Politics in Eastern and Central Europe after the Fall of Communism

języki obce

Fluent English required for reading literature from the field of political science. Knowledge of basic statistics might be needed for understanding presented research results.

zdalnie

The course is aimed at introducing its participants to major factors shaping political competition in Eastern Europe during the almost 30 years after the fall of communism. It focuses primarily on the relationships between various dimension of the party system and the informal context associated with past legacies, political culture and the living conditions of the society as well as the institutional setting. It has been designed to fit the needs of Erasmus students from Western Europe who wish to familiarize themselves with Polish and Eastern European political reality.

The course is aimed at introducing its participants to major factors shaping political competition in Eastern Europe during the almost 30 years after the fall of communism. It focuses primarily on the relationships between various dimension of the party system and the informal context associated with past legacies, political culture and the living conditions of the society as well as the institutional setting. It has been designed to fit the needs of Erasmus students from Western Europe who wish to familiarize themselves with Polish and Eastern European political reality.

The course commences with a lecture introducing to political and social history of this diverse region. Then, we will explore the matters of economic and political transformation that began in late 1980s and allowed Central European countries to become democracies and introduce market economy. All the topics will be discussed basing on students’ understanding of the readings provided by the instructor. Next, we analyze the foundations of the choice of electoral systems and their intendent and unintended consequences for the shape of party systems. Separate classes will be dedicated to questions of great importance for understanding voter behavior and party system dynamics, i.e. electoral volatility, economic voting and conditions of new party entry. We shall study whether these phenomena are significantly different in the post-communist context from older democracies. The course concludes with some topics associated with some recent uneasy developments in the region such as the rise of radical right and tendencies undermining the principles of the rule of law.

Political history of Eastern Europe – introductory lecture

• Davies, Norman. 1996. Europe. A history. Chapters XI and XII. Oxford etc. Oxford University Press.

Paths of post-communist transformation - triple transition

• CR: Linz, Juan J., Alfred Stepan. 1996. Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation. Southern Europe, South America, and Post-communist Europe. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, chapters 1 and 3, pp. 3-15 and 38-54.

• PR: Offe, Claus. 2004. Capitalism by Democratic Design? Democratic Theory Facing the Triple Transition in East Central Europe. „Social research” 58 (4): 865–-892.

Transitional justice in post-communist countries

• CR: Horne, Cynthia M. 2012. Assessing the Impact of Lustration on Trust in Public Institutions and National Government in Central and Eastern Europe. „Comparative Political Studies” 45 (4): 412–-446.

• PR: Nalepa, Monika. 2009. Lustration and the Survival of Parliamentary Parties. Taiwan Journal of Democracy 5 (2): 45-68.

Variety of communist legacies and the birth of party systems

• CR: Kitschelt, Herbert, Zdenka Mansfelodova, Radoslaw Markowski, Gábor Tóka. 1999. Post-communist party systems. Competition, representation and interparty cooperation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 19-42.

• PR: Mair, Peter. 1997. What is different about post-communist party systems? In: Peter Mair, Party System Change. Approaches and interpretations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Clientelism and patronage

• CR: Kitschelt, Herbert. 2000. Linkages Between Citizens and Politicians In Democratic Polities. „Comparative Political Studies” 33 (6/7): 845–-879.

• PR: Gwiazda, Anna. 2008. Party Patronage in Poland: The Democratic Left Alliance and Law and Justice Compared. East European Politics and Societies 22(4): 802-827.

Choosing the electoral systems

• CR: Harfst, Philipp. 2013. Changing the rules of the game: Determinants of successful electoral system change in Central and Eastern Europe. International Political Science Review 34 (4): 427–443.

• PR: Renwick, Alan. 2005. Modelling Multiple Goals: Electoral System Preferences in Hungary in 1989. Europe-Asia Studies 57 (7): 995-1019.

Electoral engineering and its consequences

• CR: Kaminski, Marek M., Grzegorz Lissowski and Piotr Swistak 1998. The “Revival of Communism” or the effect of institutions? The 1993 Polish parliamentary elections. Public Choice 97 (3): 429-449.

• PR: Moser, Robert G. 1995. The impact of the Electoral System on Post-Communist Party Development: the Case of the 1993 Russian Parliamentary Elections. „Electoral Studies” 14 (4): 377–-398.

Formation of party cleavages

• CR: Kitschelt, Herbert. 1995. Formation of Party Cleavages in Post-Communist Democracies: Theoretical Propositions. „Party Politics” 1 (4): 447–-472.

• PR: Enyedi, Zsolt. 2005. The role of agency in cleavage formation. „European Journal of Political Research” 44: 697–720.

Institutionalization of party competition

• CR: Mainwaring, Scott P. 1999. Rethinking Party System in the Third Wave of Democratization. The Case of Brazil. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 21-39.

• PR: Casal Bértoa, Fernando. 2012. Party systems and cleavage structures revisited: A sociological explanation of party system institutionalization in East Central Europe. „Party Politics” 20 (1): 16–-36.

Electoral volatility

• CR: Powell, Eleanor N., Joshua A. Tucker. 2013. Revisiting Electoral Volatility in PostCommunist Countries: New Data, New Results and New Approaches. British Journal of Political Science 44 (1): 123–-147.

• PR: Markowski, Radoslaw. 2001. Party System Institutionalization in New Democracies: Poland – A Trend-Setter with no Followers, in: Paul G. Lewis (red.), Party Development and Democratic Change in Post-communist Europe. The First Decade. London, Portland, OR: Frank Cass.

Opportunities for new party entry

• CR: Tavits, Margit. 2007. Party Systems in the Making: The Emergence and Success of New Parties in New Democracies. British Journal of Political Science 38 (1): 113-133.

• PR: Sikk, Allan. 2012. Newness as a winning formula for new political parties. Party Politics 18: 465-486.

Economic voting

• CR: Duch Raymond M. (2001), A Developmental Model of Heterogeneous Economic Voting in New Democracies, „The American Political Science Review” 95(4), s. 895-910.

• PR: Roberts Andrew (2008), Hyperaccountability: economic voting in Central and Eastern Europe, „Electoral Studies” 27(3), s. 533–46.

• PR: Coffey Eva (2013), Pain tolerance: Economic voting in the Czech Republic, „Electoral Studies” 32(3), s. 432-37.

Post-communist parties

• CR: Grzymała-Busse, Anna. 2002. Redeeming the Communist Past. The Regeneration of Communist Parties in East Central Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, chapter 2: Breaking with the Past, Reorganizing for the Future, pp. 69-122.

• PR: Oates, Sarah, William L. Miller, Åse Grødeland. 2001. Towards a Soviet Past or Socialist Future? Understanding Why Voter Choose Communist Parties in Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic in: Paul G. Lewis (red.), Party Development and Democratic Change in Post-communist Europe. The First Decade. London, Portland, OR: Frank Cass.

The rise of radical right parties

• CR: Polyakova, Alina. 2015. The Backward East? Explaining Differences In Support For Radical Right Parties in Western And Eastern Europe. Journal of Comparative Politics 8(1): 49-74

• PR: Bustikova, Lenka. 2014. Revenge of the Radical Right. Comparative Political Studies 47 (12): 1738 – 1765.

New authoritarianism and its social roots

• CR: Wiatr, Jerzy J. 2017. New and Old Authoritarianism in a Comparative Perspective. Studia Socjologiczno-Polityczne. Seria Nowa 2(07): 123-137.

• PR: Jaskiernia, Jerzy. 2017. Authoritarian Tendencies in the Polish Political System. Studia Socjologiczno-Polityczne. Seria Nowa 2(07): 103-122.

K_W01 Knows and understands basic concepts of political sociology

K_W03 Is aware of ongoing theoretical and methodological disputes conducted in modern sociology; is reflective and critical of various positions

K_W16 Has in-depth knowledge about major international and domestic sociological research pertaining to selected areas of social reality or sub-domains of sociology

K_W27 Has in-depth knowledge of the 19th, 20th and 21st ideas and social processes which have shaped the face of the modern world

K_U04 Can critically select information and materials for academic work, using various sources in Polish and a foreign language as well as modern technologies

K_U16 Knows how to interpret the role of culture in the life of the individual and society

K_U17 Can relate an academic text to the problems of social life and its empirical studies

K_U18 Can identify the kinds of research in which the scientific texts read can be applicable

K_U19 Can prepare a presentation of a selected problem or study in Polish and in a foreign language

K_K01 Can initiate, plan, organize and manage work of a task team

K_K02 Can propose a solution to a problem that requires an interdisciplinary research approach

K_K05 Can gather, find, synthesize and critically assess information about social sciences

K_K07 Can justify the choice of sources

K_K10 Independently sets directions of personal development and further learning

In-class presentation, participation in discussion and a written essay. Class attendance required.

Fluent English required for reading literature from the field of political science. Knowledge of basic statistics might be needed for understanding presented research results.