CAS IR 543
THE CHANGING FACE OF EASTERN EUROPE
Fall 2016, CAS 214
Tuesday/Thursday 12:30 p.m. – 2 p.m.
Igor Lukes
154 Bay State Road
617.358.1776, [email protected]
SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES
Focused on the period from the fifties to the present, this course analyzes the
domestic and foreign policies of Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia,
Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia,
Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo.
Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Eastern Europe has undergone
significant economic and political reforms. Their objective was the introduction
of market economy and democracy. Some reforms have been successful, others
have failed. The course seeks to provide you with the necessary tools for
discerning and understanding both the successes and the failures.
Since the collapse of Communism, Eastern Europeans have been able to live,
think, and act as free human beings. All but the Ukrainians have regained their
sovereignty, most have become members of NATO and the European Union.
These are historic achievements. At the same time, the region has been
confronted with a long list of new challenges: the privatization of centrallyplanned economies provided countless opportunities for theft of public wealth;
international organized crime has spread throughout the area; corruption has
infected post-communist law-enforcement organizations and government
ministries to a degree that would have been unimaginable under the old
Communist regimes; intellectual shallowness has invaded the media, and trashy
entertainment has choked off many sources of genuine culture. The course
studies the nature of these positive and negative processes and places them
within the context of each nation’s political and historical evolution.
IMPORTANT DATES
6 September 2016
19 September 2016
12 October 2016
First day of class
Last day to add a course
Last day to drop a class without a W
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20 October 2016
25 October 2016
10 November 2016
8 December 2016
21 December 2016
The midterm hand out
The midterm essay due
Last day to drop a class with a W
Last lecture, the final hand out
The final essay due
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OFFICE HOURS
My office is at 154 Bay State Road, room 101. I am available for consultations
every Tuesday and Thursday from 9:15 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Of course, you can
always talk to me before and after each lecture. If you are unable to see me
during my office hours, send me an email and I will be happy to make a prompt
arrangement for us to meet shortly.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
There will be a take-home midterm and a take-home final examination. Both
involve a five-page analytical essay on a theme you will choose from a list of
three or more topics. The topics are selected to provide you with an opportunity
to demonstrate your command of the material covered in the assigned texts and
discussed in class. Your essay has to demonstrate that you have developed a
critical understanding of the assigned texts and are familiar with the points made
during class lectures and discussions. You should be able to engage the texts and
lecture themes and also, when appropriate, to develop and present your own
point of view.
You are also asked to select one of the lecture dates and start the class with a
short (10 min) summary of the most current events that pertain either to Eastern
Europe as a region or to one of the specific countries covered in this course. A
sheet with available dates will be circulated; please sign up early.
Finally, there will be several short reading quizzes before some lectures. Their
purpose is to test your familiarity with the assigned texts.
Attendance and active participation are required. I start each lecture with a
review of the material covered so far. Please come prepared to be challenged.
GRADING
Midterm: 30 percent
Final: 40 percent
Reading quizzes: 20 percent
Current events presentation: 10 percent.
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Please come to see me (154 BSR) as soon as possible at the beginning of the
semester to discuss how you can best profit from taking this course. I will be
happy to try and match your scholarly interests and professional plans for the
future with the requirements of this course.
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REQUIRED READINGS
J. F. Brown. The Grooves of Change: Eastern Europe at the Turn of the Millennium.
Durham: Duke University Press, 2001.
J. F. Brown. Hopes and Shadows: Eastern Europe After Communism. Durham: Duke
University Press, 1994.
Sharon L. Wolchik and Jane L. Curry (eds.). Central & East European Politics: From
Communism to Democracy. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2015.
ADDITIONAL READINGS
László Borhi, Dealing with Dictators: The United States, Hungary, and East Central
Europe. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2016.
Timothy Garton Ash. The Magic Lantern: The Revolution in ’89 Witnessed in
Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague. New York: Random House, 1990.
Timothy Garton Ash. The File: A Personal History. New York: Vintage Books,
1997.
J. F. Brown. Surge to Freedom. Durham: Duke University Press, 1991.
Sabrina Ramet. Eastern Europe: Politics, Culture, and Society Since 1939.
Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1998.
ACADEMIC CONDUCT CODE
It is your responsibility to know and understand the provisions of the Academic
Conduct Code; a copy can be obtained on the website of the CAS Dean’s Office.
All cases of suspected academic misconduct will be referred to the Dean. Please
observe the no eating or drinking in the classroom rule. If you wear a baseball
hat, take it off for the duration of the class. And please turn off your cell-phones.
Your laptop is for taking notes only. Do not under any circumstances check your
email and turn off all your browsers. Please consult the following website:
http://www.bu.edu/academics/policies/academic-conduct-code/
POLICY ON INCOMPLETES
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No incomplete grades will be reported unless the student has presented a
plausible explanation why the coursework could not be finished on time.
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COURSE OUTLINE
CAS IR 543
THE CHANGING FACE OF EASTERN EUROPE
Fall 2016
1. 6 September
2. 8 September
3. 13 September
4. 15 September
5. 20 September
6. 22 September
7. 27 September
8. 29 September
9. 4 October
10. 6 October
11. 13 October
12. 18 October
13. 20 October
14. 25 October
15. 27 October
16. 1 November
17. 3 November
18. 8 November
19. 10 November
20. 15 November
21. 17 November
22. 22 November
23. 29 November
24. 1 December
25. 6 December
26. 8 December
Introduction
Cold War Ends: Outside Factors v. Local Actors
Stability Above All: The Case of Colonel Kukliński
1989: The Miracle Year and Its Mysteries
After the Jubilation: The Reality of Today
Economic Reform: Challenges and Solutions
Restitutions, Dutch Auctions & Vouchers
What to Do With an Ugly Past?
Transitional Justice: the Lustrace Law
Eastern Europe in NATO and the European Union
Ukraine
Poland, 1945-1970
Poland: 1971-1981
Poland: From Defeat to Victory
Czechoslovakia: From 1945 to “Normalization”
Czechs and Slovaks: the Velvet Divorce
Germany, East and West
The Stasiland: German Democratic Republic
Hungary, 1945-1989
Hungary: An Uneven Recovery
Bulgaria
Romania
The Baltic Countries
Yugoslavia: 1945-1989
Slovenia, Croatia, BiH, Serbia, Montenegro
Kosovo
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Lecture 1
6 September
Introduction
Course requirements, attendance, participation, readings, policy on incompletes,
and grading.
Lecture 2
8 September
Cold War Ends: Outside Factors v. Local Actors
Wolchik and Curry, Central & East European Politics, 3-32.
Lukes: “The End of the Cold War: The Night the Masks Fell.”
Lecture 3
13 September
Stability Above All: The Case of Colonel Kukliński
Benjamin Fischer, “The Vilification and Vindication of Colonel Kukliński,”
Studies in Intelligence 9 (Summer 2000): 19-33.
Mark Kramer, “Jaruzelski, the Soviet Union, and the Imposition of Martial Law
in Poland: New Light on the Mystery of December 1981,” Cold War International
History Bulletin 11 (Winter 1998): 5-15.
Lecture 4
15 September
1989: The Miracle Year and Its Mysteries
Garton Ash, The Magic Lantern, 11-23 and 131-156.
Brown, Surge to Freedom, 26-43.
Lectures 5
20 September
After the Jubilation: The Reality of Today
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Wolchik and Curry, Central & East European Politics, 515-525.
Brown, Hopes and Shadows, 1-21.
Falkowski, “Marching Democracy,” Visegerad Insight 1, 9 (2016): 80-83.
Lecture 6-7
22-27 September
Economic Reform: Restitutions, Dutch Auctions and Vouchers
Brown, The Grooves of Change, 60-72.
Wolchik and Curry, Central & East European Politics, 67-97.
Ehl, “The State and the Economy: The Old Relationship Revisited,” Visegerad
Insight 1, 9 (2016): 32-35.
Lectures 8-9
29 September-4 October
Dealing With an Ugly Past and the Lustration Law
Maddrell, “The Opening of the State Security Archives of Central and Eastern
Europe.”
Wolchik and Curry, Central & East European Politics, 169-185.
Lecture 10
6 October
Eastern Europe in NATO and EU
Wolchik and Curry, Central & East European Politics, 189-206, 213-229.
Lukes, “NATO Expands into Central Europe: The Continuing Search for a More
Perfect Habsburg Empire.”
“Allied Solidarity in Europe,” Visegerad Insight 1, 9 (2016): 12-15.
Lecture 11
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13 October
Ukraine
Wolchik and Curry, Central & East European Politics, 481-509.
Snyder, “The Battle in Ukraine Means Everything.”
The Wall Street Journal, “Ukraine and the Shame of Europe.”
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Lectures 12-14
18-25 October
Poland
Wolchik and Curry, Central & East European Politics, 235-262 .
Brown, Grooves of Change, 111-115.
Benjamin Fischer, “Solidarity, the CIA, and Western Technology.”
Foy, “Illusive Intermarium,” Visegerad Insight 1, 9 (2016): 64-65.
Lectures 15-16
27 October- 1 November
Czechoslovakia
Wolchik and Curry, Central & East European Politics, 265-288.
Brown, Grooves of Change, 115-122.
Brown, Hopes and Shadows, 51-66.
Lectures 17-18
3-8 November
Germany
Ramet, Eastern Europe, 94-119.
Garton Ash, The File, 176-180.
Brown, Surge to Freedom, 125-147.
Benjamin Fischer, “The CIA and Germany”
Lectures 19-20
10-15 November
Hungary
Wolchik and Curry, Central & East European Politics, 293-311.
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Brown, Grooves of Change, 122-128.
Brown, Hopes and Shadows, 80-92.
Borhi, Dealing with Dictators, 111-132.
Lecture 21
17 November
Bulgaria
Wolchik and Curry, Central & East European Politics, 341-367.
Brown, Hopes and Shadows, 105-114.
Brown, Surge to Freedom, 181-197.
Lecture 22
22 November
Romania
Wolchik and Curry, Central & East European Politics, 373-400.
Brown, Grooves of Change, 128-132.
Brown, Hopes and Shadows, 94-105.
Lecture 23
29 November
The Baltic Countries
Wolchik and Curry, Central & East European Politics, 317-336.
Lectures 24-25
1-6 December
Yugoslavia and its Collapse
Wolchik and Curry, Central & East European Politics, 433-468.
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Brown, Grooves of Change, 144-170.
Brown, Hopes and Shadows, 229-270.
Lecture 26
8 December
Kosovo, the War of 1999 and Its Consequences
Brown, Grooves of Change, 170-199.