Mr. Kraus, Geonomics 112, Ext. 5306
OH: M 3:00-4:00; T&TH 4:15-5:00
& by appointment (ext. 5310)

This course provides an overview of the key stages in the development of East and Central European politics in the 20th century. It examines the rise and fall of independent states in the region, the imposition of communist rule, crises of de-Stalinization, the collapse of communist regimes in 1989, and the politics of post-communist transitions. The course focuses on the factors promoting and impeding the development of stable democratic regimes and assesses East and Central Europe's prospects for integration into NATO and the European Union.

REQUIREMENTS:

There will be a short take-home essay of about four-typed pages (assigned on September 30, due a week later, before class meeting on October 7); an examination during the lecture period of October 26; some web-based assignments, and a final examination on December 18, Saturday, 2:00 - 5:00 p.m in WNS 203. Students are expected to complete the readings in advance of class meetings and participate in discussion, both in class and on the web.

Your final grade will reflect the following components:

take-home essay.............20%
examination..................25%
class participation...........20%
final examination............35%

The following required titles are available for purchase at the College Store:

Timothy Garton Ash, The Magic Lantern
Václav Havel, Open Letters
Czeslaw Milosz, The Captive Mind
Tina Rosenberg, The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism
Joseph Rothschild, Return to Diversity: A Political History of East Central Europe Since World War II (3rd ed.)
Gale Stokes, ed., From Stalinism to Pluralism: A Documentary History of Eastern Europe Since 1945 (2nd ed.)
Unfinished Peace: Report of the International Commission on the Balkans

Additional readings marked (R) have been placed on reserve, while others, marked (W), are to be found on the web.

WEEK OF:

September 13: The Past as a Prologue

Rothschild, Return to Diversity, ch. 1;
Milan Kundera, "The Tragedy of Central Europe," in Stokes, ed, pp. 217-223;

September 20: East Central Europe & Theories of Democracy

Rothschild, ch. 2;
Samuel Huntington, "Will More Countries Become Democratic?" Political Science Quarterly, Summer 1984 (R);

September 27: Wartime

Milosz, Preface and chs. 1-4;
"Yalta & Spheres of Influence," in Stokes, ed., pp. 12-32;

October 4: Communist Revolutions Triumphant

Oct. 7 Essay Assignment Due

Milosz, entire;
Rothschild, ch. 3;

October 11: Stalinism, Titoism & the Crises of De-Stalinization

Rothschild, chs. 4-5;
Stokes, pp. 44-50, 57-77, 101-106, 122-134;
Havel, Preface & pp. 3-9, 25-49, 84-124.
Extensive online chronology of Vaclav Havel (Recomended)

Oct. 15-16 Midterm Recess

October 19: The Power of the Powerless & Solidarity

Rothschild, ch. 6;
Stokes, pp. 156-166, 193-215, 224-228.
Havel, pp. 125-158, 163-181, 192-196, 205-214, 249-271.

October 25: Collapse of Communism and the Revolutions of 1989

October 26 Midterm Examination

Review the Chronology for 1989 (W);
Rothschild, ch. 7; T.G. Ash, entire;
Havel, pp. 390-396.

November 1: The Politics of Transition: Poland

Tina Rosenberg, The Haunted Land, Introduction and Part Two (pp. 125-258);
Rothschild, pp. 265-271;
A. Smolar, "Poland's Emerging Party System," Journal of Democracy, 9/2/1998;
Thomas Baylis, "Presidents Versus Prime Ministers: Shaping Executive Authority in Eastern Europe," World Politics, 48/3/1996 (R).

November 8: Czechoslovakia: From Velvet Revolution to Velvet Divorce

Nov. 8: "Ten Years After the Fall" (a panel discussion--details to follow);
Rothschild, pp. 271-281; Rosenberg, Part One (pp. 3-121) & pp. 397-407;
M. Kraus and A. Stanger, "Contending Views of Czechoslovakia's Demise," (R);
Havel's speech to the Czech Parliament, December 9, 1997 (W).

November 15: The Balkan Wars (I)

Stokes, pp. 257-288;
Unfinished Peace, pp. 1-75;
Mark Danner, "The Killing Fields of Bosnia," NY Review of Books, Sept. 24, 1998 (R);
William Hagen, "The Balkans' Lethal Nationalisms," Foreign Affairs, July/Aug. 1999 (R)

November 22: The Balkan Wars: (II)

Unfinished Peace, pp. 77-174;
Laura Silber, "Milosevic Family Values," The New Republic, August 30, 1999 (R)
"Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation," video.

November 24-28: Thanksgiving Recess

Nov. 29: Enlarging NATO & The European Union

V. Havel's "A Call for Sacrifice," Foreign Affairs, March/April 1994 & Speeches at Charlemagne Plenary, May 15, 1996 & the French Senate, Paris, 3 March 1999 (W);
M. Albright, "Enlarging NATO: Why Bigger is Better," Economist, 15 February, 1997;
H. Schwartz, "Eastern Europe's Constitutional Courts," J. of Democracy, 9/4/98 (R).

December 6: After Communism, What? Prospects For Democracy

Blaine Harden, "The Milosevic Generation," The NY Times Magazine, August 29, 1999;
V. Havel, "Paying Back the West," The NY Review of Books, Sept. 23, 1999
"Eastern Europe a Decade Later," Journal of Democracy, 10/1999, pp. 51-79 (articles by Geremek, Rose, Rupnik, Tamas, Tismaneanu, and Whitehead, R).