EURO415-18S2 (C) Semester Two 2018

Challenges of Post-Communism

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 16 July 2018
End Date: Sunday, 18 November 2018
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 27 July 2018
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 12 October 2018

Description

This interdisciplinary course examines the economic, political and socio-cultural challenges and dilemmas of post-communist transition in the countries of East Central and Eastern Europe. While the focus is on the examination and comparison of developments in East Central European, Baltic and Balkan states, the major development trends in the non-Baltic post-Soviet states will be considered as well. As an honours course, it strongly encourages individual student application of research through self-study methods and regular participation in seminar discussions.

The indeterminate location of Central and Eastern Europe, which has been often called “the lands between” West and East, Europe and Asia, has had a fundamental impact on the shaping of its political and cultural identities. An enormous variety of peoples has settled the region over centuries, mixing together in a complex patchwork. Ethnic conflicts, wars and invasions have marked the history of the region. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the overthrow of communism in 1989 brought new challenges and divisions to the countries and peoples living in this turbulent part of the world. Whilst eight East Central European and Baltic states succeeded in creating and consolidating functioning institutions of multi-party democracy and the market economy during the 1990s and early 2000s which resulted in eventual EU membership, among the other post-communist European states, only three ‘late transitionists’ from South-Eastern Europe (Bulgaria and Romania in 2007 and Croatia in 2013) were able to similarly follow this successful path.  The experience of the remaining post-communist states strongly confirms the remarkable correlation between progress in accession into the EU and progress in post-communist socio-political and economic reforms. While the official and potential candidates for EU membership from the so-called ‘Western Balkans’ are still trying to implement transitional reforms and keep hoping for a EU future,  the non-Baltic post-Soviet states have sunk in post-communist authoritarianism.

Learning Outcomes

Through their work in this course and on its completion, students are expected to be able to:

1. Present their knowledge accurately, and to construct well-reasoned, well-supported arguments, using the correct forms of referencing;

2. understand and critically evaluate the nature of post-communist transition and its main political, economic and socio-cultural challenges and place this in the wider context of methodological discussion in relation to post-communist democratisation and European integration,

3. demonstrate the ability to discuss independently current issues of political and socio-economic developments  in Europe and the wider world and situate this within the wider social context,

4. explain and critically analyse the major trends of post-communist political, economic and socio-cultural developments in the countries of East Central and Eastern Europe,

5. engage with theoretical debates relating to the examined themes and topics,   particularly in critically evaluating the reasons for the  diverse post-communist trajectories in the different regions of post-communist Europe,

6. design and carry out an original and independent investigation of the main political, economic and socio-cultural challenges of  post-communist transition in one country of the formerly communist Eastern Europe,

7. demonstrate their capacity to engage with current issues of significance in society,

8. demonstrate commitment to high levels of academic scholarship,.
9. present the results of their original investigation in writing and orally,

10. demonstrate an ability to think critically along the continuum “Knowledge-Comprehension-Application-Analysis-Synthesis-Evaluation”.

Prerequisites

Subject to approval of the NCRE Director.

Restrictions

EURO407 before 2014; EURO409 before 2014;

Course Coordinator

Milenko Petrovic

Textbooks / Resources

The course does not use a single textbook. Rather, required and recommended readings will be provided by the lecturer.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $905.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Language, Social and Political Sciences .

All EURO415 Occurrences

  • EURO415-18S2 (C) Semester Two 2018