Understanding Innvative Ptential f Central Eurpe: The Regin s Ecnmic, Plitical, and Cultural Envirnment Mendel University in Brn, Czech Republic Syllabus f the Summer Schl prgram, 15 July 4 August 2018 Central Eurpe was the fcus pint f glbal dynamics fr cuple f times during the 20 th century and befre due t its strategic psitin in between Germany and Russia. This is where bth Wrld Wars started and were fught t a large extent. It was als the regin f primer imprtance after the fall f cmmunism in 1989 with its ambitius plans fr rapid transfrmatin frm the state-cntrlled system twards liberal demcratic plitical system and market-led ecnmy, resulting in expansin f the Eurpean Unin and NATO. Currently, the regin is again in the frefrnt f the internatinal plitical envirnment and it is als the mst dynamically develping part f the EU. The ffered Summer Schl aims at prviding students, in particular thse frm Asian cuntries, with brad understanding f Central Eurpe s defining characteristics frm six mst relevant perspectives: histry and internatinal affairs, culture and sciety, plitics, ecnmy, natural envirnment management, and business pprtunities. The curse is designed as an interdisciplinary frum t give a student frm any backgrund sufficient theretical and practical knwledge t critically evaluate the reginal develpment. The intensive and dynamic prgram will invlve academic classes, interactive discussins, grup wrk, and ut f classrm excursins and discussins with relevant peple, visits f internatinal rganizatins and NGOs including headquarters f United Natins, OPEC, Czech Ministry f Freign Affairs, Hungarian Parliament and thers. In additin t the academic prgram, rich cultural prgram will be integral t the curse alng with field trips with the purpse f lking at the discussed issues n the grund level. The participants f this curse will: - Understand and be able t analyse develpment in cntemprary Central Eurpe, including Czech Republic, Pland, Hungary and Slvakia, and their relatins with bth Western and Eastern Eurpe - Grasp the thery f relevant academic fields, in particular plitical science, ecnmy, internatinal relatins, scilgy and envirnmental studies - Take part in unique cultural prgram and visit fur cuntries: Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria and Slvakia Curse Dates: 15 July 4 August 2018-3 weeks altgether - each week will include 4 days in Brn and 3 days n an excursin 1
Main rganizers: Richard Q. Turcsanyi, Ph.D. (richard.turcsanyi@mendelu.cz) - Richard is an Assistant Prfessr at Mendel University in Brn, Directr f Stratpl Strategic Plicy Institute in Bratislava, and Assciate Fellw f Institute f Internatinal Relatins in Prague. He received Ph.D. in internatinal relatins frm Masaryk University, where he als studied ecnmy and plitical science. In the past he cnducted lng-term study and research stays at University f Trnt, Peking University, Natinal Chengchi University in Taipei and Eurpean Institute fr Asian Studies in Brussels. Richard has brad experience with lecturing n internatinal relatins, security and ecnmic issues f Central Eurpe and East Asia. In his academic research he fcuses mstly n Central Eurpe s relatins with East Asia and Chinese freign plicy. Runya Qiaan (runya.qiaan@mendelu.cz) - Runya teaches and researches at Mendel University and Masaryk University (bth in Brn) and she is als an analyst at Institute f Asia Studies, Bratislava. She studied philsphy and scilgy at Masaryk University, University f Trnt, Natinal Chengchi University and Utrecht University. In the past five years, she has been studying and living in the Czech Republic, Canada, Taiwan and the Netherlands. Runya s research interests include civil sciety and NGOs, cultural scilgy and China-Central Eastern Eurpe relatins. Runya s publicatins appeared in internatinal scientific jurnals, such as The China Quarterly, Jurnal f Cgnitin and Culture and Eurpe-Asia Studies. Price f the prgram: early bird price 2 300 EUR (in case f applicatin and payment by 31 January 2018) standard price 2 400 EUR (applicatin deadline by 31 March 2018) - The price includes: Tuitin fee Accmmdatin during the whle prgram (bth in the Czech Republic and n the trips rganized as part f the prgram) Fd plan fr the time in Brn (including breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the university canteen) Transprtatin (fr the trips and in Brn) Rich extracurricular and cultural prgram 24/7 assistance and supprt during the prgram - The price des NOT include the transprtatin frm yur cuntry t the Czech Republic, fd plan n the weekend trip, persnal expenses, r any ther items nt listed abve Prgram utline Week One Mnday-Thursday: Blc 1 (Histry and Internatinal Affairs) and blc 2 (Plitics and Eurpean Unin) 2
Friday-Sunday: Prague trip (Visit f the Czech Ministry f Freign Affairs) Week Tw Mnday-Thursday: Blc 3 (Ecnmy) and blc 4 (Sciety and Culture) Friday-Sunday: Budapest and Bratislava trip (Visit f the Hungarian Parliament) Week Three Mnday-Thursday: Blc 5 (Envirnment) and Blc 6 (Business Opprtunities) Friday-Sunday: Vienna trip (Visit f the United Natins Headquarters) Grading and evaluatin Students assessment f the curse will cnsist altgether f the fllwing separate parts: - Final exam (40 pints) - Mid-term exam (20 pints) - Final presentatin (30 pints) - Active presence in classes (10 pints) The threshld t pass is 60 pints f 100 maximum. The grade scale is as fllws: A 100-90, B 89-80 C 79-70, D 69-65, E 64-60, F 59 0. Students will receive a transcript frm Mendel University in Brn cnfirming the award f 8 ECTS (credits) upn receiving mre than 60 pints in the final assessment. Mandatry preparatin readings Magcsi, Paul Rbert. Eastern, East-Central, r Central Eurpe: Where is it and What is it? Calendar-Almanac Natinal Slvak Sciety f the USA, Vl. 113, pp. 128 140. Milan Kundera, The Tragedy f Central Eurpe, New Yrk Review f Bks. V. 31, N. 7, April 26, 1984. Daniel Chirt, What happened in Eastern Eurpe in 1989?, Praxis. V. 10/ N. ¾. Octber 1990. Hlý, Ladislav. 1996. The Little Czech and the Great Czech Natin: Natinal Identity and the Pst-Cmmunist Scial Transfrmatin. Cambridge, England, and New Yrk: Cambridge University Press. Balík, Stanislav, Jan Hlzer and Lubmír Kpeček (2008): Czechslvakia in 1989 - a case f successful transitin. Ttalitarismus und Demkratie, Vl 5, N 1, pp 19-42. Central and Eastern Eurpean Develpment Institute. 2011. CEED: Achievements, Opprtunities, Challenges. Warsaw. 3
Blcs f the teaching Blc 1: Histry and internatinal affairs f the regin The first blc will intrduce Central Eurpe as a specific regin and it will briefly discuss the mst imprtant histrical milestnes bth frm internal and external perspective. Internatinal relatins have been extremely imprtant factr influencing the develpment f Central Eurpe and they remain s in the 21 st century. Students will understand the surces f cmmunist success in the aftermath f the Secnd Wrld War and the nature f the cmmunist systems in Central Eurpe Participants will understand the internal and external factrs that cntributed t the cllapse f the cmmunist rder in Central Eurpe. Participants will discuss Central Eurpe s integratin with EU and NATO and their psitin tday with wrsening relatins between the EU/NATO and Russia Teacher: Richard Q. Turcsanyi, Ph.D. (prfile see abve) Blc 2: Plitical cntext and the Eurpean Unin The plitical cluster will prvide infrmatin abut the prcesses f plitical transfrmatin during the transfrmatin perid in 1990s and fllw up n the discussin abut the plitics in present days Central Eurpe. On the basis f the last tw decades, participants wuld be able t critically assess pprtunities and struggles f plitical develpment in Central Eurpe and describe the key challenges we face tday. Students will discuss hw t define demcracy and what are the pssible utcmes f plitical transfrmatin Participants will get familiar with the Central Eurpean cases f plitical transfrmatin in the aftermath f 1989 Students will critically assess and discuss tday s plitical systems in Central Eurpe with their strengths and shrtcmings Teachers: Martin Hrabalek, Ph.D. - Martin is a head f the Department f Territrial Studies at Mendel University. He studied and received Ph.D. in Eurpean Studies at Masaryk University. He teaches curses n Eurpean plitics and freign affairs. In his research, he als specializes in Latin American plitics and EU external plicies Ondrej Mcek, Ph.D. - Ondrej is a vice-dean f Faculty f Reginal Develpment and Territrial Studies f Mendel University in Brn and als an Assciate Researcher f Assciatin fr Internatinal Affairs in Prague. His main research interests are related t Eurpean Unin. 4
Blc 3: Reginal ecnmy befre and after 1989 The ecnmic cluster will prvide students with knwledge abut the state-planned ecnmic system in Central Eurpe befre 1989, its unique transfrmatin experience afterwards, and current cnditins making it the fastest develping regin in the EU. Fcus will be paid bth twards internal ecnmic prcesses as well as hw the regin becme interlinked with the internatinal ecnmic envirnment, making the cuntries here sme f the mst pen ecnmies in the wrld. Students will exercise rientatin in the develpment f the ecnmies in Central Eurpe during the transfrmatin perid Students will acquire dispsitins fr better understanding f the cntemprary ecnmic develpment in the regin Teacher: Vjtech Tamas, Ph.D. - Vjtech is a researcher at the Department f Reginal and Business Ecnmics, Faculty f Reginal Develpment and Internatinal Studies, Mendel University in Brn. His fcus is n the area f agribusiness and applied agricultural ecnmics. He delivers curses n agricultural ecnmics and plitics, micr and macrecnmics and land market. His current research is aimed in issues f the develping cuntries. He has experience in wrking n the evaluatin f develpment prjects which were evaluated basic evaluatin criteria f the OECD DAC, i.e. relevance, effectiveness / efficiency, sustainability and impact, but als the implementatin f crss-cutting principles f Czech develpment cperatin, which are gd gvernance, respect fr the envirnment and climate etc. Blc 4: Culture and Sciety f Central Eurpe The gal f the blck "Culture and Sciety in Central Eurpe" is t prepare the attendants t better understand the peple frm the regin f Central Eurpe and successfully cmmunicate with them in varius settings. In the first part f the blck will tgether discuss what is actually a culture and hw peple frm varius parts f the wrld differ in their attitudes, values, habits and behavir. We will als learn abut the majr influences that shaped the culture in Central Eurpe in the recent past. In the secnd part f the blck we will fcus n the similarities and differences in verbal and nn-verbal cmmunicatin between Asia and Central Eurpe. Participants will understand typical cultural features f Central Eurpe, such as architecture, literature, paintings, music, flk traditin, etc. Students will be able t analyse the surces f Central Eurpean understanding f their cmmunist experience and their re-integratin with the Western Eurpe after 1989 Students will learn what the civil sciety is and what rles it can take in Central Eurpe Teachers: Jiří Čeněk, Ph.D. - Jiří wrks as an Assistant prfessr at Mendel University in Brn. He is a c-authr f a bk "Crss-cultural Psychlgy: Selected chapters" and several ther publicatins in the field f Crss-cultural Psychlgy. His research and teaching activities fcus n internatinal 5
cmmunicatin, the prcesses f cultural adaptatin and the cultural differences in basic psychlgical prcesses. Runya Qiaan (Prfile see abve) Blc 5: Central Eurpean natural envirnment The blc will discuss Central Eurpean regin frm the perspective f envirnmental studies and it will fcus n what the regin s natural envirnment ffers in terms f ec-systemic services. Particular attentin will be paid at hw the management f natural envirnment changed since 1989 and hw that cntributed t the imprved envirnmental situatin in the present days. Best practises and technlgical knw-hw will be als highlighted. The secnd day will take place utside students will bserve the university frest and ther relevant features f the reginal natural ecsystems. Teacher: Jiri Schneider, Ph.D. - Jiri is a Dean f the Faculty f Reginal Develpment and Internatinal Studies at Mendel University. He teaches curses n reginal develpment, envirnmental planning, and EU plicies in related areas. In his research he specializes in frest management and ecsystem services, mst recently with the particular fcus f the functins f rivers in bth urban and rural areas. Blc 6: Business pprtunities in Central Eurpe The final blc in the curse will discuss pprtunities f making business in Central Eurpe frm varius perspective, especially fr Asian cmpanies. The blc will cnsist f an initial lecture summing up the curse, discussin, grup wrk and presentatins f the final prjects. Students will learn t analyse business ptential f Central Eurpe Students will present a grup prject f a business idea fr a business in Central Eurpe Teacher: Richard Q. Turcsanyi, Ph.D. (see abve) 6