From Soviet Domination to Full Sovereignty

obligatory courses

The lecture course will cover the postwar history and politics of each of the countries of East Central Europe, and acquaint the student with selected problems. Participation in discussion is strongly urged. All students will take an in class mid term and a final. Attendance at lectures is mandatory, as is completion of the assigned readings.

Blended learning

Students will acquaint themselves with the history of the peoples and nations of the region lying between the Soviet Union and the Germano-Italic cultural zone.

Students will acquaint themselves with the history of the peoples and nations of the region lying between the Soviet Union and the Germano-Italic cultural zone.

Sessions 1-3 Introduction. East Central Europe during World War II.

The Communist Takeovers.

Readings:

Abrams, Bradley F., The struggle for the soul of the nation : Czech culture and the rise of communism (Lanham, Md. : Rowman & Littlefield, 2004.

John Micgiel, `Frenzy and Ferocity': The Stalinist Judicial System in Poland,

1944 47, and the Search for Redress, The Carl Beck Papers No.1101, 1994.

Available at www.researchgate.net.

Joseph Rothschild and Nancy M. Wingfield, Return to Diversity: A Political

History of East Central Europe Since World War II Third edition (New

York: Oxford University Press, 1999), Chapters 1 2.

Gale Stokes, ed., From Stalinism to Pluralism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), pp. 9 57.

Sessions 4-5 Stalinization. The Purges. Stalinism and Titoism.

Readings:

Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Soviet Bloc (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, rev. ed., 1971), Chapters 4 7.

Charles Gati, Hungary and the Soviet Bloc (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1986), Part 1.

John Micgiel, "Bandits' and `Reactionaries': The Suppression of the Opposition in Poland, 1944-1947, In: The Establishment of Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe, 1944-1949: A Reevaluation, Boulder: Westview Press, 1996, Available at: www.researchgate.net.

Joseph Rothschild, Return to Diversity, Chapters 3 4.

Gale Stokes, ed., From Stalinism to Pluralism, pp. 57 78.

Sessions 6-7 Destalinization. The Polish and Hungarian October of 1956.

Readings:

Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Soviet Bloc, Chapters 8 9.

Grzegorz Ekiert, The State Against Society (Princeton: Princeton University

Press, 1996), Chapters 2-3.

Gyorgy Litvan, The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (New York: Longman,

1996), or:

Paul E. Zinner, Revolution in Hungary (New York: Columbia University

Press,)

.

Gale Stokes, ed., From Stalinism to Pluralism, pp. 79 93.

Paul E. Zinner, ed., National Communism and Popular Revolt in Eastern

Europe (New York: Columbia University Press, 1956).

Session 8 Midterm Examination.

Sessions 9-10 Post Stalinist Political and Socio Cultural Change in East Central Europe to the Prague Spring.

Readings:

J.F. Brown, Eastern Europe and Communist Rule (Durham, NC: Duke

University Press, 1988), Chapters 1 4.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Soviet Bloc, Chapters 10 15.

Grzegorz Ekiert, The State Against Society, Chapter 4.

Charles Gati, Hungary and the Soviet Bloc, Chapter 7.

Joseph Rothschild, Return to Diversity, Chapter 5.

Michael C. Steinlauf, Bondage to the Dead. Chapter 4.

Gale Stokes, ed., From Stalinism to Pluralism, pp. 94 121.

Session 11 The Prague Spring.

Readings:

Grzegorz Ekiert, The State Against Society, Chapters 5-7.

Zdenek Mlynar, Nightfrost in Prague: The End of Human Socialism (New

York: Karz Publishers, 1980).

Jiri Valenta, Soviet Intervention in Czechoslovakia (Baltimore: Johns

Hopkins University Press, 1992).

Gale Stokes, ed., From Stalinism to Pluralism, pp. 122 180.

Session 12 `The Polish Disease.' The dissent movement in Poland, the Establishment of KOR, ROPCiO, and Solidarity.

Readings:

Timothy Garton Ash, The Polish Revolution: Solidarity (New York:

Scribner's, 1984), or:

Abraham Brumberg, Poland, Genesis of a Revolution (New York: Random

House, 1983), Chapters 2 3, 5 7, or:

Michael H. Bernhard, The Origins of Democratization in Poland (New York:

Columbia University Press, 1993).

Grzegorz Ekiert, The State Against Society, Chapter 8.

Jakub Karpinski, Countdown: The Polish Upheavals of 1956, 1968, 1970,

1976, 1980 (New York: Karz Publishers, 1982), Chapters 2 5.

Michael C. Steinlauf, Bondage to the Dead, Chapters 5-6.

Gale Stokes, ed., From Stalinism to Pluralism, pp. 193 215.

Sessions 13-14 Stagnation and Revolutionary Change: East Central Europe in the 1980s.

Readings:

Timothy Garton Ash, The Uses of Adversity (New York: Random House,

1989).

J.F. Brown, Eastern Europe and Communist Rule, Chapters 13 14.

Grzegorz Ekiert, The State Against Society, Chapters 9-11.

Jon Elster, ed., The Roundtable Talks and the Breakdown of Communism

(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996).

Charles Gati, Hungary and the Soviet Bloc, Chapter 9.

Bennett Kovrig, Of Walls and Bridges (New York: New York University

Press, 1991), Chapters 3 6.

Sabrina P.Ramet, Social Currents in Eastern Europe: The Sources and

Meaning of the Great Transformation (Durham, NC: Duke University

Press, 1991).

Joseph Rothschild, Return to Diversity, Chapters 6-7.

Gale Stokes, ed., From Stalinism to Pluralism, pp. 224 266. Gale Stokes,

The Walls Came Tumbling Down (New York: Oxford University

Press, 1993), Chapters 5 8.

Susan L. Woodward, Balkan Tragedy (Washington: Brookings, 1995),

Chapters 1-4.

For many years the history of postwar East Central Europe was under studied or banned in the very region itself. This course attempts to remedy in some small measure this situation

Attendance in class, participation in class discussion, an in-class midterm exam, and a final. Note: no more than two absences are allowed.