Universität Wien
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210121 SE M9: East European Studies (2023W)

States, Markets and Democracy in Turbulent Times: Insights from South Eastern Europe

9.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 21 - Politikwissenschaft
Continuous assessment of course work
ON-SITE

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Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 50 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 02.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 09.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 16.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 23.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 30.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 06.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 13.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 20.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 27.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 04.12. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 11.12. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 08.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 15.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 22.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock
  • Monday 29.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 2 (H2), NIG 2.Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

While the challenges of simultaneous economic and political systemic changes have marked the transformations in the entire post-socialist world, they have been particularly stark in Europe’s Southeastern region. Contested states mired by national conflicts, persistent corruption, political instability and the resulting underdevelopment are still seen as more characteristic of Western Balkans or Bulgaria and Romania than the rest of Eastern Europe. And yet, there is remarkable divergence within the Southeast, in their stateness, democratic record, economic development or modes of European integration. The seminar aims to explore this puzzling divergence within the region and put the Southeast European trajectories in a broader comparative context of post-socialist transformations. Furthermore, the course also seeks to draw insights from Southeastern Europe for understanding more general challenges of politics in turbulent times. What can the dissolution of Yugoslavia tell us about the prospects for disintegration in the EU? What does the economic success of Romania suggest about developmental opportunities and constraints for weak peripheral states in global capitalism? How can the analysis of nationalist myths and conspiracy theories in the Western Balkans help us understand the proliferation of conspiratorial discourses in the USA? The course thus aims to engage in a two-way dialogue, applying general political science theories to explain developments in Southeastern Europe, but also using the region as a laboratory for understanding global political phenomena.

Assessment and permitted materials

Assessment is based on intensive and interactive participation in the seminar, question papers based on class readings throughout the seminar, and final paper.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

• Seminar presence and participation (students must not miss more than 2 seminars): 20%
• Five question papers: 40%
• Final research paper (approximately 3000 words, excluding the bibliography): 40%

Examination topics

Students are required to read the articles and chapters assigned for each session and they are also required to engage independently with the literature in the field. In preparation for final essay, students will need to supplement the course readings with further relevant literature they identify through own research.

Reading list

N.B.: These are excerpts from the bibliography. The complete reading list will be published in moodle at the beginning of the semester.

Becker, Joachim (2017) 'In the Yugoslav Mirror: The EU Disintegration Crisis’ Globalizations, 14:6, 840-850
Bieber, Florian (2020) The Rise of Authoritarianism in the Western Balkans. Palgrave Macmillan
Bunce, Valerie (1999) ‘Peaceful versus Violent State Dismemberment: A Comparison of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia’. Politics & Society, 27(2), 217-237.
Dolenec, Danijela (2013) Democratic Institutions and Authoritarian Rule in Southeast Europe. ECPR Press
Dzankic, Jelena (2015) Citizenship in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro: Effects of Statehood and Identity Challenges. Routledge.
Malesevic, Sinisa (2012). Wars that Make States and Wars that Make Nations: Organised Violence, Nationalism and State Formation in the Balkans. European Journal of Sociology 53(1), 31–63.
Marinov, Nikolay and Popova, Maria (2022) “Will the Real Conspiracy Please Stand Up: Sources of Post-Communist Democratic Failure” Perspectives on Politics 20 (1): 222-236
Miglena S. Todorova (2018) Foreign Investment Inflows to Former Socialist Countries in the Balkans: Mapping Global Capitalism, Interventions, 20:6, 814-831
Mungiu‐Pippidi, Alina (2005) Deconstructing Balkan particularism: the ambiguous social capital of Southeastern Europe, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 5:1, 49-68
Richter, Solveig and Natasha Wunsch (2020) Money, power, glory: the linkages between EU conditionality and state capture in the Western Balkans, Journal of European Public Policy, 27:1, 41-62
Prelec, Tena (2020) The Vicious Circles of Corrosive Capital, Authoritarian Tendencies and State Capture in the Western Balkans Journal of Regional Security 15(2): 167–198

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Fr 22.09.2023 16:07