Course Information: PLSC 400: Legacies of Communism and Conflict in Europe Yale University Department of Political Science Fall 2017 Instructor: Andrea S. Aldrich Department of Political Science Office: 236 Rosenkranz Hall Email: andrea.aldrich@yale.edu Class Time Tues. & Thurs. 9:00-10:15am Class Location: TBD Class Website: https://yale.instructure.com/ courses/32446/ Office Hours: Wednesday 2:00-4:00pm This course examines the challenges of democratic transition and consolidation in Europe. It explores themes like authoritarianism, state collapse, nationalism and ethnic conflict, transitional justice, and democratic development through the turbulent and violent political history of Southeastern Europe. We will use the communist legacies and democratic transitions of the Balkans (Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and the states of the former Yugoslavia) to understand the complex nature of regime change and political transition. Course Description and Objectives: The political history of Southeastern Europe and, particularly, the states of the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Hercegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia) present a microcosm of the potential challenges states and societies face during political transition from authoritarian rule to democratic government. Given the region s experience with several varieties of communism and authoritarian rule, and its violent revolutionary and independence movements of the 1990s, it provides an excellent case study to evaluate the core theories of comparative democratization. Beginning with a brief overview of the region s imperial history and experience in the two World Wars, the course moves chronologically through the communist era, the breakup of Yugoslavia, and the collapse of communist regimes in Albania, Bulgaria, and Romania while exploring the literature on regime change and democratic transition. We then turn to the wars of the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia to understand the role of nationalism in territorial and ethnic conflict, as well as consequences of international intervention, mechanisms of transitional justice, and minority rights protection in newly democratizing governments. Finally, the course will review the experience of the region with European integration and economic crisis to understand contemporary challenges in the region today. At the end of the course, students should be able to: Compare and contrast types of communist regimes as a consequence of their (pre)world War experiences with representative government and authoritarianism in Southeastern Europe Evaluate the effects of regime type on the collapse of the communist state Critically analyze the role of civic and ethnic nationalism in violent conflict in Southeastern Europe Identify the structural, cultural, and economic challenges faced by the newly democratic and/or independent states of Southeastern Europe 1
Demonstrate an in-depth understanding of a particular country or autonomous region in Southeastern Europe Prerequisites: It is recommended, but not required, that students have taking Introduction to Comparative Politics or any upper level comparative politics course. The course will complement other European politics course offered by the department without overlapping much with their material. Required Books: Cohen, Lenard J. & John R. Lampe. 2011. Embracing Democracy in the Western Balkans From Post-conflict Struggles toward European Integration. The Johns Hopkins University Press. on reserve Linz, Juan and Alfred Stepan. 1996 Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe. The Johns Hopkins University Press. on reserve Subotic, Jelena. 2009. Hijacked Justice Dealing with the Past in the Balkans. Cornell University Press. available in electronic format from library Woodward, Susan L. 1995. Balkan Tragedy: Chaos and Dissolution After the Cold War. Brookings Institution Press. on reserve Recommended Books: Jelavich, Barbara. 1983. History of the Balkans Vol. 2: The Twentieth Century. Cambridge University Press. This is a very good reference for country specific information that my be useful for completing the case study assignments Lampe, John R. 2014. Balkans into Southeastern Europe, 1914-2014 (Second Edition). Palgrave Macmillan. Pettifer James, and Miranda Vickers. (2009). The Albanian Question Reshaping the Balkans. IB Tauris. Additional readings are listed in the course outline and will be made available on Canvas. Course Requirements and Grading: The course is a lecture based course that will require students to come to class prepared, having read the assigned material. Most weeks will focus on readings tied to the major themes of the course on day one with substantive, case based reading on day two. In addition to the assigned reading, students will also be required to complete 2 critical case studies (3-5 pages) that interpret the experience of their chosen geographic area of specialization in light of the course s theoretical readings and lectures. Students are encouraged to choose one country to follow throughout the course in order to complete these studies and prepare for the final exam. There will be an in class midterm exam, likely in week 6 or 7 and an in-class exam during the schedule final exam period. Grade will be calculated as follows: 2
Critical Case Study I..................................................................20% Critical Case Study II................................................................. 20% Midterm Exam........................................................................30% Final Exam............................................................................ 30% Extra Credit A comprehensive study of the region is not complete without at least an elementary appreciation for the region s rich cultural history. Therefore I am making available up to 5 extra credit percentage points for students who wish to engage with this history through literature or film. In order to be eligible for the extra credit students must submit a 3-4 page critical response essay to the novel listed below or a series of films. A simple web search of these works will provide a description to help you make your choice. Alternative texts or films may be used with instructor approval. All essays for extra credit must be submitted by December 1, 2017. Option A Novel: Ivo Andrić, The Bridge on the Drina Option B (Student must watch at least 4 of the following films): Tito and Me (Yugoslavia 1992) Before the Rain (Macedonia 1994) Underground (Serbia 1995) No Man s Land (Bosnia 2001) 12:08 East of Bucharest (Romania 2006) The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner (Bulgaria 2008) Cinema Komunisto (Slovenia 2012) Attendance and Participation Participation includes attending class, asking questions to clarify the material, responding to questions posed by the instructor, and participating in discussions. All students are expected to come to class having thoroughly read and thought about the assigned material and be prepared to actively engage in the discussion. Short, ungraded, in-class assignments and quizzes also count towards participation grades. Attendance is expected and participation is required. Late Assignments: Late assignments will be docked at least one letter grade for each day that it is late. Academic Integrity: Any form of academic dishonesty, for example, cheating, plagiarism, improper collaborating, or submitting the same essay to two instructors without the explicit consent of both will not be tolerated. For more information, review the section on General Conduct and Discipline in the Undergraduate Regulations. 3
A Word About Plagiarism You must document all of your source material. If you take any text from somebody else, you must make it clear the text is being quoted and where the text comes from. You must also cite any sources from which you obtain numbers, ideas, or other material. If you have any questions about what does or does not constitute plagiarism, ask! Plagiarism is a serious offense and will not be treated lightly. Fortunately, it is also easy to avoid and if you are the least bit careful about giving credit where credit is due you should not run into any problems. If you are unfamiliar with proper citation mechanics, please visit the Writing Center (http://ctl.yale.edu). Disabilities: I am happy to accommodate students with disabilities. Requests go through the Yale University Resource Office on Disabilities. If you feel you need accommodation please contact the Resource Office on Disabilities. Information, including for making contact, can be found at http://rod.yale.edu/. 4
Legacies of Communism and Conflict in Europe Course Outline The schedule and readings are subject to change at the discretion of the instructor to match the pace of the course No Class 8/31: Annual Meeting of the Political Science Association......... Week 1 Recommended: View the documentary The Majority Starts Here (BIRN 2007) for a good introduction to the region-link on Canvas Part 1: Legacy of Regime Type in Transition Intro to the course and preview............................................. Week 2 Tuesday 9/5 Linz and Stepan: Chapter 2 Stateness, Nationalism, and Democracy Chapter 3 Modern Nondemocratic regimes Thursday 9/7 Linz and Stepan: Chapter 4 The Implications of Prior Regime Type for Transition Paths and Consolidation Tasks Lampe: Introduction: Decades of War, Decades of Transition Chapter 5 World War, Civil War, and the Communist Advantage, read pages 151-175 Varieties of Communisn..................................................... Week 3 Tuesday 9/12 Linz and Stepan: Chapter 15 Post Communist Prehistories Thursday 9/14 Jelavich, Chapter 9, The Communist Governments 1950-1980 Lampe Chapter 7 Contradictions and Continuity 5
The Collapse of the Communist State....................................... Week 4 Tuesday 9/19 McFaul, Michael. 2002 The Fourth Wave of Democracy and Dictatorship: Noncooperative Transitions in the Postcommunist World, World Politics 54.2: 212-244. Kitschelt, Herbert. 2003. Accounting for Postcommunist Regime Diversity: What Counts as a Good Cause, in Grzegorz Ekiert and Stephen Hanson, Capitalism and Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe: Asessing the Legacy of Communist Rule. Cambridge Univeristy Press: pp. 49-86. Thursday 9/21 Linz and Stepan: Chapter 17 Varieties of Post-Totalitarian Regimes: Hungary Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria (Parts on Bulgaria) Chapter 18 The Effects of Totalitarianism-cum-Sultanism on Democratic Transition: Romania Part 2: The Collapse of Yugoslavia The Withering of the Yugoslav State........................................ Week 5 Tuesday 9/26 Woodward, Balkan Tragedy: Chapter 3 The Politics of Economic Reform and Global Integration Chapter 4 Escalation Thursday 9/28 Woodward, Balkan Tragedy: Chapter 5 Interrupted Democratization: The Path to War Nationalism and War....................................................... Week 6 Tuesday 10/3 Gellner, Ernest. 1983. Nations and Nationalism. Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. 1: Definitions (1-7) 5: What is a Nation (52-61) Hodson, Sekulic, and Massey.(1994). National tolerance in the former Yugoslavia American Journal of Sociology 99(6), 1534-1558. Thursday 10/5 Gagnon, V.P. Jr. 1994. Ethnic Nationalism and International Conflict The Case of Serbia. International Security Winter 94/95 19(3): 130-167 Woodward, Balkan Tragedy: 6
Chapter 6 The Right to National Self Determination The Wars of Independence.................................................. Week 7 Tuesday 10/10 Woodward, Balkan Tragedy: Chapter 7 Western Intervention Chapter 8 War: Building State from Nations Thursday 10/12 BBC, The Death of Yugoslavia: Episode 1: Enter Nationalism Episode 2: The Road to War Episode 3: Wars of Independence MIDTERM EXAM OCTOBER 17.......................................... Week 8 Part 3: Ethnic Conflict The War in Bosnia.......................................................... Week 9 Tuesday 10/24 BBC, The Death of Yugoslavia: Episode 4: Gates of Hell Episode 5: Safe Area Power, Samantha. 2002. Srebrenica: Getting Creamed, in A Problem from Hell America and the Age of Genocide. Harper Collins. Thursday 10/26 Woodward, Balkan Tragedy: Chapter 9 Stopping the Bosnian War BBC, The Death of Yugoslavia: Episode 6: Pax Americana Kosova/Kosovo............................................................ Week 10 Tuesday 10/31 Pettifer and Vickers: Part III 7 Tirana, the Crisis in Kosova and the Origins of the KLA 8 The Kosova War: The First Offensive 7
Thursday 11/2 9 Tirana and the Growing International Crisis Pettifer and Vickers: 12 The Spread of War Webber, Mark. (2009). The Kosovo war: a recapitulation. International Affairs 85(3), 447-459. Part 4: Rebuilding the State and Society Transitional Justice........................................................ Week 11 Tuesday 11/7 Subotić: 1 The Politics of Hijacked Justice 2 The Past is Not Over Yet Thursday 11/9 Subotić: 3 The Truth is in Croatia s Favor Democratic Consolidation and Institution Building......................... Week 12 Tuesday 11/14 Cohen and Lampe: Intro: The Challenges of Postconflict Democracy Building 1 Legacies of communism, Conflict, and International intervention Thursday 11/16 Cohen and Lampe 2 New regimes, Old Routines: Institutional Innovations and Governance Challenges Transformation of Society.................................................. Week 13 Tuesday 11/28 Cohen and Lampe: 5 Transformation of Political Parties in the Western Balkans: From Embryonic Pluralism to Europeanization 7 The Transformation of Values: Coexisting Democratic and Illiberal Beliefs Thursday 11/30 Cohen and Lampe: 8
8 Belated Economic Transitions: Promise and Problems Europeanization and the EU............................................... Week 14 Tuesday 12/5 Schimmelfennig, F. and Sedelmeier, U. (2004). Governance by conditionality: EU rule transfer to the candidate countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Journal of European public policy 11(4), 661-679. Bieber, F. (2011). Building impossible states? State-building strategies and EU membership in the Western Balkans. Europe-Asia Studies 63(10), 1783-1802. Thursday 12/7 Cohen and Lampe 9 Democracy Building and EU Accession during the Global Recession Spendzharova, Aneta B. and Milada Anna Vachudova. 2012. Catching Up? Consolidating Liberal Democracy in Bulgaria and Romania after EU Accession. Western European Politics 32 (1).....................FINAL EXAM DURING EXAM PERIOD..................... 9
Additional Recommend Readings Much of the literature in the course will make reference to the history of the region. An accessible and somewhat concise overview for those that are interested is available in the following: Mazower, Mark. 2000. The Balkans: a Short History. Random House. The remaining readings will provide a deeper understanding of the theoretical themes covered in the course and/or material for the critical case studies. Of course, this list is not exhaustive and students are encouraged to seek additional materials for their assignments. Albania/Kosovo Bulgaria Greece Romania Blumi, Isa. 1997. The Politics of Culture: The Roots of Hoxha s Postwar State. East Europea Quarterly 409-428 Fischer, Bernd J. 1995. Albanian Nationalism in the Twentieth Century, in Sugar, Eastern European Nationalism in Twentieth Century American University Press Pettifer and Vickers, all Todorova, Maria. 1992. Improbable Maverick or Typical Conformist? Seven Thoughts on the New Bulgaria, in Banac, Ivo (ed.), Eastern Europe in Revolution. Cornell University Press (page 148-167) Jelavich, Chapter 8, The Immediate Postwar readjustments: the Greek Civil War and the Yugoslav-Soviet conflict Jelavich, Chapter 10 The Greek Alternative King, Charles, 2007. Remembering Romanian Communism, Slavic Review 66(4): 285-297 Calinescu, Matei and Tismaneanu, Vladimir. 1991. The 1989 Revolution and Romania s Future. Problems of Post Communism 40(1-2) Yugoslavia Power, Samantha. 2002. A Problem from Hell American and the Age of Genocide. Harper Collins. Bosnia: No More than Witnesses at a Funeral Ramet, Sabrina. 2005. Thinking about Yugoslavia. Cambridge University Press. The Roots of the Yugoslav Collapse. The Southern Republics: Macedonia and Montenegro in Contemporary History. Subotić 4 Who lives in Your Neighborhood 10
Theoretical Readings Todorova, Maria. 1994. The Balkans: From Discovery to Invention Slavic Review, Vol. 53, No. 2 pp. 453-482 Janos, Andrew. 1999. What was Communism: A Retrospective Analysis, Communist and Post-Communist Studies 29(1): 1-24 Rothschild and Wingfield. 2008 The Dialectics of Stalanism and Titoism, in Return to Diversity A Political History of East Central Europe Since World War II. Oxford Univeristy Press. Darden K. and A. Grzymala-Busse (2006), The Great Divide: Precommunist Schooling and Postcommunist Trajectories, World Politics 59(1): 83-115. Anderson, Bennedict 1983. Imagined Communities. Verso Lake, David A. and Donald Rothchild. (1996). Containing fear: the origins and management of ethnic conflict. International security 21(2), 41-75. Laitin, David D. and James D. Fearon. 2000. Violence and the Social Construction of Ethnic Identity, International Organization 54, 4: 845-877 11