in the Inter-War Period and World War Two
Janos, East Central Europe in the Modern World, 99-217.
Eugen Weber, “The Men of the Archangel,” in George Mosse, ed., International Fascism, 318-343.
Josef Škvorecky, The Bass Saxophone, 3-28.
Jan T.Gross, “Neighbors,” The New Yorker, March 12, 2001.
Part Two: The Triumph, Development, and Demise of Communism in Eastern Europe
Week Four: Communist Revolutions, Stalinism, and the Titoist Challenge: 1948-1953
Janos, East Central Europe in the Modern World, 218-256.
Tismaneanu, Reinventing Politics, 1-54.
R.V. Burks, The Dynamics of Communism in Eastern Europe, 38-87, 107-130.
Stokes, From Stalinism to Pluralism, 44-77
Film Screeening: Istvan Szabo’s Sunshine
Istvan Deak, Review of the film “Sunshine,” The New York Review of Books, July 20, 2000, 30-32.
Week Five: Reform Communism and Its Dilemmas, 1953-1968: From 1956 to the Prague Spring
Janos, East Central Europe in the Modern World, 257-288.
Tismaneanu, Reinventing Politics, 54-111.
Stokes, From Stalinism to Pluralism, 101-136.
Mid-term Quiz, Friday, March 12.
Week Six: The Crisis of Communism and The Rise of Civil Society
Janos, East Central Europe in the Modern World, 288-328.
Tismaneanu, Reinventing Politics, 113-174.
Jack Bielasiak, “The Party: Permanent Crisis”
Włodimierz Brus, “Economics and Politics: The Fatal Link,”
Aleksandar Smolar, “The Rich and the Powerful,”
Leszek Kołakowski, “The Intelligentsia,” and
Alex Pravda, “The Workers,”
all in Abraham Brumberg, ed., Genesis of a Revolution, 10-93.
Stokes, From Stalinism to Pluralism, 137-166, 193-208.
Film Screening: Man of Marble
Week Seven: The Collapse of Communism and the Revolutions of 1989
Janos, East Central Europe in the Modern World, 329-344.
Tismaneanu, Reinventing Politics, 175-239.
Katherine Verdery, “What Was Socialism and Why Did It Fall?” in Verdery, What Was Socialism and What Comes Next?, 19-38.
Andrei Codrescu, “The Death of a Dictator,” in Codrescu, The Hole in the Flag, 25-51.
Stokes, From Stalinism to Pluralism, 216-254.
Part Three: Post-Communism and Its Challenges
Week Eight: The Challenge of Democratic Transformation
Janos, East Central Europe in the Modern World, 361-398.
J.F.Brown, The Grooves of Change, 60-72.
Bela Greskowitz, “Crisis-Proof, Poor Democracies,” The Political Economy of Protest and Patience, 177-187.
Vaclav Havel and Vaclav Klaus, “Rival Visions of Civil Society,” Journal of Democracy, January 1996.
Adam Michnik, “The Clean Conscience Trap,” East European Constitutional Review, Spring 1998.
“The Accomodations of Adam Michnik,” and “The Dissidents: A Decade Later,” The New York Times Magazine, November 7, 1999.
First paper due on Friday April 9
Week Nine: The Challenge of Capitalist Transformation
Janos, East Central Europe in the Modern World, 329-344.
J.F.Brown, The Grooves of Change, 73-143.
Jeffrey Sachs, “What Is To Be Done,” Economist, January 13, 1990.
R.Frydman, K.Murphy, A Rapasczynski, Capitalism with a Comrade=s Face, 1-54.
Kazimierz Poznanski, “Building Capitalism with Communist Tools,: Eastern Europe’s Defective Transition,” East European Politics and Societies, Spring 2001, 320-355.
Akos Rona-Tas and Joszef Borocz, “Presocialist and Socialist Legacies among Business Elites,” in John Hingley and Gyorgy Lengyel, eds., Elites After State Socialism (Rowman and Littlefield, 2000), 209-228.
Week Ten: Post-Communist Gender, Labor, and Social Politics.
Branko Milanović, “Income, Inequality, and Poverty during the Transition from Planned to Market Economy,” 23-39.
“Faith, Hope, and Caritas in the Land of the Pyramids, Romania, 1990-1994”
in Verdery, What Was Socialism and What Comes Next, 168-204.
Susan Gal and Gail Kligman, The Politics of Gender After Socialism, 1-62.
Stephen Crowley, “Explaining Labor Weakness in Post-Communist Europe: Historical Legacies and Comparative Perspectives,” East European Politics and Societies, forthcoming.
Week Eleven: Post-Communist Nationalism: The Yugoslav Catastrophe
Film Screening: No Man’s Land
Veljko Vujačić , “Slobodan Milošević, Serbian Nationalism, and the Origins of the Yugoslav War,” The Harriman Review, 1995, 25-33.
Chuck Sudetic, Blood and Vengeance. One Family’s Story of the War in Bosnia (read as much as you can).
Stokes, From Stalinism to Pluralism, 256-288.
Week Twelve: Small States in a Big World
J.F.Brown, The Grooves of Change, 200-240.
“EU enlargement: When East Meets West,” The Economist, November 20, 2003.
Andrew Janos, “From Eastern Empire to Western Hegemony,” East-European Politics and Societies, 15, 2, 2001, 221-249.
Ana Grzymala-Busse and Abby Innes, “Great Expectations: The EU and Domestic Political Competition in East Central Europe,” 64-73.
Laszlo Bruszt and David Stark, “Who Counts: Supranational Norms and Societal Needs,” 74-82.
Stephen Holmes, “A European Doppelstaat?” 107-118.
Ken Jowitt, “May the Boundaries Fall,” 119-124.
all in East European Politics and Societies, vol. 17, 1, 2003.
Second paper due on Wednesday, May 5
Week Thirteen: Eastern Europe: West or South
Janos, East-Central Europe in the Modern World, 398-418.
Anna Khakee, “Democracy and Marketization in Central and Eastern Europe: Case Closed?,” East European Politics and Societies, vol.16, 2, 2002, 599-615.
Gregorz Ekiert, “Ten Years After: An Optimistic View,” EEPS, Spring 1999.
Jeffrey Kopstein and David Reilly, AGeographic Diffusion and the Transformation of the Postcommunist World, World Politics, October 2000.
Available from a College networkers computer at: http://muse.jhu/journals/world politics/toc/wp.53.1.html.
Ken Jowitt, “The Leninist Legacy,” in Vladimir Tismaneanu, The Revolutions of 1989, 213-230
Tony Judt, “Romania: Bottom of the Heap,” The New York Review of Books, November 1, 2001, pp.41-45.
Final exam as scheduled